Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books 
 I adored this book. It has some very funny bits, and action, and sweetness, and tragedy. It had one of my favorite heroes - Gabriel Oak, who, unlike Troy and Boldwood, demands nothing from Bathsheba except for her respect. Bathsheba is so variable in mood and action that I don't know how I feel about her, but she's sure entertaining to read about. The language is lovely. 
 Above all, I love the idea that love is best expressed not through flowery words (Troy) or expensive gifts (Boldwood) but through action and service. Oak does not do a single glamorous thing in the course of this story. Instead, he puts out a fire, he covers bales of hay during a thunderstorm, and he cures sheep of the bloat. In real life, so much of romance in a lasting relationship comes from shared work and adversity. There's nothing traditionally romantic about de-bloating a sheep but it's what Bathsheba needed so that's what he did. The story is a beautiful ode to love that comes from a shared life of shared work, and it's a tribute to endurance and to healing. When they leave the church, Bathsheba looks "As though a rose should be shut and be a bud again," not repressed, but with a second chance at a happy life. Beautiful. 
 - Carrie S