Review: Emotional
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2013
When the book opened in a such a confusing way, I wondered if I had made a mistake. First there is a dream of Sera's mother drowning and about to pull her under with her. The setting isn't well-defined either. Here is an example: "Myrrh and neroli wafted through the old wooden shutters of the riad. Sunrise in Marrakech." Then, Sera wakes up next to Chase, who apparently is trying to get her to stay with him. Instead she takes off to California. By chapter three, the reader still doesn't know who these people are or what's going on. For two chapters there's been little except descriptions. When there is dialogue, I don't know who the people are, like Elise, and there are no tags to hang with anyone. Then, we have a flashback to when Sera was eleven.Hang on. The novel does get better, really good. In my opinion, the author should have taken out the first two chapters and woven the important information into other parts of the book. From chapter three on, the story switches back and forth between Sera and Andrew growing up, dating, and falling in love with scenes from Sera in the present. There are sensual moments and the main characters have sex. but the scenes aren't described or explicit. Later in the novel, Sera finds her mother's diary and learns she was an unwed mother. This colors many of Sera's later decisions. I thought the mother's story went on for too long, and I found myself wanting to get back with Sera and Andrew after a while.I often had to go back and reread portions to figure out who the speaker was. As the dialogue switched back and forth between two people, it was hard to tell. There is some strong cursing, like f---ing b--ch, etc., but it thankfully didn't occur too often. And, how can you peer through stained glass windows? Overall, however, I found few grammatical errors.I wanted a little more to the ending, since I had spent so many hours in anguish with the characters to get there, but it did end happily. When it was over, however, I felt spent. It is an emotional read, but that has to attest to a good writer.