Review: Turned out to be a keeper.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2012
I really enjoyed this book.  The writing just drew me into Jack and Faith's lives.There's an old legend about apartment 1G is that if you see the lady in the mirror, your life will change, either your greatest wish or your worst fear will come true.Jack and his brother Eric lived in 1G 25 years earlier.  After an argument with Jack, Eric commits suicide.  Jack runs away feeling guilty and becomes a war zone reporter.  Twenty five years later, Jack still struggles with guilt and the burden of all the atrocities he's witnessed as a reporter.  He finally breaks down during a rather routine assignment in Haiti and decides to come back to LA to figure out what he wants to do.Faith is staying temporarily with Sammi-Jo.  Sammi-Jo is blonde, vivacious and brilliant.  Faith is quiet, shy and struggling with years of guilt that came from a father who did not feel that women were supposed to do anything more than take care of men's physical needs.  The two opposites are best friends from small town Georgia.  Though Sammi-Jo exudes confidence and Faith's appearances screams for protection and make her seem fragile.Faith decides after her mother dies to break away from her father and become what she wants.  She tells Jack, "All my life, other people have been making my decisions for me, I've been told because I was born female, I'm weak and helpless and don't know my own mind.  That I can't be trusted to do the right thing or to know what's best for me.  Well, I'm not weak and I'm not helpless.  Not anymore.  I make my own decisions now.  And if they're the wrong decisions, well, they're still my decisions.  I refuse to let anyone try to tell me what I want or need, and I don't want to be protected from myself."The secondary characters are interesting, but they only serve as props for Jack and Faith.  They give advice, listen and make observations, but none of them really seem to influence the main characters.Jack struggles with being almost 20 years older than faith and more world weary.  Faith struggles with guilt that isn't hers and she knows that just because you don't look like a monster, doesn't mean you aren't.  As fragile as she seems, she can see Jack for who he truly is and knows his heart is just as bruised and lonely as hers.  For being small town girl, Faith has a lot of maturity and insight into the human character and she really gets Jack.  Even when he's trying to break her heart, she gets him.  When he warns he he could hurt her, she reminds him she could hurt him as well.I loved Faith's lines and her character and her sweet heart.  I love how stupid Jack is, even when all he really wants to do is to protect Faith and he tries to hurt her to do it.  It was logical and realistic and heartbreaking.  I loved the ending and I loved just how all around good it felt to read their story.