July Book Review

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I have to start this review by telling you a bit about my reading habits. Once I start a book, I read it to its bitter end, regardless of how much I hate it. At least that was the case until a couple of years ago. For some reason I always felt obligated to read it and held on to some hope that it would get better. I mean, it had to get better, right? It got published after all. And then when I would get to the end, only to find that it never got better (and some times even got worse), I would be mad at myself for wasting all that time reading an awful book.

Then a few years ago I decided I didn't have time to waste on books I didn't like and became able to put books aside that I didn't like and move on. (I've always thought I'd go back and give the books another chance but to date I haven't done that on any of the books I felt that way about.)

That said, the book I decided to review this month is Kristan Higgins' The Next Best Thing.

The story is told in first person, from the point of view of the heroine and the first chapter is mostly backstory. The heroine is telling how she lost her husband in a terrible car accident and how she's having such a hard time moving on.

The thing is, the author writes her characters in such a way that the reader instantly feels connected to them. The emotions expressed about the heroine's love for her dead husband were real and raw and so strong that I found myself working out the story in my head. The husband wasn't really dead but had been unconscious or had amensia or something along those lines that kept him away but he was going come back and they were going to have a grand reunion. Or maybe it was going to be a Patrick Swayze thing like in Ghost and the hero would still be connected to the heroine, only in a more spiritual way.

At least that was how I was working it out in my head. So, imagine my surprise when, at the end of the first chapter I find out that the heroine is sleeping with her dead husband's brother! In that one sentence reveal, I lost the connection to the characters I had and I'm pretty sure I dropped the book as if it had burned me. For me, it gave the story that "Ick" factor and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to re-connect with the characters or the story. And given my new reading practice, that is where I would've normally decided to stop reading the book because, honestly, her sleeping with her brother-in-law was hard for me to get behind.

But, for some reason I kept reading on. And reading on. And reading on. All the while wondering why because although I really liked the characters and liked the story otherwise, I was really bothered by this one element of the story.

Then, about three quarters of the way through the book something happened. I don't want to say exactly what it was because it would spoil the book if you haven't read it. But, this one scene totally changed how I felt about this book. I got choked up and even started crying. It was so beautifully written and that one scene made everything else in the book okay for me (well, mostly). It explains everything and there was a whole transformation of character in that one scene. It made the difference in my loving the book vs hating the book. I can't explain it. But the bottom line is, I loved this book. My only problem with the book is that I had a serious problem with the sleeping with the brother-in-law when she was so in love with the dead husband still. You got 'glimpes' of the why throughout the book but we didn't get to see the full depth until three quarters of the way through the book and that bothered me because I was seriously hating this book until then. I would've preferred to see a bit more of the depth earlier on.

Bottom line is, I hung on and finished the book and for the first time ever, it was totally worth it. On my sidebar, I gave this book three stars. Normally one would think that was a mediocre rating or one that didn't spark emotion. However, that's a strong three stars. It would've been higher if we'd been in on the secret earlier on. And it would've been a lot lower if Kristan Higgins wasn't such a gifted story teller, coming through (in a big way) in the end.