Review: A strong ending to a wonderful series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2013
3.5 to 4 stars. This is the last in the Lengths series, and one of the better stories. I was very apprehensive about this story, as it is Lydia's story and Lydia always seemed like a total bitch in all of the other books. I mean, who would want to read a love story where the heroine is a bitch - and not in a good way. But, guess what, after Lydia is placed on suspension from her job as a lawyer, she softens. Unfortunately, I think the softening that took place was a bit rushed, and it seemed like we saw a different Lydia from the get go. One that I had a hard time believing was the same character. If I had read this as a stand alone, I would have loved Lydia and thought, yes, she is a bit of a hard ass, but love from family - and a sexy professor - could soften her to a heroine that I really liked.So, I decided half way into this story that I would just take Lydia as she is in this story, and stop trying to compare her to the way she was in all of the other books. Once I let go, I enjoyed the story. Lydia takes the fall for her secret lover, and co-worker, Richard, which places her on a paid suspension from the firm that she has worked so hard to become a junior partner, at the young age of 24. She does not know what to do with herself, so she decides to enroll in a course at the local college (where her sister, Cece incidentally also teaches at). The course is kind of a mish mash of topics, with different lecturers. Enter the art lecturer, Isaac Ortiz, an extremely sexy, passionate transplant from Spain. Upon first glance, Lydia is attracted - I mean, come on, he is gorgeous. But, she knows that taking that attraction any further is not a good idea. Until she decides, screw it and she lets Isaac in.Isaac Ortiz has always been in the shadow of his famous artist father. He decides to move out from under his shadow and make his own way in America. He accepts a guest lecturer position, while also continuing his painting. He meets Lydia Rodriguez in his class and is immediately drawn to her. She has a maturity that the other women he has been exposed to do not have and he decides to pursue her. Even when she continually shoots him down, he eventually wins her over - even with the age difference. You see, even though he is a lecturer at the college, he is only 19, while Lydia, he finds out is 26. Honestly, the age difference did not bother me at all, and did not really seem like an issue for either Isaac or Lydia, since their maturity level was almost equal.As I mentioned earlier, this is the last book in this series, and I think the one constant, that was even more apparent in Lydia's story, was that of family. Not since Gen's story, Limits have we seen the entire Rodriguez family so prominent in the story. Even Deo's family played a large part in this book (and Deo is always fun for a laugh). The love that the Rodriguez's have for each other is a character in itself, and the fact that Isaac always yearned for a family like Lydia's makes this story even more sweet."I don't think any one of us-Beckett or Rodriguez-has ever taken for granted the unique bond and love that the matriarchs of our two families have for all of us. Both my mother and Marigold have considered all of us their children-even the boyfriends and girlfriends of our collective group."And in the end, we get to see all of the Rodriguez, and even the Beckett siblings - and their significant others - together for one last time. This series had some real winners, the first in the series, Lengths being my favorite, with some not so wonderful (Cohen's story was a snore), but family was always the common theme, and I loved that about this series.