Review: mixed feelings
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 14, 2014
Anyone who has read my reviews will know that 3 stars is a good review.  Most of that rating is based on the beginning of the book.  The author starts out developing her mystery as well as the romance and I was enjoying the read.  About midway and up until the end, I was less pleased.  That is difficult to spell out without a spoiler, but I'll try.For one, it seemed to me that the "big event" that had Tess withdraw from emotional attachments, and especially from Jack, was rather small and insignificant to produce that outlook.  Yes, I get her childhood history plays a large role in her insecurities, but that leads up to my second criticism.  The author "tells us" what her childhood was like and not in enough detail to really get much of a picture of it.  It might have been more realistic then. This telling starts to take up more and more of the writing and the character development less and less, as well as less of the style of writing which I initially was taken by.  The 'come here, go away' games between Tess and Jack reached ridiculous levels and at one point I wanted to through up my hands and quit reading!  Her actions started seeming very immature for someone of her age and experience.  Then, just when she admits her problems, then Jack starts in on the same line, in a kind of back-at-you, childish kind of way.  The love she felt for her surrogate family was undeserved considering the strict conditions they put on it.  Also, one editing problem in the kindle edition that drove me crazy was the constant change in font size, sometimes three different types on a page.This is done in a hurry and it probably is evident. But I didn't want to just blow off a review because there was something about this novel that kept me reading to the end.  I think I'd like to see this author polish her skills a little and start nurturing her character development more, which for this genre isn't too bad but could be better.  I'm not sure if I'll the sequel or not, but I'd revisit some of her writing again in the future.