Review: Starfish
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 15, 2012
Livvy has been replaced by her despicable husband William with a more sexual woman. She runs to her childhood home where she wallows in pain. Her brother forces her to join him for a Christmas vacation at an old friend's (Rory) home. Rory and his brother Max as well as their mother Molly and cook Martha are all welcoming and loving toward Livvy. Molly quickly takes to Livvy and Livvy to Molly; Molly's intentions are to nudge a love match between Livvy and Max. When Max learns more about the damage Livvy's marriage caused her, he warms to her and realizes that he's starting to love her. However, Max isn't free to love Livvy as he is already in a relationship with the tart without a heart: Reba. With forces of evil in the forms of Reba and William siding against them, will Max and Livvy ever really have a chance at all?This really was a sweet read. It's not written perfectly but it is well written and engaging. If I had to pick the characters apart, my issue with Livvy would be that she's TOO perfectly good and innocent. She's not a chick with a backbone, she is in fact as she stated it: a doormat. She's the kind of heroine that a lot of readers probably aren't going to be overly fond of. Max needed to be fleshed out more, he needs more of a personality, he's a bit stiff as a character. Both Livvy and Max are still likable; they are good people held under metaphorical water by bad people and trying desperately to come up for air.Although the romance between Max and Livvy is the main focus of the book (and more romance would have been welcomed), the spotlight is actually on the secondary characters - Max's mother Molly and the cook Martha. They easily stole the show from the leads. Had Molly and Martha been showcased less or absent entirely, I know that I would not have enjoyed this book as much as I did. They really did make the book much more enjoyable.I would recommend this only to those that can stomach a weak female lead and a cardboard hero. If you prefer a spunky and sassy heroine, you will be disappointed with this. I enjoyed it despite Livvy's doormat status because she was sympathetic and I understood why she was the way she was.