Customer Reviews

Changes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like to mix up my reading with a few older books periodically. As such, I have a lot of Jackie Calhoun's early offerings on my to-be-read shelf. She's always good for an enjoyable read. However, the older books are a little less colorful than those published today.

Talk about bad luck. Maggie almost breaks her neck, almost breaks it again, and finally has the bones fused to make sure her head stays on. In the meantime, she is faced with potential infidelity of her partner, the confusing affections of her rescuer, her sister's family, and her own general confusion about life.

Bottom Line -- With many twists and turns, this one is worth a day curled up in your favorite reading chair... especially if you wait for a rainy day.

I was very engaged with Maggie and her struggles. Her horrible hospital experience, from doctors to nurses, was nerve wracking, absorbing, well written and very true to life.

All the characters are passionate and you engage with them from the start. I would have enjoyed seeing Maggie and Jo interact more intimately to get a stronger feel for them as a couple, but maybe that was the point.

I loved the character Erica.

As is always the case with this author the humor is perfectly sprinkled throughout to lift the emotion laden story.

From the publisher's website - A horrible accident... an unfaithful lover... a blue-eyed stranger...

On vacation with her lover Jo, Maggie is seriously injured in a bicycle crash. Two joggers, Erica and her former lover Dave, are the first on the scene. While Dave goes for help, Erica comforts the pain-wracked and panic-stricken Maggie - who clings to Erica as she clings to life itself.

The near-fatal accident sets off a series of changes in the lives of all concerned - chaotic changes that test the bonds of friendship... and love. Faced with months of recovery and rehabilitation, Maggie must somehow find the inner strength to heal herself. Guilt-ridden Jo must finally choose between her love for Maggie and her lingering passion for her ex-lover. Maggie's sister and children, from whom she's been estranged for years, must learn to accept Maggie's lesbianism. And, drawn to Maggie in a way she is only beginning to understand, Erica must come to terms with who she really is... and what she really wants.

Then a random act of violence sets in motion another sea of changes. But, unlike Maggie's accident, this one does not bring out the best of everyone.

I've never read a Jackie Calhoun book, so I decided to try this one to see how I'd like the author. The book starts off pretty well by bringing you into the frantic goings on of the bicycle accident. But from then on I felt like the book was more about how a broken neck gets mended than about the relationships between the women. I started getting bored with all the hospital details, but read on hoping for more personality details. But even to the end of the book I never got a good idea of what kind of personality each character had, not to mention there were too many characters. I really enjoy getting into characters' heads, to see what kind of person they are and how they react to different situations. This book seemed to consist of lots and lots of short scenes connected choppily together, which probably helped to give it a fragmented feel that is hard to feel close to or identify with. I was sorely dissappointed and am very unlikely to be buying any more Jackie Calhoun books.

I can not tell you how close to home this book has been to me, it was like reading my life. I have read this and all of her other books, can't wait for the next ones to come out after I have finished her books.