Review: Great Reading!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2013
With a depth I found surprising in a contemporary romance, Ms. Bower has created a beautiful love story as well and a lovely fiction novel about accepting others from the inside out.Robbie is such a wonderful character. She's loyal and determined and so willing to fight for what she thinks is right. She spars with her professor about her project: dressing as an obese woman. Her professor isn't sold on the idea, but Robbie really thinks it's the best way to prove her thesis for college. Her overweight friends help with insight, advice and clothing.How could she know she'd meet a great guy while dressed in her costume?Jake returns home to be with his grandfather, Frank, the man who raised him. Frank is a great character, so full of fun and life, despite his age. And Jake, for all his crankiness at the beginning, really loves his grandfather.  He really becomes a man to admire as the book progresses.Ms. Bower has such a talented way with words. I felt as if I knew each character in this book, as if I would know them if I passed them on the street. The affection between many of them was palpable, friends, family, lovers.While the storyline itself may not be overly complex, it was thoroughly enjoyable, sweet and tugs at the heart-strings. If this type of character building and description is par for the course for this author, she's won a permanent fan.If you're looking for a sweet story that is populated with characters you'll feel are your friends before you turn the last page; if you love a romance between a couple that's built on affection before sex and is believably deep and lasting, then I recommend "Woman of Substance". It's more than you might think.Originally posted at Long and Short Reviews