Cocktails and Books
Written on Nov 1, 2014
Lydia’s character was very independent almost to the point of being nonsensical. She reminded me of the stories about women that refuse to let men pay the bill or open the door. She was so crippled by the wounds of her past that it literally tainted everything in her life. I never crossed that line to feel empathy for her. I thought her character was too extreme. Ryan’s character was very sensitive. He looked out for his former fiancé, and he did everything he could to try to gain Lydia’s trust. He had some issues from his past that caused him to be afraid to trust. I will say that I really like strong female and male leads in novels. That might be why the characters didn’t resonate with me. I never felt vested in their stories. The author took every opportunity to remind the reader of the brokenness of these characters. I felt like this was at the expense of their character development.
The storyline felt rushed. It felt like I was waltzing around their issues for the majority of the novel with no progress toward a resolution. There was no journey toward change. It felt like the author was ready to end the book so she penned a dramatic event and suddenly the problems fell away, and they had their happily ever after. I liked the book, but I think it could have been so much better with more character development.
Reviewed by Michelle for Cocktails and Books