The 7th Anne of Green Gables book takes place one year after the previous book. Anne rarely appears and strangely enough Rainbow Valley was much more prominent in the previous book. This book has an overreaching story arc of the family in the manse; a minister and his four children. The children are the bane of the town and everyone including them thinks the minister needs a wife to "bring up" the children.

Of course, I enjoyed the book but missed Anne being prominent. She would have been perfect to matchmaker as she's done in previous volumes but sadly she doesn't get involved. I did really enjoy the manse children, Mary Vance, and the youngish old maid sisters. Anne's children were best friends of the manse children and played a strong role in the novel but again it was the manse children getting into all the scrapes. Enjoyable but only a so-so entry in the series. ( )

Note to self: own but unread

This was a thrift find and I am glad for that 'cause it is not really an "Anne" book at all, as I now understand from reading reviews. Many props to those who persevered long enough to even know what the story was about. I couldn't get past the first little chapter with Susan, the Blythe's maid, calling Anne "Mrs. Dr. Dear."

I remember now why I always said the early Megan Follows movies are all one really needs. I enjoyed the first two books well enough, but after that the books introduce too many horrible children and the movies give us too much realism.

I could keep the volumn for my "little book" collection, but the funnest thing about this thrift find was seeing it has a price sticker from the store I worked at until yesterday. I;m pretty sure the remainder of the series is still on the shelf, and I suppose I'll take this in (don't even need the trade credit!) It's a pretty little copy and with a gentle spine-cleaning it could still serve well as part of a "look at," set. ( )

This book picks up more or less where the last one left off, with Anne and Gilbert returning from their holiday and the children coming back from visiting Avonlea. There's a new minister in town and with him comes his several innocent but nevertheless mischievous children. Further, the group of them comes across a runaway orphan who is tired of being mistreated at the hands of the woman who supposedly cares for her.

Rainbow Valley concerns itself primarily with the children but is more focused on the new children in town than the Blythe children. It's such a weird turn in a series supposedly about Anne, who shows up but a handful of times in this book and is only briefly mentioned elsewhere. On the flip side, I will say the minister's children have more of young Anne's mishaps about them than any of her children do so in that way this book captures the spirit of the original Anne of Green Gables. There's also an ongoing plotline about the widowed minister's 'need' to remarry again, according to the townsfolk who think the children need a suitable stepmother.

It's strange to me that these books are considered children's classics (and indeed I originally read them as a child) as there's plenty in these books that isn't child friendly, including discussions around abuse and nonchalant talk of suicide. There's also many dated references, including calling all Asian people "heathens" and even the use of the n-word. And of course, many of the adults in this small town are very gossipy and judgmental, but that isn't seen as a bad thing nearly as much as it should be. The book then oddly ends with a reference to how World War I is on the horizon and how Jem and other young Canadian men will end up fighting and dying in that war in the near future.

The audiobook narrator does a pretty good job with this story, attempting to give different voices to each character, although it is difficult with so many children and so many adults to cover. Nevertheless, it is a much livelier rendition than some of the previous books' narrators managed to convey. Speaking of previous volumes, I'm not sure why anyone would want to pick up this book randomly without having read the others, but there are definitely holdover references from previous books in the series so it does not stand alone, even if it is more concerned about the Meredith clan than the Blythe one. ( )

I really enjoyed this installment in the Anne of Green Gables series. I've seen a lot of people complain about the very brief appearances of Anne in the book. And, yes, I would agree that if you're going to label this as an "Anne of Green Gables" book, Anne should feature as a major character. At best, she is in it about five times, and only in passing. It would've been better had this been a stand alone book.

That being said, this volume was completely charming. I loved all of the different characters and the way they interacted with each other. Of course, Walter is my favorite, as in all the other books he makes an appearance in. The ambiance and the writing are excellent. ( )