Review: great story about the misconceptions we have about relationships and parenthood
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2012
I give this a 4.5. I took away .5 due to the amount of times I wanted to hit Griffin over the head like Ophelia did :)I could totally relate to Clare Gray. She got pregnant at an early age and had to raise her daughter on her own. She put herself through law school to be able to support herself and her daughter and to hopefully be able to give her daughter the things she wanted for her - a good education and college. Clare pushed for her daughter Katie to take the best classes and to go to MIT for the summer. She had all the best intentions for her daughter and did it all out of love but she never stopped to ask Katie if that is what she really wanted. We as parents want our kids to not make the same mistakes we made, we try so hard to protect them and guide them and think we know whats best for them but sometimes that isnt always what our children want and try as hard as we might they still in someways are destined to make our mistakes. Clare had to learn to let go of her ideas for her daughter. She also made other classic mistakes single mothers do, she tried to protect her daughter from the truth about her father. Once Clare came clean with Katie about her father she found out that it didn't devastate her and it made her love her mom even more for finally trusting her with the truth.Now Griffin Friesé.. Griffin thought all through his marriage that the most important thing was money. So he lived his job and thought by having money to give to his wife and daughter that everything was ok. Never realizing that his never being for them due to all the hours he worked he was alienating his wife. He was truly shocked when he came home one day to find them gone. And had no idea why she left him. In his mind she was the person in the wrong. After two years of not being able to reconnect with his daughter and blaming his ex wife on her not wanting to see him he sets out to the small town of Birch Crossing to try and get her back. But he goes into it all wrong. He thinks is he buys his daughters favorite clothing line and makes her the offer of she can work beside him that she will come back to him. I had a really hard time understand Griffin's thinking. He totally thought material things were what was most important in life and what would get his daughter back. When he finds out she still wants nothing to do with him he still blames the ex. Even though from all appearances the ex has moved on and married and even had twins and looks very happy with her new husband.Now to the romance. At the start of the book Clare is driving through a storm to get to her daughter is his trapped with friends up in the mountains out in the storm. She runs into Griffin after encountering a tree in the middle of the road she cant get around. He offers to help her by pulling a totally crazy stunt to get around the tree. After saving her daughter and friends Clare feel gratitude towards Griffin and also a stir of something she hasnt felt in 15 years. When she finds out that Griffin needs a place to stay and the town isnt helping as they think he is there to murder is ex wife and daughter she offers him a room at her farmhouse. When Griffin is with Clare he is a totally different person. He realizes this and does let himself be that person while he is with her. He also comes across many wise people in the town that give him good advise but when push comes to shove he always makes the wrong decisions.I loved all the times between Clare and Griffin. They both had soo much baggage from there past and they each helped the other heal in many ways but some old habits were hard to break. The internal struggle Griffin has toward the end when something sad happens was heartbreaking to read but also a moment when you pumped your hands in the air and said ABOUT TIME GRIFFIN :)This was a great story about the misconceptions we have about relationships and parenthood.