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If it's wrong to love you
Sometimes it’s easier to hide from the memories than to have to face them.
Rosario:
At nineteen Rosario married the wealthy, handsome and seemingly charming José Sanchez. Arranged by her parents, the wedding united two of the wealthiest families in Spain. But her happiness is short lived when on her wedding night Rosario discovers that her new husband is nothing less than a monster. She wants to run from him but not wanting to disgrace her family she has no choice but to stay. Her two young children make everything worthwhile, she’d give her life for them.
Maria:
Seventeen years ago when Maria left Fuentes de Montero with her heart in pieces she swore she’d never return. But when she wakes from a coma after a tragic accident she finds her daughter living in Spain with her brother and curses herself for naming him her guardian.
Knowing she will have to confront the memories she’s spent a lifetime trying to escape, Maria returns to her home town to meet a daughter full of questions and is shocked to come face to face with the one person who has haunted her dreams forever.
Sara:
When Sara finds herself whisked away from her life in New York half way around the world to live with an uncle she never knew she had, she instantly falls in love with the tiny village in the south of Spain. It’s here with its whitewashed houses adorned with flowers on every balcony, a labyrinth of cobbled streets and quaint shops that she meets Emilio. There in an instant attraction, and when she finds an old diary belonging to her grandmother, together they begin to unravel secrets from a family that, until now, she hadn’t known existed. Confused by her own feelings for Emilio she is driven by an obsession of finding out about her family and is swept back in time lost in the memories and secrets of her ancestors.
Rosario:
At nineteen Rosario married the wealthy, handsome and seemingly charming José Sanchez. Arranged by her parents, the wedding united two of the wealthiest families in Spain. But her happiness is short lived when on her wedding night Rosario discovers that her new husband is nothing less than a monster. She wants to run from him but not wanting to disgrace her family she has no choice but to stay. Her two young children make everything worthwhile, she’d give her life for them.
Maria:
Seventeen years ago when Maria left Fuentes de Montero with her heart in pieces she swore she’d never return. But when she wakes from a coma after a tragic accident she finds her daughter living in Spain with her brother and curses herself for naming him her guardian.
Knowing she will have to confront the memories she’s spent a lifetime trying to escape, Maria returns to her home town to meet a daughter full of questions and is shocked to come face to face with the one person who has haunted her dreams forever.
Sara:
When Sara finds herself whisked away from her life in New York half way around the world to live with an uncle she never knew she had, she instantly falls in love with the tiny village in the south of Spain. It’s here with its whitewashed houses adorned with flowers on every balcony, a labyrinth of cobbled streets and quaint shops that she meets Emilio. There in an instant attraction, and when she finds an old diary belonging to her grandmother, together they begin to unravel secrets from a family that, until now, she hadn’t known existed. Confused by her own feelings for Emilio she is driven by an obsession of finding out about her family and is swept back in time lost in the memories and secrets of her ancestors.
355 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 29, 2014
I received this from a giveaway.
well connected story and nice last chapter.
the writing could have been better and the book would have done a lot better if it had an editor.
everything other than the last chapter was highly predictble
The setting was nice and warm, the house description is beautiful
well connected story and nice last chapter.
the writing could have been better and the book would have done a lot better if it had an editor.
everything other than the last chapter was highly predictble
The setting was nice and warm, the house description is beautiful
August 12, 2014
If It’s Wrong to Love You by H J Martinez was a goodreads first read win.
Three women, a young bride, her daughter and granddaughter, three lives blighted by one man. The man Jose, is manipulative and cruel. Rosario marries him, not for love but as an arranged marriage. She does not realise, until too late, how awful her life will be. History is about to repeat itself when the daughter, Maria, is about to be forced into an arranged marriage with a similar man. Both Rosario and Maria find love with another man, and both try to escape. It is left to the granddaughter, Sara, who has no idea about her past, to piece together the pieces of the two lives, which have affected her own life.
It is a good story, well written and flowing, you want to read more to see what happens next. You can imagine the characters and the Spanish setting is vivid. The plot gradually unfolds, leaving twists at the end which were not expected.
Although love and sex are central to the theme, it is described in a sensitive way, leaving the reader to imagine rather than giving graphic descriptions – this was appreciated.
Three women, a young bride, her daughter and granddaughter, three lives blighted by one man. The man Jose, is manipulative and cruel. Rosario marries him, not for love but as an arranged marriage. She does not realise, until too late, how awful her life will be. History is about to repeat itself when the daughter, Maria, is about to be forced into an arranged marriage with a similar man. Both Rosario and Maria find love with another man, and both try to escape. It is left to the granddaughter, Sara, who has no idea about her past, to piece together the pieces of the two lives, which have affected her own life.
It is a good story, well written and flowing, you want to read more to see what happens next. You can imagine the characters and the Spanish setting is vivid. The plot gradually unfolds, leaving twists at the end which were not expected.
Although love and sex are central to the theme, it is described in a sensitive way, leaving the reader to imagine rather than giving graphic descriptions – this was appreciated.
July 23, 2015
Following Sara as she is sent to a strange country and thrown into thrown into the embrace of a family she never knew existed after a car crash that left her mother in a coma and claimed the life of her father.
A very emotional and at times predictable tale as history repeats itself at the hands of Sara's grandfather Jose who abuses both his wife and daughter and sends them into the arms of men who truly love and appreciate them.
A very unexpected twist at the end makes this story gripping and very enjoyable.
I would highly recommend .
Big thanks to goodreads First Reads where I won a review copy of this book.
A very emotional and at times predictable tale as history repeats itself at the hands of Sara's grandfather Jose who abuses both his wife and daughter and sends them into the arms of men who truly love and appreciate them.
A very unexpected twist at the end makes this story gripping and very enjoyable.
I would highly recommend .
Big thanks to goodreads First Reads where I won a review copy of this book.
August 31, 2014
I'm not a big reader so like a book that the story keeps moving this book certainly did that a real page turner
I really got into the interesting characters I was there with them !!!! Highly recommend this book it wants you to want more. So Looking forward to the next one
I really got into the interesting characters I was there with them !!!! Highly recommend this book it wants you to want more. So Looking forward to the next one
August 15, 2014
Really enjoyed this love story spanning three generations of women from the same family. This will definitely be,doing the rounds among family and friends.
January 16, 2015
This was a very enjoyable book. Kept me interested and had some nice twists.
August 7, 2014
loved it i read it while on holiday and then passed it to a friend to read it was fab
August 16, 2014
Although the story is engaging enough and I dare say it would make a quite success soap opera in Spanish television afternoons, you can tell it is a self-published book and it could have done with a good editor (not just because of the bad punctuation and lack of knowledge on how to use apostrophes).
The story evolves around three women: Rosario, María and Sara. Maria lives in New York and has had a car accident and is in a coma and her daughter Sara is sent to a village in southern Spain to live with her guardian, her mother's brother. Once there, she tries to find out about her grandmother Rosario, who is dead, but nobody wants to talk about it.
Taking into account that her mother is in a coma, her father has just died and she is forced to travel thousands of miles to live with people she didn't know they existed, Sara takes all this extremely well and adjusts really easily to life in Spain - no conflict whatsoever there.
My main issue though is that these three characters seem to blend into each other for me. They have no distinct voices and their stories are so similar (victims of domestic violence, arranged marriages, forbidden loves, unplanned pregnancies...), there doesn't seem to be a need for all three characters to appear in the same book.
Add to that the clichés: hearts beating so loud other people can hear them, the love making scenes (that seem pretty repetitive), strong muscular bodies from working in the sun...
Many of these 'sins' could have been avoided with the help of a good editor. For instance, something that I think could have helped the novel greatly would be to have the story a bit more fragmented. Each chapter is narrated by a character, but too many chapters on a row are narrated by the same character. I really believe that if the story was more fragmented with no two chapters in a row told by the same character, this would have forced the author to give them more distinctive voices and personalities, making it a far better book.
The author has good ideas but the book was a bit 'raw' and needed a bit more of work. In any case, kudos to her for being brave and exposing her work to the world!
The story evolves around three women: Rosario, María and Sara. Maria lives in New York and has had a car accident and is in a coma and her daughter Sara is sent to a village in southern Spain to live with her guardian, her mother's brother. Once there, she tries to find out about her grandmother Rosario, who is dead, but nobody wants to talk about it.
Taking into account that her mother is in a coma, her father has just died and she is forced to travel thousands of miles to live with people she didn't know they existed, Sara takes all this extremely well and adjusts really easily to life in Spain - no conflict whatsoever there.
My main issue though is that these three characters seem to blend into each other for me. They have no distinct voices and their stories are so similar (victims of domestic violence, arranged marriages, forbidden loves, unplanned pregnancies...), there doesn't seem to be a need for all three characters to appear in the same book.
Add to that the clichés: hearts beating so loud other people can hear them, the love making scenes (that seem pretty repetitive), strong muscular bodies from working in the sun...
Many of these 'sins' could have been avoided with the help of a good editor. For instance, something that I think could have helped the novel greatly would be to have the story a bit more fragmented. Each chapter is narrated by a character, but too many chapters on a row are narrated by the same character. I really believe that if the story was more fragmented with no two chapters in a row told by the same character, this would have forced the author to give them more distinctive voices and personalities, making it a far better book.
The author has good ideas but the book was a bit 'raw' and needed a bit more of work. In any case, kudos to her for being brave and exposing her work to the world!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews