Rating: 
Summary: not a great message for women
Review: This book presents the sad tale of a woman who has been viciously raped and has severe post traumatic stress disorder as a result. She is more or less a total mess until her old boyfriend comes back into her life. He helps her heal, etc. After a lot of drama, all is well.I mean, yuck. Rape can certainly cause PTSD, but this is unrealistic. To give just one example, Marilee achieves sexual healing remarkably quickly, once she can bring herself to be intimate with Joe. That's not exactly how it happens in real life. But really, my main problem is that Marilee is a basket case until Joe comes back. In reality, a woman who did not pursue getting her PTSD treated in 10 years would probably not start working on it all of the sudden because her boyfriend was back in the picture. But let's say for the sake of argument that she would do this, realistically. The message of this book is still damaging IMO. Marilee does not see herself as a person of value until she has Joe's love once more. Also, I am beyond sick of the "marriage of convenience" plot. That convention should be abandoned immediately IMO. For the sake of those young rape survivors reading romance novels, I hope the treatment of rape gets a lot more empowering than this. Ideally, Marilee would have realized her personal worth and started getting better long before Joe came back.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have read it 3 times now in the past week. Thanks for a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: "Seventh Heaven" lives up to it's name
Review: What a wonderful story! Joe and Marilee, separated for ten years, have never stopped loving each other and are obviously meant to be together. While they were in college, a tragic event that happens to Marilee caused her to end her engagement to Joe. He goes on to become a famous professional football player, while she becomes an agoraphobic children's book writer/author. Following his divorce and a messy custody battle, Joe comes back to his small hometown with his son (who suffers from agoraphobia as well) to live the quiet life and coach high school football. Joe still loves Marilee and still wants to be with her, but she is so traumatized at seeing him again that she has a panic attack. The story slowly builds to the inevitable conclusion from there. This book reminded me of Anderson's previous book Annie's Song. Fans of that book will definately love this one. My only complaint is that the incident that forces Joe and Marilee to get married quickly fades and is not truly explored, that's why I give this book a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star rating.
| 
