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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Editing Issues Detract From What Could Be a Great Read, January 4, 2012
Carly is like a lot of us, she has good and bad things going on in her life. She has a successful business where chocolate is freely available (wouldn't we all love that?) and friends in whom she can trust. But she has insecurities as well, based on recent events in her life. She had a mastectomy as the result of breast cancer, and her husband left her in the middle of her illness. She's also overweight - due in part to the chocolate. When her 'hunk' announces he's returning to town, Carly is determined to get into shape. Thankfully, her best friend is attempting to move on after the death of his wife - Carly's step-sister - and so becomes her accountability partner. Her step-mother is also determined that Carly will eat healthily. This novel, available in e-reader form only, was apparently first released in paperback in 2008. It has been released electronically at the same time as Hunt's co-authored title Smitten, and is no doubt supposed to tie in with that. Unfortunately, there are occasional inconsistencies between the two books. First, there is now a very large and fancy hotel in the town of Smitten where the lumber mill used to be. I'm not sure when that might have been built. Secondly, the town's spa is different. In Smitten, it's called the Smitten Spa and Grill and is located on a road outside the town center. In Bittersweet Surrender, it's located inside a fancy hotel. Considering the building of the spa was a major plot point in Smitten, it's difficult to see why this wasn't re-edited to fit. The editing itself is also a problem. For a start, what is the correct spelling of the name of the main character? The promotional information uses two different spellings, so I'm going with the one used throughout the narrative. Also, Carly's best friend is actually called Scott. He's not the business partner, but an accountant. He might have inherited the partnership from his wife who did appear to have a share of the business, but that isn't made clear. What is clear is that Carly's spa has financial problems, which is why Scott is going over the books his wife used to handle. Next, we have to return to the hotel in Smitten. In one scene, Carly tells her stepmother that there was a West Baden Springs Spa in southern Indiana. In the scene after next, Carly arrives at the West Baden Springs Hotel - in Smitten. That part jolted me out of the narrative because I immediately wondered why Carly had gone to Indiana! When Carly arrives at the hotel, she tells her companions, "I've been by this place a few times, but I have never been inside." After they've checked in, however, she says, "I'd forgotten how nice this place is." Carly's memory is surely not that bad. If not for the editing and Smitten inconsistencies, this could be a great book. I identified with Carly and her insecurities and hated how her ex-husband and brother treated her. Once Jake was introduced, I took a disliking to him as well. I couldn't understand the relationship between him and his daughter, a very sweet teenager, at all. The key theme of this book comes from Carly's sister in law, Rita. "People aren't always what they seem." Ain't that the truth? Jake might be a 'hunk' while his daughter dresses differently, but the daughter is the nicer of the two. Scott's wife had her secrets. Finally, while Carly might be missing part of her body, it's not a part that ultimately matters in comparison to her character. I received my downloaded copy of Bittersweet Surrender from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bittersweet is Right, December 28, 2011
Carly Westlake owns a chocolate spa. She's recovered from losing a breast to cancer but she's not quite recovered from losing her husband to a younger, whole-er woman. She's recently lost her best friend and co-worker in the spa in an accident. Her father also died and her elderly stepmother is moving in. Her life is stressful. She's also been emailing a new man ... sort of. Her brother's best friend, Jake, whom she had a crush on when they were younger. Jake is moving back to town with his teenage daughter. Carly's brother's marriage is shaky due to her brother's C.J.'s drinking and gambling. Did I mention Carly's life is stressful? Her best friend who died, Ivy's husband, Scott, is helping Carly figure out her finances and why a spa full of customers isn't making money. If that sounds like a lot, just try being Carly. It all sounds like the perfect setup for a fun, lovely, sweet book. I can only give it about 2 stars. If that. I didn't love it. Which even I find hard to believe since it's got all the elements I love in my fiction. Chocolate. Romance. Fun. Purses. Chocolate. A spunky heroine. Chocolate. But the elements didn't mesh for me. Carly came off more irritated and petty instead of spunky at the beginning when her stepmother moved in and Scott volunteered to help her lose some weight by working out with her. She was resentful and childish. The book wasn't edited well. At one point, Carly uses a deep breathing technique that she learned in her Christian yoga class. Later, she's at a class with her sister-in-law, but all of a sudden it's Carly's first time at the class. The next day she's sore, again from that first time. If it was her first time, where did she learn all the deep breathing techniques? Carly talks about a spa called West Baden in Indiana (the book takes place in Vermont). In the next chapter, she drives 30 minutes to the next town over to check out the West Baden Spa. Those details make it hard for me to get into the fictive story world. I kept getting pulled out to flip back and make sure that I understood the previous comment and then reading the current page again. The "hero" that Carly is crushing on, anyone can see that he's a self-centered jerk, but Carly is sure he's the thinking about a future with her. The other reviews I've read of this book were quite glowing, so maybe it was just me. I was furnished a free e-copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, in return for an honest review.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
A Box of Chocolates is Better., February 14, 2012
I picked this book to read largely because the contents of the book contain a lot of chocolate. However, the book was not as good as eating a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Kind of disappointing. But I pursued the end of the novel. It got better with time, but still . . . it took WAY TO LONG for the story to engage with my imagination. Perhaps it was because main character , Carly, is older than myself? Divorced? I'm not sure . . . but it was hard to connect with this character. She didn't seem quite believable. I most likely would NOT purchase this book nor would I check it out from the library. Sorry! I received this book through BookSneeze. I was not paid for this post nor do I have to return the novel.
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