Custody

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing family drama
Review: If I'd been writing this book, I wouldn't have started with the teaser scene Thayer chose (and it was extremely confusing that the date at the top of the first chapter was an error--it should have read September 2000 rather than August 2000--who did the line edit, anyway?). After reading that first scene, I didn't want to go back a month and read what led up to it. I suspect that's why some readers found the beginning slow going. If Thayer had just started the story earlier and told it chronologically, it would have been a more satisfying read. Frankly, I didn't want to know what she revealed in that first scene. I'd have preferred to find out who the man in the custody case was on my own. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thayer's strength is characterization, and these characters were three-dimensional and compelling. Ann was particularly fascinating, and Tessa was wonderful. I was a bit disappointed with the end of the book, though. Thayer wrapped things up a little too quickly, I felt. We never did get to see Ann's turnaround. I just couldn't buy into the idea that a woman so driven and obsessed would so quickly acquiesce to the changes wrought by the judge's decision. I also wanted to see more of how Tessa felt afterwards. Still, I would recommend this book and anything else Thayer writes.

Rating:
Summary: Touching, Complicated Custody Battle
Review: Kelly McLeod, newly appointed family court judge, has been defending clients for years, but now on the other side of the bench she feels even more responsibility to do the right thing. She has seen many families ripped apart by divorce and ugly custody battles. She is engaged to marry rich, handsome Jason, but is delaying setting a date for their marriage.

During one of her weekly visits to her mother�s graveside, Kelly meets a mysterious stranger who is also visiting his mother�s grave. They have a frank and startling conversation, and during the following week she can�t stop thinking about him. They meet again the following weekend, and she becomes even more intrigued by this handsome, earnest, charismatic man.

The story also involves Anne Madison, political activist running for state representative on a health care platform. Anne is battling for full custody of her 12-year-old daughter, Tessa. Randall Madison, successful physician, also wants custody of Tessa, and feels that he would provide a better home because of Anne�s many neuroses and her obsessive-compulsive behavior. Tessa is caught in the middle of wanting to please both of her parents.

Kelly, Anne and Randall must all learn to deal with past sorrows, and put aside anger to move on and do what is best for Tessa as well as for themselves. The book is an interesting and moving exploration of the damage that can be done to children and families as a result of divorce and custody battles.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable and Formulaic
Review: This was a quick and predictable read. Its only saving feature was that it contained a fair amount of interesting information about the judicial system as it applies to Family Court. I think "Judging Amy" does it better, though.

Thayer throws in all the necessities for what men love to call a "woman's book": a mysterious meeting between two people who are incredibly and instantly attracted to each other, the decision of these two people to remain anonymous, an illegitimate birth and an adopted child, a wife/mother with some serious mental problems that she is covering up....the list goes on.

Books like this depend far too much on coincidence and contrivance for my taste. I probably should not have bothered finishing it, but I wanted to see where Thayer would go with the obvious Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which affected Anne Madison. The author ended up not really confronting this issue and this lack was very disappointing to me.

I agree with the other reviewer who said that there was too much foreshadowing. This literary device is so overused and I really dislike it.

Rating:
Summary: Slow Start......Fast Finish
Review: This was the First Nancy Thayer Book I've ever read, so I cannot compare it to her other works. Standing on it's own though, I will say this; It gets off to a really slow start. Nancy get's bogged down in describing every minute detail and continues this rather frustrating trend for the first 100 pages or so. After that, the characters are well enough developed and the story starts to flow. The story chronicles the events following the marital seperation between a doctor and a politician, and what happens to each of them and their 12 year old daughter leading up to and finishing with the outcome of the divorce and child custody case. Interwoven into those events it describes the process by which the other main character becomes a judge in the family court circuit in Massachusetts and how all of these people come together under a set of rather bizzare circumstances/coincidences. The main characters, Anne, Kelly, Randall and Tesse are all unique and exhibit some rather strange behaviors that make the story more interesting. And Nancy's depiction of these behaviors comes across as being very accurate. The plot has it's twists and turns but ultimately is rather predictable, even though it is hard to believe anything like this could happen in real life. Too much foreshadowing...

Rating:
Summary: Obvious plot, rushed ending
Review: While I agree witht the other reviewers concerning the characters and ending, my chief complaint was the dialogue. Found it stilted and artificial (does anyone really say "Yes, I am beset with problems") Early scene in cemetary was so artificial, I had to push to proceed, but Tessa was a pleasure. Would try another book by Thayer, but this didn't make may favorites list.

Rating:
Summary: A Bit of a Stretch...
Review: While I agree witht the other reviewers concerning the characters and ending, my chief complaint was the dialogue. Found it stilted and artificial (does anyone really say "Yes, I am beset with problems") Early scene in cemetary was so artificial, I had to push to proceed, but Tessa was a pleasure. Would try another book by Thayer, but this didn't make may favorites list.

Rating:
Summary: Obvious plot, rushed ending
Review: While this is an easy read, a good "beach book," it had several problems. One is that instead of foreshadowing, the author practically boinks you on the head -- so many of the events "revealed" at towards the end were obvious from the very beginning. Additionally, the ending was rushed. After setting the scene for a custody battle, and allowing the reader to see various scenes leading up to it [e.g., the Guardian ad Litem's meetings with multiple characters], we get none of the actual custody trial. Finally, the problems of certain characters just seem to disappear by the ending, with no explanation on if they dealt with them or how, and how they adjusted to the ruling in the custody case. My first thought was "Is that it?" Haven't read any of the author's other books, but this one didn't really encourage me to do so.