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Summary: THIS ONE'S A KEEPER!
Review: I don't keep many romance novels. I read them once and pass them along. But I have the feeling I'll read this one again and again and again, picking up new insights each time.This isn't a typical romance. No hearts and flowers, no champagne and fireworks. So what is it? A marriage. Between people who strike me as extraordinary realistic. Not your typical suave hero and fiesty heroine -- if you're looking for those, skip this book! But if you're looking for the depths of love, pain and compassion that can stretch a marriage to the breaking point...followed by an ending that'll leave you reeling...this book belongs on your keeper shelf. Because I'm not lending ANYBODY mine!
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Summary: TRULY A HEARTWRENCHING STORY
Review: The characters were so well drawn, so real to life. Ms. Campbell made me know them intimately, forcing me to feel with them, cry with them, and rejoice with them! Joe and Meg's story is about the heart and the struggle it often takes to open it and to finally admit to what's been inside of it all along. Joe went through so much hell as a prisoner in Milagua that for years, all his emotions and energy were tied up in the only hopeful vision/idea he had to hang on to -- his first love, Elena. Even after he returns home and marries Meg (his best friend's sister), it's not until late in the book that he acknowleges he DOES love his wife, and always has. Watching him come to allow that love, to admit it, to own it -- and only after the impact of discovering his son -- is a powerful,emotional experience.
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Summary: For me, this book didn't live up to its potential.
Review: The premise of the story is promising. Meg McConnell wants two things in life - her husband's love, and a baby to make them into a real family. Those two things don't seem like much, but for Meg they're going to be pretty difficult to come by. For starters, her husband, Joe, doesn't want to be in love with her. His ability to love and, therefore make himself vulnerable, is still all wrapped up in his former lover, Elena. She's dead and Joe seems to be unable to get over her. As if that's not enough of a burden on Meg, she's unable to have children and the only option seems to be to adopt. She feels as if that would secure the family bond whether or not Joe ever loves her. Before they can adopt, however, nine-year-old Tony comes to live with them. Tony is Elena's son....and Joe's. Now Meg has to live with the knowledge that Joe loved - possibly still loves - Elena much more than he loves Meg, and Elena has already given him the child Meg is unable to have. I wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise intrigued me, and I saw the potential for an emotinal, edgy read. I didn't get it. Meg was too sweet, too understanding, and too willing to accept whatever small crumb of affection Joe was willing to give her. I kept waiting for her to stand up for herself, to walk out on Joe, to tell him to get on with his life already - something! - but it never happened. Right up until the very last pages of the book, Joe was calling out Elena's name in his sleep and talking about how much he loved her. If I were Meg, I would have smacked him and probably left him. Meg, however, decides she'd rather have a loveless marriage than none at all. I found that to be a pretty sad comment on the level of her self-esteem. And that was at the end of the book! Sexual tension was almost non-exsistent in this story. In fact, I didn't get the impression that Meg and Joe had a particularly sexual relationship. He treated her more like a sister. His nicknames for her - Meggers and Meggles - were not something I'd want my lover calling me. This book could have been fantastic. I had to force myself to finish it, though, and when I did I was disappointed.
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