Review: A story of overcoming life's difficulties
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2012
Elizabeth MacMillan leads a charmed life. She has a good husband who provides well for her and their son Christopher. They live in an upper/middle class subdivision with good neighbors and friends where nothing bad ever happens. That is, right up until the moment when Brad decides he needs some more space and moves out. Now, twelve months later, Brad has disappeared and Elizabeth finds herself in the unenviable position of not only having to provide for herself and Christopher, but also having to face all those people she once thought were good neighbors and friends.Max Marino has finally reached the place in his life where things are looking up; he has built up his own construction company and has a good contract going. Or so he thinks, right up until the moment a crazy lady comes flying past his worksite and almost runs over one of his men. Angry as all get out and not thinking too clearly, Max jumps in his truck and follows the crazy lady home. He bursts into her kitchen only to find the lady sitting at her table in tears, after giving her a good talking down he leaves her house feeling like a louse.Max and Elizabeth both think of their disastrous meeting as just something that happens, and put it out of their minds until they once again meet up at the hospital where Elizabeth is seeking employment. This time the meeting is more subdued and both realize that they just might find something about the other that they like. Feeling contrite about their first meeting, Max offers to help her fix her gutters and when a hesitant Elizabeth turns him down, he gives her his card just in case she changes her mind. Elizabeth has more on her mind then good looking men though. Christopher is not dealing well with his father's abandonment, she has to struggle to make ends meet and all their friends have now turned into petty, spiteful people. Luckily for Elizabeth, the other fallen woman of the neighborhood, Leslie Gibson, comes calling and offers friendship and a shoulder to cry on.Can life go on for this little rag tag group of misfits, or will they not be able to get over their own individual heartaches? Seasons will change and only time will tell.Ms. Forster is the master of storytelling. She writes in different genres, from legal thrillers and spine tingling mysteries, to women's romance, all of which have one thing in common, her ability to tell a good story filled with rich characters and thought provoking plots.In this story she tells us of one woman's struggle to become an independent person while continuing to be the mother she desires to be, and hopefully finding peace with a man who truly cares about her. Elizabeth is not a strong woman when we first meet her, as a matter of fact she is everything I personally don't like in a woman. She is totally bound to her husband and when he leaves her she can't cope. She doesn't know how to make a living, isn't sure how to handle her son, hasn't ever had a close friend and can't figure out how to deal with a good man. I have to say I didn't like her in the beginning, and even though she grew throughout the story, I still found her a bit of a selfish one dimensional person.Max, on the other hand, was a good man through and through. He took on Elizabeth, Christopher and his own problems all with the patience and love of a saint. I gave him more than a little bit of my heart.Christopher was a troubled child who needed a much firmer hand than Elizabeth was capable of giving him, and my heart ached for him, though at times I just wanted to give him a good spanking.Leslie was a good friend and I would have liked to have gotten to know her better, I think she and I would have been friends.While I enjoyed this book, it wasn't my favorite of Ms. Forster's works. I just couldn't warm up to Elizabeth and that kept me from giving her any sympathy and took away from the book for me.I recommend anyone who enjoys a good chick lit to draw a hot bubble bath, grab a glass of their favorite beverage and settle in, they won't be disappointed.Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Dual Review Team