Review: A Nice Surprise
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
It's been a long time since I've read a romance novel, and this one surprised me.First of all, the writer is a man. And the point of view throughout the book is a man's point of view. I guess that isn't unusual these days, but the last time I'd read love stories in this genre, they were always told from the female point of view, and if the writers were men they hid that by using a female pen name. I never really liked seeing nothing about the male half of a love story except what the female half could see or imagine. With "Fallen Star" you get a whole different perspective.The second surprise was the real, believable situation – two ordinary people crossing the U.S. by train, preferring not to fly for their own reasons – and the solid details. E.J.'s a bicycle mechanic and knows what he's talking (or thinking) about. The exploring the couple does at their stops is grounded in concrete knowledge of their exhilarating adventures – a very real, unhurried cross-country trip. Nothing hazy and dreamlike about this slowly developing love story. I felt like I was there with them.And the characters were the big surprise. Nobody's gorgeous or anywhere near perfect. E.J. is just insecure enough and Annie is just prickly – and secretive – enough to make them believable and to make you wonder if they'll work out what looks like a promising relationship. You get to know these people as they get to know each other. And there's nothing inevitable about the ending. Annie's not a woman given to trusting people, and E.J.'s not one to demand trust, or anything else.It's been a long time since I've read a romance novel. But if there are more of them as compelling and well-written as this, it won't be the last one I read.