Bittersweet

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Summary: BEST BOOK I'VE READ IN A LONG TIME
Review: "Bittersweet" is about a woman named India Taylor, who was a wonderful mother, who juggled Little League, car pools, piano lessons, and Cape Code summer vacations. Getting bored with her life, India decides that she would like to go back to work as a photojournalist. One summer day, India meets a man named Paul Ward, who changes her life forever. Paul, whose wife recently passed away in a plane crash, begins chatting with India everyday. Both talk about their hopes and dreams and he tells her not to give up her dreams of going back to her work. Finally convinced, India decides to tell her husband of her plan, hoping he would understand. Doug tells her that he thinks of her only as a person to take car of the house, children and someone to cook him dinner when he comes home from work. Furious, India and Doug finally get a divorce because she is in love with Paul. A romance begins to bloom, but too soon for Paul. In the end, the two finally decide they need to be together.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the ending was by far the best part because it was so happy and sad all at once. I was happy to see them both finally find romance and happiness for once in their life. The book shows that in life bad things will happen but fate won't let anything else bad happen to you. I liked how throughout the entire novel Paul gave her advice and made her feel worthy and important. She really needed someone to understand her. I can see exactly where she is coming from. Driving car pools and cooking dinner does not look like the life any woman would want everyday. People need more to their life than that. People need to feel that they are good at something and everyone needs a hobby. Nobody needs anyone to tell him or her that they cannot do anything. I think India was strong when she told her husband that she was going back to work. It took a lot of guts. I thought this book was well written, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon...where are the real people here?
Review: If you like repetition...read this book. If you like repetition...read this book. If you like repetition...read this book. Did you get the point? IF Steel is one of the best, THIS is one of her worst! Starting out, I truly felt she was identifying with a struggle many women experience as children grow up and memories of early career goals start to resurface. After a couple chapters we had rehashed the issue so many times, we became bored with our own memories! The book could have been written in three chapters. The only thing that keeps you reading is the fact that you want it to be over! (I literally took almost two months to read the book because there was no point to hurry through. The ending is contrived, the characters are either too 'good' or too 'bad'. In order to finish I had to put space between redings so I wasn't bored beyond belief!) Can we please bring LaVyrle Spencer out of retirement? Note to Amazon...don't invest in many copies of this one. There will be too many copies people will want to unload so they don't have to dust another tome!