I am sad to say I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. As this series has progressed, each book has gotten a bit more “mystical” with sorts of supernatural events taking place. I don’t mind there being miracles or a bit of the supernatural element sometimes, but this series really didn’t need it. The first book had none and was my favorite.
As for the characters, I really liked Corina. She was sweet, kind and smart. I felt for her pain and suffering and struggle, and it made me so mad the way she was treated by Stephen. Which leads me into: I really really disliked him. He was so unbearable selfish and gave no consideration to Corina and what she went through (either with her loss of her brother or caused by him). He is a jerk to her and plays the hot/cold behaviour with her. Now I do understand that PTSD and survivors guilt can be really bad, but his behaviour is just way over the line and eliminates any sympathy I may have felt for him. Because of this I felt her love (or at the very least her trust) of him was completely undeserved. He should have had to fight for her in the end to prove himself worthy of her love and trust and prove that he was truly changed.
Another thing that really bothered me about this book is that the author has the characters talking about annulling their marriage, but in reality they don’t qualify for an annulment (a “mistake” doesn’t legally qualify) so really they are talking about divorce. I can accept that non-Christian literature may use this as a base for a romantic story, but not in Christian fiction. It just sits with me wrong, especially as she is clearly trying to make it okay by labelling it (incorrectly) an “annulment”. This is not romantic or in any way comfortable to read.
Furthermore, I am finding that the older I get the less I like the “second chance” romance. With so many hurt feelings, betrayals, etc. that come with this trope I just don’t know if I find them believable. Not that I don’t believe in forgiveness or second chances (I do), but in the ways they are portrayed in stories like this, I don’t know. There is a vast difference between forgiveness and throwing oneself back into a situation that had devastating personal consequences the first time round without any evidence that this time will be different.
Finally the last negative I want to talk about is the point of view we are coming from. I like it when we switch back and forth between the romantic leads, and this book does do that, but it also includes the random inclusion of a third point of view of Gigi (Corina’s boss). This is merely a pet peeve of mine. It pulls me out of the romantic story. But this time it especially irritated me because she was a horrible person and I really disliked being in her head.
The only thing I really liked about the book was how we look at grief and loss from multiple perspectives (parents, siblings, spouses’, friends, etc.) and over an extended period of time. I felt Hauck handled this topic well. And how she dealt with her topic of grief is why this book didn’t get one star from me.
Overall I am terribly disappointed. I loved the first book in the series and really liked the second, so what a let down here. To be honest, I don’t know that I am willing to even try the last book in the series, especially as it also sounds like it is also a second chance romance.
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