Review: Had most of the essentials
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2012
I won't recount the plot as other reviewers have done so very ably. If you like angsty romances, this will do the trick. I would have liked to see more of Jacks's internal monologue, because I honestly didn't understand his game-plan in marrying Jesse. Punish her for the rest of her life? Punish himself? I did however admire his willpower in keeping her at arms' length for such a long period of time. And as other reviewers alluded to, it was difficult however to stomach Jesse's acceptance of his maltreatment - she couldn't even seem to muster up the most basic sense of righteous indignation about the fact that he so easily believed the worst of her. Was that not sufficient to make her angry? His lack of faith in their relationship was at least as objectionable as her disappearance without explanation!Like other reviewers have said, it was tough to deal with a female protagonist who is a martyr to her fate rather than a director of her fate. Still, her being clearheaded about her feelings for Jack helped explain that somewhat - none of that silly dithering about whether or not she loved him which typifies many romance novels. And when they finally have a chance to explain to each other what went wrong so many years ago, I was surprised how quickly they got around to having cutesy conversations about things like whether to have veal marsala for dinner, rather than the rather weighty subject of his mistreatment of her . . . But anyway, despite my frustrations with the characters themselves, I overall enjoyed the read because the author is clearly someone who knows how to construct a story and keep you engaged with the people who populate it. Recommended for a light, escapist read.