The story starts with one heck of an emotional thump: Sharon's husband, James,is declared 'brain dead' and the doctor is arranging to switch off life support. Fair enough - I am expecting a story about Sharon's struggle to deal with the tragedy, maybe some slow-developing love story, some serious angst...
BUT instead I get Lana, the cousin of the dead man, who seems to actually be more concerned about James than Sharon! It is Lana who holds James's hand while the machines are switched off. There was something rather unsavoury in a way about her behaviour, as if she was the wife, or perhaps a secret lover?
And then the story follows Lana as she suffers from depression in the weeks after James's death. (err.. what about the wife???) And then she decides to go away for a break.
The writing is random in places. e.g: She is pestered by a man at the airport, but instead of it being pertinent to the plot, it seems to be just a way to dump some info about Boston. A very clunky scene.
There were some parts that didn't make sense: She knew it was Mike's truck, and although she never met the man, she knew he looked like a ship's captain - a gruff-looking man who was short, chubby and grumpy.
HOW did she know it was his truck? And HOW did she know what he looked like? She has never met the man!!
And then she sees him and .....
.. he was every bit of six-foot-four with salt and pepper hair, mostly pepper, piercing sky-blue eyes, and a smile that would brighten any gloomy day. He was in excellent shape with no chubby tummy on him.
err... WTF??
Lana came across as a shallow, vapid teenager instead of a mature woman of 46, mourning the loss of her cousin. At one point she hears about the death of a local Marshal, and ...
How sad, I hope he's okay, she thought. She surfed through more channels and stopped on the movie Gone with The Wind on TNT. She couldn't resist one of her favourite oldies.
As I said. Shallow.
The writing is ponderous in places and there are far too many 'product placements' for my liking. I don't need to know that someone is wearing Christian Dior and Dockers.
SPaG are in desperate need of editing: E.g:
She wondered if it's the oldest lighthouse in Plymouth.
As the wind blew, it's howling sounded spooky - like wolves scratching.
I finally gave up at this point:
Sexually aroused, Lana adjusted herself on the bed to get a better look at him.
No. That is SO wrong on SO many levels.