I didn’t mention this in my letter, but I did get a bit tired of reading about the same food over and over. I had the same issue with Crusie’s Bet Me. I don’t like to eat the same food every day, and there’s only so much I can read about the same food, too.

I agree. I had never had Chicken Marsala before, and after the book I tried it - and thought, “Wow. I can’t imagine this could fuel a whole book.” Now, Dove bars (from Welcome to Temptation), those can be my muse any day. :)

I got this book for my mother for her birthday in October. She loved it.

Glad your mom liked it, Rachel.

Then she passed it on to me and I couldn’t get past the first third.

For what it’s worth, I think the book gets stronger as it goes on.

I have loved Smith in the past, esp. A Place to Call Home and Hold on Tight, but her I thought she was trying to hard to be PROFOUND about outward appearance and suffering and the value of community and and and…

Maybe the difference is that you were comparing Smith to herself, and I was comparing her to the average contemporary romance author? I agree that she was trying a bit too hard; that’s why I felt a need for more subtlety. But at the same time, I liked that she was trying to say something in this book and that it wasn’t just fluff (Not that fluff can’t be fun, but something more substantial can be good too, and is more difficult to find).

Plus, the utter callousness of the husband, well, that seemed awfully convenient to me. A get-out-of-jail card, plot-wise.

I agree about that; the husband could have been more fleshed out as a character.

And - does this make me weird? - none of the food mentioned ad nauseum sounded remotely good to me.

I didn’t mention this in my letter, but I did get a bit tired of reading about the same food over and over. I had the same issue with Crusie’s Bet Me. I don’t like to eat the same food every day, and there’s only so much I can read about the same food, too.

Are Manhattanites not allowed to like Spam?

LOL. Of course they are allowed to like Spam, but I would venture to guess that as a gross generalization, most of them prefer deli meats.

I felt that the Southern characters were very convincing as such, but Thomas was a little less convincing as a New Yorker. The Spam thing is one example I gave to explain why I felt that way. It may not be the best example, but I still would have liked to have seen a bit more of New York reflected in the character.

Is that like the episode of SATC where Carrie insists Manhattanites don’t wear scrunchies, and her relationship with Ron Livingston goes downhill after that?