Review: Beautiful and poignant
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2012
I have never read a romance written by a man before, and did not know what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found in this book. The author's voice is his own; he doesn't try to flower it up or put a pretty bow on things.  The telling of this story is real, raw, and in no way pretentious. Not to say that he doesn't write beautifully. His imagery and powers of description are interesting and vivid, and at times even humorous. There were times when I laughed out loud, and times when I was struck by the beauty of the imagery.I also liked that this book was written in a way that could appeal to both men and women, something that I think is hard to do when it comes to romance novels, as they are almost always catered to women. It seems that the author has written a woman that most men would adore: she is a sports fan, she knows about comic book heroes, and she is sexually aggressive though not overly so.I also really liked Darryl as a character. While reading this book I came to care about him and his future. I cheered for him as he pursued Leena, but remained a gentleman in the process. He knows that Leena is attached, and instead of pursuing her relentlessly and trying to force her into a decision, he respectfully gives her time and space to sort things out. While this was frustrating at times to read (I was waiting for him to to just shake her to her senses!), it was also very endearing.What I didn't like about this book: In the beginning I liked Leena's character. I also sympathized with her, because I could see her struggle in life. She lived her life in shades of gray, never really coming into the fullness that life has to offer until she met Darryl. But for some reason, as the book progressed, she began to annoy me. Even though she is older than Darryl, she plays games with his mind like some kind of high school teenager. She started coming across as childish, selfish, and immature. For a few chapters I found myself wishing Darryl would just walk away, as he obviously deserved better. For me, her insistence that Darryl pursue her even though she was attached to Sam, was ludicrous. Instead of breaking up with Sam to be with Darryl, who she clear loves, she strings Darryl along, waiting for him to declare his love to one and all before she could go falling into his arms.Eventually, though, Leena is able to redeem herself and becomes a likeable character for me. Toward the end, when she realizes her mistakes, she does some serious groveling, and in that selfless act had my support once again!One other thing for me, was that I found Leena's loyalty to Sam to be a bit unrealistic. We dont' see Sam much in this book, and when we do he comes across as arrogant, superficial, and honestly doesn't seem to care about Leena at all. When it comes down to the choice between Darryl and Sam, I found myself rolling my eyes at the thougth that Leena could actually lean more toward Sam. I feel like the author doesn't give me enough to make me believe that Leena would choose a boyfriend who was absent over 90 percent of the book. To make the conflict more interesting, I would have loved to see more interaction between Sam and Leena. Then it would have made Leena's indecision much more believeable.Overall: The ending of this book was different. I honestly do not know how I feel about it, even after i've had a chance to digest it and write this review. The book climaxes hard about about 90% through, and there are plot twists that keep you guessing right up to the last page. In the end, love prevails, but the way it comes about its different than anything I've ever read. I won't give it away, but I know it is one of those things some will love and some will not. For me, it was bittersweet, but I still found the entire story to be both poignant and beautiful. There were definitely some moments that had me tearing up. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's definitely a book I could read again!