Search - Off Season

I love Ann Rivers Siddons! Her books always, always, have an emotional hook that you never know is coming - until it hits you, and then you will have to catch your breath afterward. Even then, you will be so engrossed in the story you will have to go on, and you never know when another emotional hook will grab you again. If you have not read her books, you are missing out on one of the best authors ever.

This book is about Lilly and going through her life journey with her from 11 until death. It is a hard read to get into at first, and until page 80 or so it's a struggle, at least for me, to really feel out the characters.

Some you really never do.

Lilly lost her first love, Jon, when she was 11 due to his drastic suicide when he found out through a girl jealous of Lilly and Jon's relationship what Jon's father had hid from him all these years, he was part Jewish decent, which back in those times just a few years after WWII was I guess, reason for suicide.

You move with Lilly into the death of her mother from breast cancer, and through her marriage with Cam, which you come to find out something wretched about him, though not directly stated, was fairly obvious that he was guilty of the ultimate crime a spouse could commit against the other.

The character I fell in love with the most was Kitty, someone Cam had grown up with and grew to be Lilly's best friend after her and Cam were married. She's independent, wild, and plays by her own rules which this book severely lacked in other places, save for Lilly's mother.

If you enjoy a read blue-blooded society around the era of JFK, and a little before you'll get into this book, however, I just found it sort of an offbeat VC Andrews type read without the your husband is really your first cousin or brother type of feel to it.

I was disappointed with this book. To predictable and the dialogue was silly.

Anne River Siddons is one of my favorite authors because, though she's written well over a dozen books (and I've read them all), she doesn't fall into a writing formula. Each book is different. The locations range up and down the eastern seaboard, take place in different time spans and have varying character relationships. I love them all.

Anne Rivers Siddons is one of my favorite authors of all time and this book doesn't disappoint. As with most of her books this is set primarily in Maine. The story weaves back and forth from present day to the past and is totally enthralling. If you like her other books you will also be a fan of Off Season.