Reviewed by Lianne on
Safe & Sound looks at life after loss and tragedy and rebuilding one’s future from scratch, so to speak. Jill wasn’t expecting to go about the rest of her life without Jay and it was interesting to read about how she reorients her future to one without her husband.
What I liked the most about this novel, and which I found to be its strength, was in Jill’s friendship with Lanie and Stella. It’s a pretty solid friendship; Jill has her moments of temper, as does Stella, but all three women weather through the ups and downs, misunderstandings get patched up, and there are plenty of good times in between. It was also wonderful how Lanie and Stella were there for Jill through this very difficult time, especially given that Jill had no immediate family to lean to.
The unexpected romance that develops later in the story was sweet but I felt it still happened a little too quickly; it felt a little too soon that she embarked on a new romantic relationship while still in the process of moving on from her previous life with her husband and coming to terms with what happened. I’m glad that the matter was addressed in the book and Jill herself wondered at how quickly things were developing with Ross but I couldn’t help but feel like the character didn’t spend enough time alone to sort herself through before starting a new relationship with someone else.
Overall, Safe & Sound was an interesting first novel. I read it in one afternoon because I needed to know how everything was going to turn out for the characters. The ending could’ve been a little tapered off–I felt it was going on and on after the climax–and I wished the novel had touched on the other aspects of Jill’s life (it mentioned here and there how she was a teacher) but it was interesting to read as Jill gradually recover from her shock and her loss. Readers of clean, contemporary romance novels may be interested in checking out this novel.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 July, 2014: Finished reading
- 20 July, 2014: Reviewed