Continuing with my Lucy Maud Montgomery marathon, Anne of the Island and Tales of Avonlea. This is actually a three-fer volume, Anne of the Island being the third in the series and Tales of Avonlea referring to the short-story compilations Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea. Overall, I give Anne of the Island 4**** (down from 4½**** for Anne of Avonlea and 5***** for Anne of Green Gables). I think most tend to agree that the series weakens as it goes on (except for the outstanding Rilla of Ingleside), but I'll wait and see.

The two story compilations, however, generously rate 2½** overall. While there are some reasonably decent stories among them, they tend overall to be very predictable. Considering this is a three-fer volume, I've rated the volume overall at 3½***, considering that Anne of the Island is really its more important component and thus dropping just ½ from the overall volume because of the weakness of the stories.

In fairness to Montgomery, incidentally, the publication of these stories was something undertaken by her unscrupulous publisher, L.C. Page {Wikipedia}, with whom she engaged in significant copyright litigation. So don't blame Montgomery for this anthologization of stories first published in magazines and overall of rather poor quality. ( )

After reading Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, I felt compelled to read Anne of the Island, the third out of the four books in the series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne of the Island continues Anne’s life story as she spends four years at Redmond, a college. She battles furiously against her heart during those years. Gilbert Blythe is determined to win her heart over, showing her his love in every possible way he can. Anne, on the other hand, is determined to not give into Gilbert’s affections, denying every offer of them becoming a couple.To make matters worse, her best friend, Diana Barry, is getting married and will be leaving Avonlea to start a new life. with ups and downs, Anne’s view of college changes with each surprise discovered.

What I absolutely loved about Lucy Maud Montgomery’s writing is that she does focus on one specific character, but along with that she also gives each character a moment to shine, describing their characteristics and personality and giving them a scene that shows off their purpose.For instance, there is a little boy named Davy, a twin that Marilla and Mrs. Rachel Lynde take care of. He is always getting into trouble, and absolutely adores Anne. At one point, Anne comes home from college for vacation to find Davy crying alone. After asking him what happened, Davy answers with something like this:“Dora fell off the stairs!” “Did you do it?” “No, I’m crying ‘cause she didn't get hurt!” I laughed so hard after I read that part because he reminded me so much of my ten younger cousins and their skirmishes. It was just like them!

I have no complaints over Montgomery’s books, except for the endings.They are such cliffhangers! It makes me want to get out there and buy the next one, but I can’t! It;s so frustrating!

I recommend this book and any of the Anne books to anyone who loves to read and can understand language that is a bit old-fashioned. It is a bit confusing at first, but if you are a good reader you would jump right in immediately. This is a very interesting and fun book to read! ( )