To Have and To Hold : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Mildly enjoyable
Review: Like many other reviewers, I found this (my first book by Jane Green) to be a mildly entertaining beach read but ultimately disappointing. It was spoiled for me by Green's rather wooden style of writing, flat, unconvincing dialogue and one-dimensional characters. A pity, because I thought the author did an excellent job of creating a sense of place and I could tell - even though I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped - that she could do much better. I look forward to reading her other novels.

Rating:
Summary: A Dull Read
Review: The plot concept is interesting, a trophy wife who really doesn't want to be a trophy wife, and her unfaithful husband. The trouble is, Green doesn't really do anything with the idea. The story kind of limps along following Alice (the wife) as she lives her life around the materialism and image consciousness her husband, Joe, craves.

It's a bland read from start to finish with very little to liven it up. The story focuses mostly on the day to day routines of the characters but gives the reader very little insight into their thought processes or motivations. The point of view changes several times to give unneeded exposition; however, the tone of the story doesn't change and as a result, all the characters seem the same. They are all so flat, dull, and boring that it is impossible to care about any of them.

There is no drama and excitement here, just a disjointed, predictable narrative that goes nowhere. Alice doesn't even discover her husband's five plus years of infidelity until the last 50 pages of the book, after which the character's stories are wrapped up in the most obvious way possible. The reader will be able to spot any plot twist from a mile away.

Green's overly-narrative style and a multitude of flashbacks do little to help move the story and she apparently thinks using the f-word every paragraph or so makes for good writing. Avoid it.

Rating:
Summary: plain and predictable
Review: The plot is predictable, cliché, and phony. One of the phoniest characters is Josie. I was so annoyed whenever I read her. At first, I thought she was cool and different from other leggy blonds like what Jane Green said in the book. Logically, she probably could be someone who teaches Joe a lesson. Or she could be the real one who finally makes Joe crazy about a woman. Based on many pages of describing her attitude towards men and work, she should never ever fall for Joe because he is no different from other jerk. Otherwise, why spend so much time to emphasize that she was different?
But we found she is not actually different from any other women. Nothing follows the logic. She fell for Joe instantly without even a bit of struggle. And the funniest thing is at the end, she seemed worse than any other mistress of Joe's. She longed for Joe, more than Joe wanted her. She just pretended not missing him in front of Joe. In the book, we see so many times that Josie did not answer Joe's phone, she had her own strategy to lure men like Joe, but did that really work? I doubt, Joe left Alice (or I should say it was Alice who left him) not because of her. So I don't understand why author spent so much time on describing her strategies and none of them work. If the author made Josie a women who wants Joe at the very beginning (please don't say that she is a tough workaholic), but just pretending to be cool to get more attention from Joe, that would make more sense and less phony of this character.
This is the second Jane Green's book I have read. I enjoyed her previous book Babyville much more. I give 3 stars because if you don't care about the characters, it's not that boring to read.

Rating:
Summary: Unlikable heroine doesn't help...
Review: Unlikable heroine doesn't help...
I tried to like this book. I really did. However, I think it's easier to connect with a book when you identify with one of the characters. And the main characters here were certainly not identifiable for me. There's the main character, Alice, who is married to Joe, who is a serial cheater, who is currently cheating with Josie, one of his co-workers. When Joe and Josie are discovered messing around in the office, Joe gets transferring across the ocean...to New York City. For Joe, a new city means...new women. And Alice is happy to play away at their country house in Connecticut, which was previously owned by an author, Rachel, whose husband was also cheating on her, and she wrote a book on it, which scandalized the town. (I don't see why that's important, but the author seems to think so.) Alice and Joe I never really cared for as a couple. I wanted him to get caught, and I wanted her to use her head to catch him! I also saw some of the "twists" coming from miles away. I would be willing to try another book by the author because I've heard good things about her, but I wouldn't read this one again.