Customer Reviews

Watch Over Me

5 star:		(430)
4 star:		(180)
3 star:		(64)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Watch Over Me is a poignant and romantic tale, laced at times with sadness, but full of charm, affection and ultimately hope. It tells the story of Eilidh, a woman tormented by her inability to have children, and follows her to a remote Scottish village as she tries to find a new way to live after the collapse of her marriage.

The writing is fresh and engaging, and the multiple characters speak directly to the reader in voices full of sincerity and openness, with plenty of candid humour. There's lyricism to the writing, too, and powerful atmosphere, especially in the lovely half-seen ghost of Elizabeth, who expresses beautifully the sweet-sad nostalgia of life moving on.

Meanwhile the village in which this story is set is as much of a character as any of the people. Daniela Sacerdoti's love of the Highlands shines through: you can see the glimmer of starlight on her crisp nights, feel the crunch of the frosted ground beneath your feet, and warm to the firesides, tea, drams of whisky and easy sense of companionship that fill Glen Avich.

This is a book that encompasses sorrow: the description of Eilidh's despair as she surveys her barren life is extremely moving. Daniela Sacerdoti explores other forms of isolation too, with characters trapped by social expectations, lovelessness, or regret. However, above all this is a book of rebirth, renewal and love. Anyone who enjoys curling up with a story of seemingly star-crossed lovers will relish Eilidh's journey, and be rooting for her to find the happiness she has been denied for so long.

This is a truly beautiful story. I was hooked from the first page and read the whole book in less than two days.

As I read, I felt like I was immersed in the lives of the characters. I cared what happened to them. The characters all tell their own parts of the tale, and they have very individual voices. It was easy to get caught up in the feelings and emotions of each of them.

It's a well written, lovely story. I would absolutely recommend you read it.

(And unlike Daniela, I'm not a writer, so this review doesn't really do the book justice).

As I began to read this book, I was completely unaware of how the author was quietly captivating me and drawing me into the story. If you look at the book as a whole, you realise it is a basic love story, yet as you delve into the layers of the story you find it is so much more. There is magic hiding within the chapters.

The little village of Glen Avich, is enchanting. It reminded me of the mythical Scottish town in Brigadoon, one of my favourite musicals ever. It seems like a town that hasn't aged with time. Everyone still knows everyone else's business and goes about the same thing just as they have done since they were children.

I hated putting this book down, as I needed to find out what would happen and I found myself desperate not to let go of this book, once I had finished it. I was so mesmerised by this beautiful village and its inhabitants, I was sad to finish it. I wanted to find the village and move there. Search out the characters to see how their lives had progressed, because the way they were written had brought them to life for me. There wasn't a character in the book, that I did not feel empathy for. I was convinced I could see snippets of people I know within them.

This book has a strong theme to it. It is about learning to accept the past in order to help you move on with the future. The characters had been trapped by the events of their past, which seem to cloud their judgement of the decisions they should make. However, a little helping hand from the spiritual side of life, helps to bring them together.

The book reminded me of two of my favourite authors. It had the warmth of Beth Hoffman's book and the magic of the books by Sarah Addison Allen. A book I will treasure and read again and again. I feel like I should buy hundreds of copies and give them out in the street. If you want a mesmerising, captivating read that presents the circle of life in such a magical way, then I suggest you read this book.

This has got to be the most touching and emotional book I have read this year. Watch over Me is such a delicate and beautiful read that you can't help but fall in to the storyline from the first page. It is impossible for someone to read this book and it not touch them in some way as we have all lost some one important in our lives and this book gives you the comfort and hope we all need that our loved ones are still looking over us.

Each of the characters were endearing to read which makes the characters feel real which helps in pulling our emotional strings. This is one book where I loved each of the main characters as much as the next I couldn't pick out a favourite as each of the characters were so warm and genuine.

The storyline was so moving and easy to follow. The way in which the book is set out is so that it keeps swapping between the characters narrating the story so you get to feel firsthand how each of the characters are feeling and thinking.

I cannot recommend this book enough this ticks all of the boxes for me and it is such a stunning novel for a debut author, Daniela Sacerdoti is clearly an author to look out for.

really enjoyed this book, understood the pain she felt with the failed IVF and the loss of the baby .... the impact on her life, the feelings evoked watching people around her having babies - Not easy at all. Returning to the place she called home was to be the start of her life rather than the end of it, reading it and understanding how she ended up there and the connections between so many things made this a really enjoyable book to read. This book was everything - sad, happy, traumatic, funny and very readable. Took me 2 evenings to read, could not wait to get back to the book on the second evening as i just wanted to know what path her life takes. Highly recommend this.

Instantly, I was gripped by this book. Scaredoti writes elegant, beautiful and sophisticated literature. With her fantastic writing style combined with a story line that both warms and breaks your heart; it'd be wrong to give this book any less than five stars. Couldn't put it down and was slightly upset when I finished the book, I wanted it to go on forever! I cannot wait to read more books by this author.

"Watch Over Me" is a book about how painful past experiences can make it difficult for us to move on with life and embrace new challenges. Hanging on to the past leaves us somehow "trapped" in our own fears and these fears make it hard to move on and take risks. This is the journey the two main characters in the book, Eilidh and Jamie, are going through.

The book starts with a wonderful prologue that hooks you from the very beginning and makes it really hard to put the book down.

The story is beautifully narrated from the point of view of different characters, not only the main ones, but also other minor, but still very important, characters. It is a very effective way to learn about them, their personality, their way of thinking, their feelings, their fears, their hopes. The characters become very real and when the book is finished you find yourself missing them.

An important element of the book is its setting in a small fictional village in the Scottish Highlands where Eilidh spent time in her childhood. This setting has a significant impact on the characters. The small village, where everybody knows each other, can have both positive and negative effects on the characters and this is clearly portrayed in the book.

Social and family expectations are also explored by the story. The power they have over us and the power we let them have over us.

It is a beautiful book and an intense story which makes you think and reflect about life, death, loss, friendship, love, family, hope. It's heart-warming. It's very difficult not to be touched by the characters and empathize with some of them or to be critical of others.

Well done Daniela! I am looking forward to more and more books from you!

I did find this book very well written and very easy too read however i would not recommend reading it if you have had a similar experience of IVF as i have. I mistakingly thought i would be able to relate to the character but when i realised how the book was going to end i could not finish it. this is not a critism of the story but be wary if this is a sensitive issue to you.

A beautiful book. As an older guy who likes thrillers I nevertheless found this really engrossing and very emotional. The ending is perhaps rather predictable ... but then, its not a tale of suspense.

Annoying, pathetic, whiny 'heroine'; annoying stereotypical handsome hero; annoying sickly sweet child; annoying twee (wee) language; more annoying sob stories than X-factor and even an annoying ghost! I really struggled to find a character that I didn't find annoying & failed! Oh, and guess the ending......which is annoyingly obvious!