Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re having a good week so far! Today I’m posting my review of book six in Anne’s journey, Anne of Ingleside by: L.M. Montegomery.

You can read my review of book one: Anne of Green Gables
You can read my review of book two: Anne of Avonlea
You can read my review of book three: Anne of the Island
You can read my review of book four: Anne of Windy Poplars
You can read my review of book five: Anne’s House of Dreams

Anne of Ingleside by: L.M. Montgomery: Anne and Gilbert have moved away from their House of Dreams and into Ingleside where they’ve had six children. Gilbert is the town’s doctor, who’s so busy no one ever sees anymore and Anne has transitioned into motherhood with all the love and challenges that come with it. This novel was not the reader’s favourite. For starters we barely felt like we saw Anne in this; this book felt more dedicated to her children than to her. We now got points of view from them and got to see them with their trials and tribulations and it just wasn’t the same. Sure, it was nice to see that her children have all gained some of the wide-eyed wonderment that she had as a child, but the reader just missed seeing Anne and following her life. The reader thought they’d get more of her being a mother, instead she occasionally showed up to resolve a problem or comfort a child, which happened often, but that’s about it. Their housekeep Susan did more mothering and it left us questioning where Anne was all the time. We had yet another character added who was insufferable, Aunt Mary Maria, but this time around, Anne didn’t really try to befriend her like in past novels. She did try to do something nice, but it backfired, so that was a nice change of pace for the series. It was also nice to see old faces in this briefly, as now we have so many characters from past books who we’ve grown to love, that it’s harder to fit them all in these short novels. The character that surprised the reader the most to see again was Christine, the woman who was supposed to marry Gilbert. The reader had a love/hate relationship with this dynamic because for one she basically shamed Anne for having children, which wasn’t cool, but she also reminded Anne how much she used to love writing. The reader actually liked that she brought that up because they had thought the same thing, that it’s sad she just gave it up to be a mother. The reader wonders if this will spark her to write more, as she did write a little in this, maybe she’ll get back to her roots as her children grow older. As for the plot of this, this just felt like it followed her children around in their young years, with Anne as a secondary character. The reader is hesitant to wonder what comes next in her life, or if we even follow along in her story, but they will pick up the next book to find out. Overall, this was a bit of a letdown in the series; Anne is still a loveable character, we just wish we got to see her more.