Customer Reviews

Happy Ever After?

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I love most of Patricia Scanlan's books. But lately, they have disappointed me. This one follows in the trend of Francesca's Party and Forgive and Forget. The female characters are all passive-aggressive and childish, and consider themselves to be victims of the men in their lives. Francesca spends 20 years running around after her husband and sons and then sighs, "Men are so self-centered." When her college-age son is going on a trip, she even packs his suitcase for him! Of COURSE they are used to having someone take care of them-it's all she's ever done. But she never faces the fact that she has helped create the situation. It's all poor me, men are so bad.

The EXACT same thing happens in this book! One character, Juliet, has been waiting on her husband hand and foot for 40 years. One day, she gets mad at him, as if their relationship was entirely his fault. Does she try to work it out with him? Does she really even talk to him? No. She pouts, she sulks, and when he doesn't change overnight, she runs away-literally, sneaking out without a word. Another character, Debbie, knows that her husband is a recreational drug user. She doesn't say a word to him, until he gets a bad dose. Then she goes up to him as he is lying on a hospital bed and yells at him to go to hell.

These women infuriate me. These are not characters or relationships that I want to read about. And the worst part is, Patricia Scanlan is capable of doing much better than this. Think carefully before you buy this one.

I like Patricia Scanlan - her earlier books but I haven't enjoyed the last 3 or 4 novels, esp the ones that carry on with Debbie and druggie husband etc. And I believe her next new release continue that story. Oh no! Time to send these characters into oblivion.