Customer Reviews

Nothing Changes Love (Thorndike Large Print Harlequin Series)

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The plot of Nothing Changes Love is that Lexi Laughton and Jake Taylor have this obsessive, tumultuous and sometimes boarding on physically violent relationship. The two meet when Lexi is selling her family home after the death of her father; Jake is a prospective buyer for the property. When the two come face-to-face for the first time there are immediate sexual sparks. Lexi is barely out of her teens at the age of 20 and Jake is a full ten years her senior and worldly with it. From the very being he is dominating with that "Me Tarzan, You Jane" mentality and Lexi fits the bill, because she is so young and naïve about mature man-woman relationships. She is bowled over by Jake's attraction to her and her's to him.

Within 24 hours he pretty much takes over her life and 3 weeks after that they are married and Lexi is head over heels in love; I'm not so sure about Jake. Right off it would be easy to call Jake a jerk and be done with his whole character assessment. However, he actually is more than a one dimensional character. He is ambitious to a fault and domineering in all aspects of his life; Lexi fits right in with is over all life plan because from the start she acquiesce towards all of his he-man behavior; she is so in awe of him that she can't think for herself and becomes the "little woman" to his "big strong" man.

Unfortunately or fortunately however you look at it Lexi suffers a miscarriage during her pregnancy which happens about five months after they get married; when this happens Lexi's rose colored view of life with Jake takes a drastic turn. She starts to questioning whether she did the right thing in marrying him, she also questions Jake's fidelity' suspecting that he might be having an affair with is personal assistant Lorraine. Did I forget to mention that Lexi is pretty much intimidated by Lorraine after their first meeting. Lorraine thinks Lexi is a gold-digger from the word "go" and makes no bones about telling her so and doesn't go out of her way to hide her dislike for Lexi.

Shortly after the miscarriage Lexi goes through a bout of depression that tests the bonds of her marriage, seesawing between sadness, self-blame, anger and suspicion. She seeks the help of her doctor who assures her that the emotions that she is experiencing are normal after a miscarriage. Reassured that she hasn't lost her marbles Lexi decides its time to try and mend the strained fences with Jake who by this time is living in London during the weeks subsequent to the miscarriage, because of the fact that Lexi has basically kicked him out of their bed and barely speaks to him when he is home. He decided to give her the space she requests in order to come to terms with loosing the baby.

Lexi decides to visit Jake at their London apartment hoping to patch things up by suggesting a second honeymoon. When she gets there she finds Jake and Lorraine in bathrobes drinking wine and discussing what she assumes are plans for Jake to divorce her and be with Lorraine; she hears Jake tell his assistant that he has had to break a promise to Lexi. Meanwhile, Jake and Lorraine are under the impression that Lexi is in full knowledge of the circumstances of their actual conversation and proceeds to ask her to celebrate with them. In true melodramatic fashion Lexi informs Jake that she is going on vacation and that she will take whatever money he has decided to give her and then storms out, not to be heard of again for nearly five years.

Fast Forward 5yrs Lexi is now 25yrs old a lot more mature and a little wiser; she is the General Manager for an exclusive boutique hotel in Italy that caters to the very wealthy, she is dating a man 15yrs her senior and thinking about becoming engaged to him, however before she can contemplate marrying him she must seek a divorce from her estranged husband. She contacts her lawyer to get the divorce ball rolling and that's when the stuff hits the fan. After nearly 5 yrs and no communication what so ever between the two Jake shows up in Italy and tells Lexi he won't grant her a divorce and that its time she assumed the role of his wife in all aspects and oh by the way I've brought the hotel your working in. Arrogant doesn't even begin to describe Jake at this point he blackmails Lexi into resuming their marriage by holding over her head that if she doesn't comply he will pull out of the deal to purchase the hotel; Lexi knows that if he holds to his threat the current owner won't get the money he desperately needs.

At this point in the story I used some un-lady like terms to describe both Jake and Lexi because Jake had not changed in the intervening years and as much as the author went through pains taking detail to convince the reader that Lexi was this strong, mature independent woman, it fell short because neither had Lexi changed much. She fell back into the same role as before with Jake, the only difference this time around was that she did flare up on occasion at him, but it made her look shrewish and immature at times; which only gave Jake an excuse to grab her roughly, make more threats, demean her character or have sex with her which he used often to subdue her. If, these two were ever in love I missed it in 185pgs I read, they were in lust and obsession with one another. Everlasting love for one another; the jury is still out on that. However, there was lots of grabbing, near physical striking and harsh feelings towards one another and sex.

I was so thrilled when I got this book in the mail the other day; I couldn't wait to read it to see if it was as good as I remembered. The first time I read this book I was about 15yrs old and thought Jake was so macho and romantic in his pursuit of Lexi. Now 15yrs later I just think he was a chauvinistic, controlling, overly possessive jerk and Lexi was just annoying. I guess hind sight is 20/20. Happy Reading!!!!!

...P>Forget this book. Jake is the worst hero I have come across in a long time. He is totally unlikable through most of this book. Lexi is a wimp, doormat, idiot, fool-take your pick. The book starts out with Lexi having a miscarriage. No one, not even the doctor, tells her to get counseling. This entire book is absurd. Forget it. ...