Review: Love/Hate
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 19, 2014
I loved the idea behind this book- finding your ancestors through visions that occur when you are in a place they had lived- or died. Maybe because I know almost nothing of my family, I don't know. The theory of ancestral genetic memory or something similar is just extremely interesting.The vast majority of the story, however, seems to be about a bad relationship. Abby and Brad have recently moved to an area outside Boston for Brad's new job. Abby (understandably) feels somewhat lost. She takes a tour of an old house and has a vision of the people who once lived there. This is how the story begins. Unfortunately, quite quickly it turns into one very long diatribe about what a jerk her boyfriend is and how badly he treats Abby.Brad is a selfish, neglectful, obtuse, arrogant, emotionally stunted, deceitful, lazy, lying cheater. All of this and much much more is repeated throughout the book. Seriously, the only good thing said about him is that he was good looking.Do they argue? Does she tell him that his behavior bothers her? Does she tell him to shape up? No, no, and no. In fact, there were so many snide thoughts, unspoken resentments, and small acts to irritate him, seemingly for no other reason than spite, that it became increasingly difficult to not intensely dislike her.The constant harping became so prevalent it didn't just interfere with the main story, it BECAME the main story. I finally stopped and went back to see just how bad it really was and found that you couldn't go more than maybe 3 or 4  pages without some type of unpleasant remark. Ironically, after snapping at him after an off the cuff remark she wonders what his problem is, as she believes she is being her usual "quiet amiable self".  In another sentence she says that she prides herself on her honesty.Finally, around the 65% mark they split. I won't tell you why but you can bet it's the unappreciative little scumbag's fault. I thought that the story would now concentrate on the visions. Nope. There are several more comments and she even says that the haunting is Brad's fault for "dragging her there and dumping her amid them all". Wow. Passive aggressive hardly describes this woman.The book itself is well written and I will probably try another of this author's stories. I just hope that this totally one-sided type of  badboy is an aberration and not how she typically builds her characters.