At best, delicate Dana Madison and powerful Russ Ettinger's relationship could be described as tense. Dana's parents still hover over her as if she were a child. Defiantly she tries to make her own life, running despite her asthma in order to feel a freedom she had never known. Russ is tall, dark and intimidating--and clearly an athlete. Why does he insist on pursuing her? And why does she sense that he is the one man she'll never be able to escape--or resist? 2 cassettes.
Moment to Moment
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Barbara Delinsky is the bestselling author of more than sixty-five novels, including Shades of Grace, Together Alone, and For My Daughters. She lives in New England.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
She'd had far too many attacks in her life not to know what was happening. Staggering to a large rock by the side of the road, Dana fumbled with the zippered pocket of her Windbreaker, finally managing to extract the small inhalator she always carried. Exhaling as far as her laboring lungs would allow, she raised the mouthpiece, breathed in, and squeezed. Twice she repeated the procedure. Then, propped against the rock, she waited for the wheezing to ease.
Strangely, she was less worried about her lungs than she was about the cold. Having been running for twenty minutes, she'd built up a sweat that was well apt to chill her as she sat still. Her watch, its face narrowly framed between her Windbreaker cuff and the top of her wool gloves, told her it was nearly five. She looked up and around. Five o'clock and the roadway was dark. But then, it was the middle of winter. The days were shorter. It had been dusk when she'd left the house. As for the traffic, or more correctly the lack of it, could she expect otherwise on New Year's Day? The townsfolk would be in their homes, or in those of their neighbors or relatives, finishing off the last of their turkey dinners, if not already hooked by the endless string of football games the day offered.
Not Dana Madison. She'd had enough. Four hours at her parents' house had drawn her patience to its limits.
It had started when she'd first stepped foot inside the door carrying a sweet potato and apple casserole. Her mother had glared at it, appalled. "Why did you do this, Dana? I thought I told you not to worry, that I'd take care of everything."
"It's just a casserole, Mother. I may have spent all of half an hour making it."
"Half an hour when you could have been resting," the older woman chided her gently. "You shouldn't have done it."
Dana had gritted her teeth then, for the first of many times that afternoon. "Well, it's done. Will you take it?"
For an instant she'd half wondered if her offering would be refused. But while her mother was grossly overprotective, she was neither rude nor insensitive. "Of course, dear," she'd said, taking the casserole. "Now, you go sit in the living room and relax. I'll call your father in from the yard. Max and the others will be here any minute."
"Let me give you a hand in the kitch--"
"No, no. You sit." The pointing finger was one Dana knew well. It had been a major reason she'd finally moved out of her parents' house nearly four years before. In her private scheme of things, there were too many better out-lets for her energy than arguing with that finger.
And so she had sunk into the living room chair in which it seemed she'd spent half of her childhood. Within minutes her father had appeared at the door, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.
"Dana! Hi, sweetheart!" He'd burst into a smile and had covered the space to the armchair in which Dana was ensconced before she'd even been able to uncross her legs. Leaning down, he kissed her warmly. "How are you? Feeling all right?"
His stance was unsettling. With his hands propped on the arms of her chair, he was her jailor. She couldn't move. Suppressing an urge to scream, she'd managed to force a smile. 'I'm fine, Dad.' She glanced at the towel he'd slung over one shoulder and attempted to change the subject. "You've been cutting wood?"
"Greasing the chain saw," he'd responded absently. His attention was elsewhere. "You look too thin."
"I look fine."
"Have you lost more weight?"
"Dad, I was chubby before. I'm in far better shape without those extra fifteen pounds.
"You were in good shape before."
She'd sighed. It could have been a replay of a tape made the week before, on Christmas Day. What her father-what her parents-thought of her weight, her health, her job, her running, was irrelevant. Her life was her own now. She knew that.
"Look, let's not argue," she'd pleaded softly. Despite the strides she'd made in the last few years, arguing remained against her nature. "It's the holiday. I'm here. I feel wonderful. And, for the first time in my life, I'm proud of the way I look. Now"--she cocked a mocking brow--"are you going to be pleasant ... or am I going to get up and sprint five times around the house?"
"You're still running? Dana, I thought we told you-"
She'd sobered then. "Dad! I'm a grown woman. It's my life!"
If the firmness of her tone had momentarily put him down, it didn't keep him down long. When her brother, Max, arrived with his wife and three children, her father brought up the issue of weight again, soliciting Max's support in a futile bid to bring Dana to her senses. When their neighbors, the Holtzmans, arrived and dared to compliment her on how lovely she looked, Dana suspected her father would have liked to turn them out there and then.
And it went on through dinner, not only from her father, but from her mother and Max and Max's wife as well. If it wasn't, "Is that all you're having, Dana? Here, have a little more. It's good for you," it was "No, Dana, don't get up. Alexis will help me clear, won't you, Alexis?" Or "Jimmy, don't hang on Aunt Dana like that. It's a strain on her."
Dana calmly overlooked the fact that her wineglass was filled only halfway, and even then not replenished when her father made second rounds with the bottle. She patiently ignored the slow study of her undertaken by each of her parents in turn, then the concerned glances they exchanged. But when her mother launched into a repeat of "Are you sure you're feeling all right? You look a little pale," she could bear no more.
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointing Delinsky,
By
This review is from: Moment to Moment (Mass Market Paperback)
I read Barbara Delinsky's books as my "light" reading. I read them to relax, to be taken adrift - away - to unwind. I finished Moment to Moment because I thought, with every turn of a page, that a story would develop, that the "plot" would evolve, that it would be worthy of status along with other more recent works that I've read. As I neared the end of the book, i could not believe how trite it was. However, it did take only a few hours to read. I felt totally disengaged from the characters in the novel. I saw them as very unidimensional. One struggled with asthma. In actuality, the author took almost no time whatsoever to delve into the reality of living with this disorder. Nor did Delinsky delve much into anything. The book was pure formula. Perhaps that is why it was originally published under the name of Bonnie Drake? Was it only after other books became hits that this book was "revived?" I finished this book, with its totally predictable ending, because I could not believe what I was reading. Pass on this one.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not my favorite book by Delinsky,
By
This review is from: Moment to Moment (Mass Market Paperback)
MOMENT TO MOMENT by Barbara Delinsky
December 29, 2004 MOMENT TO MOMENT, I have to say, was not one of my favorite Delinsky books. I've enjoyed most of her books that I've read so far, but I am finding I do not enjoy her straight romances that she wrote prior to some of her more recent books, which tend to be more "women's lit" than just a pure romance. I think I was spoiled, having discovered the author's books by starting with her more recent novels and working my way backward. Knowing that, the quality of these earlier books is not as good as her more recent novels. Although it is a good thing to know she is improving with age, even without comparing the different types of novels that Delinsky has written, I wouldn't have become such a big fan if it had only to do with these earlier romances. In MOMENT TO MOMENT, a young woman, Dana Madison battles asthma and the right to have a normal healthy adult life, while Russ Ettinger deals with the loss of a possible sports career when he injures his knee. The two meet by accident, while Dana is fighting an asthma attack. Fate seems to pull the two together, and soon they embark on a relationship. Dana's asthma is at the heart of her personality, but she refrains to tell Russ about her health problems. However, because of this medical issue, their relationship becomes strained. It's a matter of misunderstandings and withholding the truth, but Dana is very afraid of having any serious relationship with any man, even if it IS with Russ, whom she thinks she can trust. I wish I could give this book a higher rating, but MOMENT TO MOMENT is definitely not one of my favorite Delinsky books. I have to admit it was well written in some ways, but I didn't feel any sympathy for the characters and couldn't care less what happened to them. Anyone that reads this book should know that MOMENT TO MOMENT is not indicative of the style of books Delinsky writes today. On the other hand, many readers have told me that they would rather read her older novels than her more recent ones. It's a matter of taste. As for me, I will eventually read all her books, as I am a big fan, but I prefer her current style of writing and am happy that I had discovered her books. MOMENT TO MOMENT gets three stars from the Ratmammy.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I learned alot about asthma from it.,
By janlouise (Ruston, LA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Moment to Moment (Hardcover)
I never realized how some people have to live with severe asthma, it was an eye-opener for me. Great, sweet story- one that I sincerely enjoyed. Guess I was in the mood for a simple love story because I enjoyed this one. After years of struggling and fighting with her family for control, Dana Mason is living on her own and working at the local library- she is doing something she has been told all her life that wasn't possible- living her own life. Since a little girl, Dana has been sheltered by her family unable to live a complete life. Finally she realized she was going to have to get control of her own life or she would have no life. So she moved into an apartment of her own, found a job, and learned to cope with her health one day at a time. Little by little she started exercising and running only to learn that it helped her handle stress and her asthma. But there were times that would set her back, like going to family gatherings and getting uptight. That's what happened the night she was running and had to stop unable to get her breath. And that's when Russ Ettinger (with his own health / life problems to deal with) run up on her only to realize that she was in trouble and couldn't breath. Have your ever met someone that in just a short time captured your attention / heart? Well, that's what happened to Russ with Dana. Dana ended up running on before Russ to return to help her and from then on Russ was like the "prince with the glass slipper looking for cinderella" - only Russ didn't have a slipper or tennis shoe. It really is a sweet story and one to enjoy.
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