Review: Castle Hill by Samantha Young

Title: Castle Hill (On Dublin Street #2.5)

Author: Samantha Young

Date of publication: 3 Dec 2013
Genre: Romance, Novella 

Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 2 stars

Goodreads Blurb

Braden Carmichael never imagined he’d fall as hard and as fast as he did for Jocelyn Butler. He also could not have anticipated how difficult it would be to convince her to give in to love. But now that he has her, he’s never letting go. He’s got it all planned—the passionate proposal, the dream wedding, the sexy Hawaiian honeymoon—even the perfect family they’ll start.

After trying to flee from her painful past, Joss is finally allowing herself to embrace the future. But when things start moving faster than she anticipated, she finds herself panicking over something Braden can’t understand. After everything they’ve been through, Joss is sure that their love can survive even her worst fears. But, this time, she may push Braden too far—and risk losing everything all over again…

My Review

Over the last week I have read a total of three books by Samantha Young - two novella and one novel. Now I am starting with reviews in the order I actually read the books. First is Caste Hill, which is a novella completing the story of Joss and Braden from On Dublin Street. In all honesty, I have to admit this is the one which I liked the least of the three.

I loved On Dublin Street and when I learned that Joss and Braden will get a novella, I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me and left me disappointed.

The story felt rushed and it included far too many events for its short length - the proposal, the wedding, the honeymoon, the pregnancy. They were not developed in depth and their presentation was rather superficial. The story was told from Joss' POV, just like On Dublin Street, yet here her voice felt detached, emotionally distanced. 

On the plus side, Joss and Braden were the same characters that I loved in Dublin street. Braden was sexy and cocky, somewhat possessive and impulsive but completely in love with Joss. Joss was mad about him as well, but she was still struggling with her fears and they tainted some of the sweetest moments in their life. 

Despite the monumental events in the lives of the characters this novella cover, it lacked the thrill of the unexpected, nothing about it surprised me. The conflict towards the end of the book which put Joss and Braden's marriage under stress was weak and unrealistic. The whole problem was just one giant misunderstanding due to inability to communicate on both sides.

There were some funny times and some sexy times but they were not enough for me to enjoy the story more. In the end I awasleft wondering if this novella was necessary at all or a nice epilogue to On Dublin Street would have been a better option.