Customer Reviews

The Morning After

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Loved the premise of this book! Temple Bannerman wakes up married, pregnant and has no recollection of ever getting married or having sex. She then meets up with the man that her supposed husband wants her to contact to protect her, because the husband (Michael) is in danger and so by association, Temple will be too. Mark agrees to take on the case after an attempt to kill Temple is almost carried out in Mark's office building. I don't want to spoil this book for anyone that may read it, but the ending was totally unbelievable and I ended up hating both the characters because of the way the story was resolved!

I enjoyed the overall premise of this book, but there were too many things that keep me from really loving this story. First and foremost, this is a suspense/mystery not a romance story. Those of you who have read and enjoyed Ms. Forster's other romances will be disappointed if you are looking for that, here. The one romance scene (though depending on your point of view there might have been 1 ½) included in this book is so tame that the reader barely realizes what is happening. Did they or didn't they? Mark exudes this sexy aura, but I never felt his and Temple's attraction (with the exception of one scene by a pool). This leads me to my second point of why I found this book dissapointing: what a confused and choppy writing style. All of this mystic, Eastern philosophy that starts slowly and then overshadows the characters and story is uncomfortable to read. The plot and what happens to Temple is surreal enough, we do not need anything else clouding the story.

Next comes the plot. Although I could never see this happening, I liked the way Ms. Forster brings in current science and twists her plot to fit that mold. Tom Clancey meets "Outbreak". What I can't understand is how the people in the story could have done what they did and how Temple accepts this. I'd be a little more than annoyed or hurt to learn I was pregnant, without my consent (my body violated, maybe not rape, but violated nonetheless) and my whole life played by someone else like an instrument. Temple seems like an intelligent lead female and the events are taking place outside her ken (which does not make her seems stupid, just naïve and uniformed). I also have to assume that artificial insemination is at work here (since this was never really explained, Temple just woke up after 36 hours, married and pregnant). I was also very uncomfortable throughout the story, until the very end, because I kept asking myself "why". OK,OK, I'm an intelligent reader, and I understand exactly what is going on in the plot at all times, but it was extremely frustrating reading Temple's story with that big "why" flashing through my brain. It is not until the end, when everything is explained that I say "aaahhh, now I get it". We were not given any clues as to why what was happening to Temple happened. No hints dropped or characters slipping lines. Just the knowledge that all this is happening because she is immune to this deadly virus.

Unlike other readers, I did not find this book boring or hard to understand. I just found it choppy and frustrating because I wanted to know WHY what was happening to Temple was happening. I also expected a romance (since Ms. Forster's other books have been) and was disappointed at the lack in this story.

This book is a cheesy, (unintentional, I'm sure) knock-off oftwo other novels. The romance is straight out of Brenda Joyce's THEGAME (much, much better than this), and the "suspense" can be traced to Iris Johansen's AND THEN YOU DIE (not much better, but at least Ms. Johansen appeared to have thought out her plot more carefully).

Temple Banning wakes up in a wedding suite, alone and with music playing in her head. She later finds out that she is pregnant and carries not just a baby, but the antidote to a virus. She turns to Mark Challis, aka the Cobra, for help, only to find out he may be the one who set her up to begin with.

The background was ridiculous. Yes, yes, I'm sure the American Embassy in Zaire was going to let Temple enter an epidemic zone. I'm sure the American government would have even let citizens enter the country until the virus was contained. Of course Temple had to go and rescue her parents. Especially when she found out they were already dead, *of course* she had to go to the hospital where they died. Uh huh. Right. It would have made to much sense to wait at the American Embassy for word, and then after finding out they'd died, waited there for the remains to be turned over to her.

Once infected, but a survivor (of course, or there'd be no story), yes, yes, I can just see that the Centers for Disease Control would just let Temple run off her merry way, without making sure to stay in contact with her for yearly physicals, and just in case the virus broke out again. Why would they want to keep in contact with the woman who carried the antidote to a deadly virus in her body, anyway?

I could go on, but there's no need. With such senseless plotting as this, I couldn't bring myself to do more than skim the rest of the book. That's when I found out that the romance was an attempt at the "hero behind the scenes, directing the heroine's life without her knowing it" that Brenda Joyce did much better in her historical romance, THE GAME.

Read THE GAME. Forget THE MORNING AFTER.

I picked up this book because the opening premise sounded like a winner--a woman wakes up in a swanky hotel room, all evidence pointing to a romantic wedding night, but she can't remember a thing. A great start, but Ms. Forster bungles this from the get-go with implausible plot twist on top of sorry cliche on top of irritating coincidence.

As other reviewers have noted, the romance is next to nonexistent--just about the steamiest scene is between the heroine and herself--and so the book relies on "Outbreak"-style suspense for it's energy. Unfortunately, the plot has holes the size of a Buick, and the ending was pure, unbelievable hokum; a man completely manipulates a woman's life--creating jobs, friends, isolating her in a remote location and messing with her mind, and making her pregnant--and in the end she forgives him everything. Sheesh! A very disappointing read from a fairly good writer.

This was the most inane, assinine, convuluted book I ever had the misfortune to read. This was so bad I couldn't believe the author really wrote it. Don't waste your money on this book

The first part of the book was very interesting. The premise was intriguing, and I wanted to know what had happened to the heroine to put her in such a predicament. However, the second half of the book was an incredible let-down. The plot spun wildly out of control, I completely lost touch with the hero, and I thought the heroine completely unbelieveable - particularly her turnaround regarding the hero at the very end of the book. I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief if the story is good, but I want it to make sense within the parameters of the world you have to buy into for that to happen. The characters completely lost me, the love-hate thing with the hero's father was completely incomprehensible, as were the hero's motivations regarding his actions toward the heroine. A definite wall-banger.

I've always loved books by this author in the past....but she missed it BIG TIME with this book! Could barely get through it! All I can say is that she must have had some type of virus herself when she wrote it! Major disappointment!

The idea of a woman waking up married and pregnant with no memories of the events resulting in those conditions was an intriguing plot line. Unfortunately, Suzanne Forster's book does not deliver the promised intrigue, mystery and romance. The book is slow. The reader wanders, bewildered, through the opening events, and understanding comes tediously, at glacial speed. The hero seems to be a strong sexy character, but, in the end, is disappointingly weak. A number of plot elements, tiny clues that seem to have meaning, are not explained. The entire premise of the book, when all is revealed, is unrealistic. The book was a chore to read, and does not make me eager to read more of this author's work.

The teaser for this book sounded too good to be true. What a horrible story. Totally unrealistic and very frustrating to follow. As usual, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. There is nothing about this book that I recommend; the characters were miserable, the scenes were unbelievable and the story just amazingly ridiculous. I usually enjoy Ms. Forster's stories, but this just didn't cut it.

I was going to give this book two stars, but it didn't live up to that. Sorry. It had a great premise. Amnesia has been over-done, but the cover blurb and advertisements seemed so exciting.....Plus the fact that I had enjoyed Ms. Forster's Previous books. Blush for one. Unfortunately this book, "The Morning After" did not stand up to some of her previous books.It was barely suspenseful and somewhat confusing. It actually bordered on irritating. The mystery dragged out way to long. As for the Romance...where was it? When the couple, Temple and (sorry, I can't remember the hero's name) finally do get together during the last quarter of the book, Ms. Forster does a fade to black...What happend? Ms. Forster usually writes wonderful and sensual love scenes. The only love scene in the book, and we are left wondering! I really wanted to like this book. I love a good Romantic Suspense. This was not a good one, in my opinon.