good book, get the kleenix ready!
Ugh. This is a very frustrating book to read. I can't wait to give it away to another reader. This is not a happy story at all, not that I expect stories to be happy. However, the characters don't act in ways that are realistic. When I told my husband the plot for the story, he said he couldn't read it because the characters would frustrate him too much. I agree. There were times I wanted to throw the book at the heroine or the hero.
Talk about the road not taken, the could-shoulda-woulda moments in life where if only one of them had spoken up, been honest...life would have been so different. I ached for all the heartbreak Mal and Nova went through. There were so many moments where their lives could have gone in a dfferent direction had they spoken up instead of stifling what they were really thinking. Even at the end, I was infuriated with the heroine with her choice to do what she did even after he offered to do something else.
I found the heroine too much accomodating. She is a complete door mat. Some of the things she needed to tell her family, she didn't and they had the wrong impression of her because of it. She was far too understanding about the hero when she shouldn't have been. The hero is really off putting. He uses the heroine. I honestly didn't understand the attraction between them. He's not worthy of her, if you ask me. He's a gorgeous white man and she's a beautiful black woman. Their racial differences aren't all the crucial in the plot. He needed to have much more of a backbone than he did. I was annoyed with him for a good chunk of the book. The ending is incredibly bittersweet. I don't know how to feel about it. I would have gone a different way had I been the author. She builds things up to such an extent, you expect the ending to go one way then she decides to veer off in a completely different direction. Although the author writes well, she doesn't put a heading in the chapter so you don't know from whose first person point of view you're reading. It takes several chapters before you get a good sense of whose chapter it is.
Talk about the road not taken, the could-shoulda-woulda moments in life where if only one of them had spoken up, been honest...life would have been so different. I ached for all the heartbreak Mal and Nova went through. There were so many moments where their lives could have gone in a dfferent direction had they spoken up instead of stifling what they were really thinking. Even at the end, I was infuriated with the heroine with her choice to do what she did even after he offered to do something else.
I found the heroine too much accomodating. She is a complete door mat. Some of the things she needed to tell her family, she didn't and they had the wrong impression of her because of it. She was far too understanding about the hero when she shouldn't have been. The hero is really off putting. He uses the heroine. I honestly didn't understand the attraction between them. He's not worthy of her, if you ask me. He's a gorgeous white man and she's a beautiful black woman. Their racial differences aren't all the crucial in the plot. He needed to have much more of a backbone than he did. I was annoyed with him for a good chunk of the book. The ending is incredibly bittersweet. I don't know how to feel about it. I would have gone a different way had I been the author. She builds things up to such an extent, you expect the ending to go one way then she decides to veer off in a completely different direction. Although the author writes well, she doesn't put a heading in the chapter so you don't know from whose first person point of view you're reading. It takes several chapters before you get a good sense of whose chapter it is.
Wow! What a novel! Didn't think I would like the layout at first because it was all over the place and out of order, goes from present to past, but what a story! Have your tissues in hand they WILL be needed!
