Review: What happened?
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2013
Okay, I dithered about the rating, and ended up going with the two stars instead of three, but again, after reading this novella, I was left with a vague sense of disappointment rather than the deep sigh of satisfaction.I know we like our characters to be flawed, but I have read more than one book in recent months where the heroine is so clumsy, they really shouldn't be allowed to get out of bed (or their chair). This one was constantly being caught mid-flight towards a face-first landing on the floor by whoever happened to be in the room with her. And she didn't seem to need much by way of a hazard to send her full tilt towards the floor, either.It failed to be endearing, and actually made me feel quite impatient with her - which was a vast pity, because there were some  good things about the story, but every time I was starting to feel better about the story... there she went - flying face first towards the floor again - and the feeling-good moment was shattered again.Another thing that seriously jarred with me was the engagement that had spanned a few years. Excuse me?  Didn't the author remember the mother she gave this girl? That woman would have marched him up the aisle at gunpoint before the ink was dry on the marriage settlement agreement!And then there's Grace again - Grace who seems to do nothing else in life except flit from one friend's house to another's - never doing anything for anyone else or in any way contributing to the lives of those around her. She just does nothing. Though I suppose if you fling yourself face first at the floor every time you stand up, you probably should sit around doing nothing.The girlfriends - okay, so after this very long engagement, this very wealthy, titled suitor breaks off the engagement and disappears, apparently without reason. The author could have handled this better - for both the reader and her heroine.  Nonetheless, when Stephen (the hero) does return, the heroine's friends close ranks around Grace - and conveniently forget that that man stoody by her, was always there to catch her when she fell (literally), and hung around for three or more years with that diabolical woman who was destined to be his mother-in-law, and none of these good friends gave him any credit for that.Josephine finally fave him the benefit of the doubt (first time I actually liked her).There were too many loose ends left dangling when the story ended - and not in the 'there's going to be a sequel' way either.After reading the book, I really did not like the heroine being named Grace.