Customer Reviews

No Simple Thing

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

 

 

I finished this book in one night - I could not put it down. I truly loved this book. As a soon-to-be step mom, I appreciated a story that deals with the complicated challenges of family life today. Kate's honesty about her struggles really had an impact on me. This book is not only for people with kids or step-kids, it is for anyone who wants to read a novel about a strong women, the challenges life presents her, and how she manages to get through it. I highly recommend this book.

Kate Van Horn is a successful business woman. Her independence and strength are evident to all that know her, but when she falls in love with Alec Callahan her frailties begin to surface and Kate is confronted with her own inward demons.
Alec has a beautiful little girl from his first marriage, a child that is fine on weekend visits, as far as Kate is concerned, but when circumstances change and she is to become a permanent fixture, Kate is not so sure how she feels. To complicate matters, Alec's ex-wife is not a stable person, but one that is set on destroying any happiness that Kate and Alec might hope for.
In this story, Kate begins to deal with many inner conflicts, beginning with her own relationship with her mother. She battles feelings of anger and rejection, deep seated emotions of her own strength and weaknesses.As her life begins to tumble and spin out of control she searches deeply for the true meaning of life and love. Is she able to overcome her own feelings of inability and allow love to take it's journey in her life? A book of raw emotions, of giving and receiving and coming to terms with what truly is important. A very good read.
Shirley Johnson

NO SIMPLE THING is the gripping story of successful, happily single Kate Van Horn who gets more than she bargained for when she falls in love with Alec Callahan, an older man with a child from his first marriage. We first meet Kate a few weeks before her wedding when an important meeting is interrupted by a threatening visit from Alec's ex-wife, Cheryl. Kate is disturbed by the threats and worries that this is a sign of things to come, asking herself, "At what point do you decide to call off your wedding?" As she ponders this question, we follow Kate back in time to when she first met Alec and fell in love, making it easy to understand why she ends up choosing to marry him, even with all his "baggage".

But this is not your typical "happily ever after" storyline-which made it such an interesting read. A lot of complex issues are dealt with: balancing work and family, loving another woman's child, and coping with mental illness and substance abuse to name just a few. Between Kate's very honest, human reactions to the new pressures in her life and Cheryl's crazy antics that just keep getting worse, I couldn't stop reading this book.

The ending, as well, is far from typical, but I closed the book feeling satisfied with the outcome. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.