Review: Hope
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 21, 2012
I really like this book. Ms. Marinelli has a good ability to grasp her readers with just enough detail, not too much. This novel is a good glimpse of hope and second chances with one's spouse.  But, I have a couple of critiques.First of all, Ms. Marinelli seems to forget, like a lot of modern romance novelists, that her readers have an imagination of their own. It is my humble opinion that people who love to read are also very creative, imaginative and inventive.  As a result, they only need to be guided and engaged, but left to piece the obvious themselves.  I specifically refer to the scenes that only a spouse and a wife should be a part of. Its cliche and annoying to encounter the unnecessary descriptions of these scenes in a book such as this one.This book is really beautifully written and throwing in a piece of what Hollywood claims sells only cheapens things.  There is a beauty in leaving some things to the imagination.  I challenge Ms. Marinelli to be different.  She is an amazing writer.  I challenge her to believe in her skills as a writer and protest the status quo of cheap romance novels.Secondly, I also challenge her to look into a faith in God that she may be holding back.  It seems she was tempted to attribute the 'coincidental' occurences in the book to Him, but she held herself back by only saying 'someone' was looking out for the main characters.  Of the couple times that she mentions God by name, one is at a moment to blame Him for what 'went wrong' and another is to reduce Him to a buffet style God that one can pull apart for the pieces that are convenient to us.  And with this again, I challenge her to be different.Believe it or not, for as many people who read romance novels for the 'steamy' scenes, there are that many more who read them for hope in something more.  For some the belief that love is possible, for others that there is hope after difficulties and for others perhaps a good and clean escape.  Maybe your temptation to include God is not a mere coincidence as He does lead to good and hope filled love.I truly loved this book and only gave it one star away from perfect because I choose not to share it with others for the first reason I mentioned above.  I found myself having to skip those pages getting an idea of what was coming.  I do appreciate the warning at least.  But, call it pruddish or whatever else you may but I still believe in there being a lot more said when sometimes nothing is said at all but instead just understood.