Review: 2.5 stars
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 27, 2012
Not a bad story but definitely not as good as I expected from the good reviews, and I'll explain why.(The following review contains spoilers)I liked the concept of the story of the star-crossed lovers who cared for each other over 60 years and even how they plotted to get their grandchildren together. I thought they were pretty sassy old people even though neither of them were really in the story.What I didn't like was how unrealistic the rest of the story was. I understand that romance stories are all a bit over the top because it's escapism and who wants to escape into more reality? BUT this one was a bit too over the top for my liking.1) The characters (Ashley and Stefano) fell in love waaay too fast. They get engaged after knowing each other for 10 days. The author didn't even explain why they fell in love with each other except for the strong sexual attraction.2) The fact that Ashley and Stefano couldn't keep their hands off each other. I don't know but I just can't buy into the whole instant, can't-possibly-think, and totally consuming lust that takes away all logical thought thing. Yes there can be moments of that, but it seemed like it was always there in this story. There wasn't that exciting build up to the passionate moments.3) Both Ashley and Stefano were oddly emotional. First she's totally pissed off that he lied to her but then she just decides they can still have a relationship without explaining how she got to that point. Then at the beginning of the part where they go read letters, he goes into the villa and sees her with a letter belonging to his grandmother and immediately is mad at her but then is fine after one phone call. Then at the end Ashley immediate thinks Stefano was part of the old people's plan and leaves. And he goes after her and is mad that she ran away but then stops when he wonders if she was crying. Anyways, it was just too up and down for me. They're supposed to love each other yet there's no trust and there's no thought of talking to each other to figure out what's going on. I'm not saying extreme emotions don't occur. But they occur because something big and unexpected happens (yes, the final letter was unexpected but I felt like she freaked out too prematurely because he didn't give any reason for her to think that he lied about loving her. And she already said she trusted him.)Anyways, the book was somewhat disappointing. I had expected a better rounded story but it just felt like things happened too fast without any real reasoning behind things.