Review: A Message Conveyed
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2012
This is a romance that does not technically have a happy ending.  It's a romance with substance.  You meet two ladies, Helen and Marleen.  In the beginning they are searching for a roommate to rent a sublet while Marleen is gone.  Not quite sure where Marleen is going as the story never really elaborates but you can tell that her whereabouts are not really of importance.  The story is focused on Helen and her lifestyle that  she lives to the strictest of schedules.  Everything she does seems to be perfect.  Her rigid routine allots her time between work, home, boyfriend, etc.  The tiniest of crumbs throws her off.  The perfect model for an OCD goddess.During open house, Marleen  invites  in a male roommate, Tiziano (who was late in arriving), to move in during her absense for a months time. After spending time with Tiziano during a pizza sharing with her and her best friend, Helen slowly becomes attracted  to this handsome stranger. During this time, Helen's life falls apart around her.  She slowly comes to realize with Tiziano's help that not everything has to be perfectly straightforward.  It's okay to be crazy, impulsive at times, late, less fanatical, etc.  Her life begins to become less rigid.  She starts arriving to work late, meeting  with Tiziano at market, watching t.v. together, etc.  Helen recognizes  this newfound attraction and decides to put everything on halt for this sexy Italian.I most likely should stop there so I will not spoil the ending to this book.  Do not to expect a happy ending.  Expect realism in the fact that life can very much present the same infatuations, the same situations that this story represented.On that note..There were times in the story where it felt as if it skipped rapidly from one moment to the next.  There were a few times where I expected more description but it fell slighly short.  I think in some ways it's to be expected because you can tell that there is more message to convey than storyline.  It's obvious from reading sections in this book that the Author is a very educated individual and she conveys her message clearly.There are moments in the book that are hard for me as a person to understand.  Although Helen's boyfriend is in the story many times, he's a very distant man with very little character background.  The extent of him leans on the fact that you know he works a lot and pretty much lives in an airport.  Virtually little is known about the roommate, Tiziano.  What is his background, his line of work, his family?  In reality, most individuals must endure a background check before being allowed to rent a place simply for safety reasons.  I  also don't believe that I could be as easy going about relationships that these individuals appear to be.  Casual sex is acceptable and I'm not really the type of person that follows in that direction.  However, I'm not judge and jury in that department and I'm all for the freedom of choices.In saying that,  I truly don't believe the Author means for you to know Tiziano's life story or even where some of the characters are.  This book is based on feelings that center around the infatuation of the other sex, what that infatuation can do to a person, whether destructive or not.  In that aspect, I would recommend this book to anyone that needs to realize how sometimes even the most perfect of situations may not be so perfect. Infatuations may be just that and remain so.  You be the judge.