Review: weak plot - it's good but it it could have been great
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 12, 2012
It seems to me that almost all recent novels have one of the following conflicts: it's always either the love triangle, or the misunderstanding. And I'm SO SICK of them. While I was spared the first one, I didn't get so lucky with the latter.I also felt that this novel wanted to be something that it's not. The author took a little bit of Fifty and a little bit of Love Unscripted, then added a touch of this and a drop of that, trying to include all the ingredients that made other books into bestsellers. And it's a pity because I think she's a wonderful storyteller, who knows how to make vivid images and dialogues, to create angst and tension, to catch the reades' interest and keep them on their toes. She could have done so much more with this novel.My grievances more to the point:- it's only SO FAR that the "little misunderstanding" can drive a novel. It became so far fetched that I was constantly rolling my eyes and breezing through the pages, where the author thought that reasserting it would add to the angst.- the beginning of the relationship felt rushed and a bit unrealistic.- Jackson's "mine" from the first half of the book had only a declarative value, it wasn't supported by the character's behaviour (this wasn't the case in the second half, where Jackson's speech felt more "in character").- the heroine was supposed to be this smart woman, who could make it in New York. How such a person couldn't realise that if someone lied to HIM, they could've also lied to her, is beyond me and again feels far fetched.- the author took an easy way out resolving the conflict with the ex-boyfrind - tied it up with a nice new couple. The solution didn't measure up to the build-up. She could've done so much more with this.All in all this was a great read despite the weak plot: great characters, wonderful romance, plenty of angst, steamy scenes. With a better plot it could have been outstanding - the author sure does have it in her to achieve that.