Review: He is old enough to know better, She has been too sheltered to know what she wants.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 7, 2013
First things First.  Once I decided to suspend my disbelief, I settled down and decided to just enjoy the sweet tale it was meant to be.  Normally I probably would have given this a 2 because it is so unbelievable, but I was in the mood for a bit of saccharine.Mariah is off the charts book smart.  However, she hasn't been socialized very well.  She is too afraid to tell her parents that she doesn't want to follow their plan for her life.Sol was critically injured, but has decided to defy the doctors and get better.Mariah and Sol have been pen pals and Mariah has lied about her age and had sent a picture of her older sister to reinforce the age.  Thinking he is dying he asks her to marry him on his deathbed over the phone....While I found the story cute, I would not wish a young woman to read this.  Sol comes off as a guy who has sowed his wild oats but when it comes to marriage he definitely wants to be the one in charge.  Mariah having very little experience in being in a relationship, being used to having her parents tell her how to live her life, exchanges one autocrat for another.  I can see that the author was trying to show that Sol just wanted her to trust him, in the end I felt that he was manipulating her too much.  He was older and if he wanted a trusting relationship he should have just sat her down and talked instead of playing head games.  Mariah is just too cocooned to be real.  She was a little girl running from something she didn't want to deal with and finding herself drowning in her own lies.I did enjoy the exposition on marriage and fighting, although sometimes it did become a bit preachy.  Which brings me to a point that didn't bother me, but may other readers.  Although, this isn't what I would call religious romance, there is a minor religious undercurrent, very subtle, but it is there.Several points where I had to suspend my disbelief, in this day and age, if they had written together for so long they would have ended up skyping, he would have known how old she was.  I wasn't quite with the consummation coming so quickly even if they were married, especially as he was still recuperating and she was very nervous.  There are other points but they would include spoilers.So while I personally got irritated with the older man teaching the younger woman the ways of the world, especially him being the boss because he was the husband.  I did enjoy the read while reading.  However, in the last 24 hours, when I think of some of the scenes, I truly start to dislike both of them.  He for being autocratic (with very good intentions) and she for being a coward (who should have known better).So if want a story of a man old enough to know better and a girl too young to know what she wanted, this is a nice little story.  If you like stories where the H/h come together as equals, give this a miss.