No Judgments: A Novel

This book didn’t work for me on a lot of levels. It’s a quick easy read, but definitely not the kind that gets under your skin. I guess none of the characters seemed real. They felt very shallowly fleshed out. The plot was a bit chaotic between the hurricane, the animal rescues, and sexual trauma storylines. It didn’t do any of them particularly well. I’m pretty disappointed overall.

Very cute story. Good narration. Had the feel of a Hallmark or Lifetime movie. I like The Little Bridge series.

No Judgments
Little Bridge Island, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: I’m a fan of the author’s previous works.

The Characters:

Sabrina “Bree” Beckham:
Drew Hartwell:
Other residents of Little Bridge Island

The Story:

I’ve been uninspired to write reviews lately, I’m sure future me will regret it but that’s the way it is. It’s not a reflection on the book. I liked the book.

The Random Thoughts:



4 Stars

Great read! Love Meg Cabot! Can’t wait for the next one!

The first of a series for adults, set on Little Bridge Island, among the Florida Keys.

Library copy

It did its job sharing the story of the storm and the general hysteria, or lack thereof in some cases, preceding it. It was beyond truthful in the initial aftermath of what can happen, how the face of a place can be changed, and the trauma caused both to those that stayed as well as those that left. The heartbreak of deciding to leave someone, some place, or something behind..if you haven't had to do it, I pray you never know what you're missing. The knowledge that THIS could be your last stand, and the choice (or again, lack thereof) of where you make it...so true.

My heart broke at the pets left behind...honestly, I couldn't do it, but I tried as hard as Bree did to understand, and couldn't have been prouder of her for providing assistance. The stance shared by Angela about those that choose to stay and why...girl, you had it SO RIGHT, I could have hugged you through the page (we're not all crazy; the reasons vary from person to person, but the choice is no less hard to make). The characters made their impression long after they left the page, and much like in real life, their comradery and desire to help one another was so true. Then there was the unexpected romance with Drew, and oh my ever loving heavens was it something else! No really, suspected player or not, dude had my heart. Why? Oh, let's see...he's easy on the eyes, a pulse racer for the heart, enormously kind to animals, adores/puts up with (sometimes that can be the same thing!) his family because he truly loves them, and although a stubborn male through and through, has the kind of heart worth knowing. Oh and yes, he stands by, for, and with the ones he loves (take note of the scene with the ex and the pit bulls...so much love for that scene...LOL!).

So, if you're a Contemporary Fiction or Romance fan, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Trust me, you won't regret it.


**ARC received for review; opinions are my own

I had such high hopes for this. I loved The Princess Diaries as a kid, but this whole book felt dated and cringey. I also wish there had been some sort of warning about the animal harm which was way too graphic.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

So boring; nothing was happening. DNF

2.5*
It felt rather rushed, the beginning was very slow then everything was rushed, and it lacked a "glue" to keep it together and make work. Sadly, not the book I was expecting.

Bree Beckham is living on Little Bridge Island and happy to be. She's away from all the fuss and away from her famous mum. When a hurricane hits the island she is unprepared for what this will mean and for what will happen when she gets together with her boss's sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell to feed the animals left behind.
But can they work with their attraction or is it just a fling.

Fun light read with two characters who spark well and Meg Cabot's sarcasm drips off the page. I enjoyed it.

Bree has been a full-time resident of Little Bridge Island in the Florida Keys for a few months as she tries to figure herself out and determine what she wants to do next with her life. When a category 5 hurricane nears the island, she makes the decision to wait it out since her cat has recently had surgery and wouldn't travel well. In the aftermath of the storm, she discovers multiple citizens have left their pets behind and can't get to them right away. So Bree comes to the rescue with the help of the peskily attractive Drew Hartwell, her boss's nephew. The storm may not be the only thing to shake things up in Bree's life.

Meg Cabot has always been a reliably good read for me, whether it's her teen or adult novels, and this novel doesn't disappoint. Living in the Keys herself, I assume Cabot gets most of the hurricane details right and while giving a mild sense of peril, it's Bree's growth in herself and her blooming relationship with Drew that are the focus here. Sweet with a couple steamy moments, recommended for fans of contemporary romances.

NO JUDGEMENTS by Meg Cabot
When a hurricane hits the small beach town in Florida Bree has escaped to in order to reassess her life, she finds that many left their animals behind. Bree decides to help as many of these bereft animals as she can when the bridge to the island is washed out. Owners who expected to be gone just a day or two left behind many animals now trapped in empty homes.
Bree and several friends, including a heart throb, work to save the animals while Bree’s former boyfriend and her mother attempt to convince her to flee back to the big city and her former fiance’s money and power.
A light romantic comedy that is well written and has believable characters.
4 of 5 stars

Classic romance from Meg Cabot - not her very best story telling, but entertaining. Bree has escaped her expected path after multiple betrayals and the death of her father. She decides to ride out a hurricane in her chosen home in the Florida Keys and gets swept up in the small community of like minded locals.

Sweet, fluffy romance. Knocked a star off for the slightly overstuffed plot (there's a lot going on in the main character's life) taking away from the development of the main relationship, but the characters were fun and it hit the spot for a post-holidays light read.

First off, I'm a huge Meg Cabot fan so I had high expectations for this book. And it really did not disappoint.

No Judgments is a great, but easy story to read and to listen. I simply loved everything about this book. I felt happy when listening to it even though the things in the book were not necessarily happy at all. Well, expect for people's kind hearts after hurricanes.
The story itself is beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it. I really like the characters in general, but Drew for me is special, probably because he is such a dream guy!

The narrator also was really easy to listen to. Their speech was clear and sounded nice. The male voices were not my favourite but I could live through them.

All in all, a really great book!

Pretty standard chicklit with hurricane.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

After devastating events start to pile on one after the other, Bree decides to escape to Little Bridge Island, where she spent her cherished childhood vacations. She dyes her hair pink and is working on finding herself again but a potential hurricane is trying to disrupt her calm.
Fending off her mother and ex-boyfriend begging her to leave the island, Bree decides to stick it out with some locals, one who is rumored to be the local playboy. Drew's sexy looks have caught her attention before but he seems like trouble she doesn't need.
The storm and fate seem to be throwing them together as Bree gets to know him more, she's starting to want to break her no dating rule.

I had purposefully come to this island to be alone and figure out my next move. None of that had included becoming attracted to darkly handsome brooding men who were kind to dogs.

Told only from Bree's point of view, No Judgments spends a lot of time in her head. Bree thinks about how her father's death, learning the woman she calls mom is not her biological mother, and hints at a traumatic experience that involved her ex-boyfriend's friend for the majority of the first half to let readers in on plot points and reasons for Bree's character make-up. These big issues are all thought about by Bree in her head and never fully get to be flushed out as the outer issue of the hurricane getting ready to hit the island takes up most of the action part of the story.

There was some build up to the hurricane, Bree doesn't want to leave because her rescue cat Gary has health issues and she wants people to think of her as a local and not a “Fresh Water”, but the actual event of the hurricane only lasts a night and Bree basically sleeps through it. The aftermath talks about potential health hazards, lack of resources and looters, but the reader never really feels this as Bree gallivants around the island. At the midpoint in the story, Bree and Drew still had a little bit of animosity to their relationship (and one quick make-out session), due to preconceived notions about each other but Bree decides to risk life and limb to go out and see if he survived the hurricane; her emotions seemed to strongly come out of nowhere.

The second half switches to Bree and Drew trying to rescue, feed, and water animals who's owners abandoned them with the hurricane coming in and now can't get back because of a bridge washed out. Around the 60% mark is where I finally thought I could see some emotional and relationship development between the two.

I’d broken all the rules, and now I was sitting here, like an idiot, by the light of the Milky Way, eating the guy’s steaks with his happy, well-fed dogs pressed all around me, listening to him talk. God. I had it bad.

With the story being told in Bree's point of view, readers get to know her pretty well but Drew's character could have had more filling out. He seemed likable, a laid back island guy who loved dogs, but I never knew him and he felt like almost an after thought for being the main partner in a romance. This had some heavier issues, death, infertility, and sexual assault sprinkled in but they were never fully fleshed out and the tone of the story colored them with a bit too much of a cavalier vibe. Honestly, if someone asked me what this story was about, I'd say the message was “Don't judge people for leaving their animals in a hurricane”, which can be a good message but feels odd for a romance/contemporary fiction.