Customer Reviews

Return To Sender

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I used to like Fern Michaels' earlier work. Haven't read her in quite awhile, so when I read the inside jacket of this book it sounded like something I might enjoy --- NOT!

Other reviewers' comments about the contents were right-on. There was just so much wrong with this book I can't believe it. The thing that struck me right off is that Will was born in 1989, not 1889 for pete's sake, and most of Lin's struggles and suffering could have been alleviated by filing a paternity suit. DNA testing wasn't so readily available at that time, but paternity blood tests sure were! No, Nick wouldn't have been forced to have a part in Will's life if he didn't want to, but the court would have made him pay child support nonetheless. Next thing that bothered me was the child abuse aspect. Again, we are talking about the modern 80's here when Lin was growing up, and surely her going to school smelling like urine and vomit, and that she was also dirty and unkempt most days would alert a teacher or someone in authority to the fact that something just wasn't right in the Townsend household, small town or not. Then we move on to the 'revenge' aspect in present day. Reading about ruining a man via identity theft and manipulation of banking records, even if he was an a**, really just turned my stomach. And kidnapping? Both of these are Federal crimes with prison (not jail) time involved...

The rest of the story was drivel. And repetitive - 2 or 3 page narratives in their entirety were repeated a few times near the end of the book. Only reason I could figure why this was done was for page count purposes to meet a contractual obligation. Don't waste you time with this book. It really was pretty awful.

Lin Townsend has made something of her life. She had a horrendous childhood and is kicked out of her home when she becomes pregnant. The son, Will is a wonderful boy who goes off to NYU, where Lin discovers the father-Nick, that she has told Will is dead and now to her horror the secret will most likely come out because of a bone marrow drive where Will's parentage will be discovered.
Lin, even though she is wealthy now and has a good life, sets out to ruin and make Nick feel her pain and have revenge on the man who she believes returned her letters and gave her no support. Nick is super wealthy, but has cancer. Lin's revenge is really over the top and that is where this book, that I was really enjoying started on its' downhill plunge.
Lin kidnaps and drugs Nick's wife- Chelsea. This is really a serious act even for someone bent on payback for a wrong. It also doesn't seem realistic that a smart lady like Lin would carry around letters for years that she never notices two important words on them that would have given her a vital key. It also seems unrealistic, that it would never occur to her that maybe Nick's wealthy, influential, rich family would have been the ones to return letters and he might not have known about it. The characters are written well and you really get to know them, including Nick and his wife who are horrid to each other.
But... then in the last 40 pages, the story telling becomes disjointed and choppy. Lin's story of her life is told twice - yes to two different people, but to have two pages of the same words repeated word for word?? And then it happens again with a recording that was made which is sent to Nick, word for word it is repeated. At another place in these last pages ...all of a sudden it's past Thanksgiving and we learn Lin had a wonderful ski vacation...what? It just makes the last part of the book too rushed, when the ending could have been a great part of Lin's life that comes together.

This is a complicated but interesting story line. There is far more to read in it than most of these novels and questions that occur: What is it in Lin's childhood that affects her? What is Nick and his wife's life like? What is really stamped on the letters? Why does the bone marrow drive threaten Lin's relationship with her son? How has Lin made so much money? And most of all Does Lin live happily ever after? These should create enough interest for those who want to get the book.

This is one of those books that you start reading and you keep hoping it will get better. Let me save you the agony of reading this book and let you know from the get go it does not!

The story never really developes beyond an outline---and a very bad one at that.

The characters are not people that I would care to know---the only saving grace is that I borrowed it and did not spend any of my own hard earned money on it.

Skip this one and read ANYTHING else instead. Some things are better left alone and this is one of them.

When Rosalind Townsend was seventeen years old she learned what she considered a life lesson about men and responsibly. Pregnant, her affluent one night stand partner in Atlanta Nick Pemberton deserts her by returning her letters unopened; while her abusive ultra pious father kicks her to the Georgia dirt as no Jezebel will live under his roof. Against the odds, she makes a life for herself and her Will.

Almost two decades later, when NYU accepts Will as a freshman, Lin accompanies her son from Georgia to the Big Apple. Lin runs into now millionaire CEO married Nick; in a pique of avenging anger she wants him to pay with a disruption to his perfect life for the offspring he rejected years ago.

Although over the top of the three stacked Empire State Buildings, Fern Michael fans will enjoy this engaging contemporary soap opera with a couple of more soapy spins re Nick, his wife and his doctor. Readers will admire Lin who has come a long way from Miss Stinky Pants' child abuse victim to being a great mom and dad to Will, but still seeks revenge with the wealthy northerner who ignored her plea to help care for her unborn.

Harriet Klausner

This was, by far, one of the dumbest books I've ever read. Nothing about it seemed realistic at all. It was so cliched, and not only were the characters unbelievable, but I can name maybe two who were likable. The protagonist, a successful, good-looking, courageous woman, became pretty despicable during the book. Unless you're okay with reading a novel in which you may not like the main character, I suggest you skip this one.

There were many instances in the book in which characters seemed to be totally unrealistic and completely out of a fantasy world or a cliched chick flick. The main character decides to act out her revenge against a man she thinks doesn't care about her or her son. In doing so, she goes to some extreme, disgusting, highly illegal lengths to do so. Other characters around her support her one hundred percent, never getting angry with her. In fact, they either help her or say, "Oh, your life has been so hard. There, there, we know you're really a good person who never would have done this had you not had such a hard life." It seems like the author either didn't want to invest the time in realistic emotional responses from characters who, I assume, mimic actual human beings, or she simply wanted to create a utopian fantasy world in which a woman can do no wrong, even if her methods of revenge are just as bad or possibly worse than the things that have happened to her. It all came across as rather lazy writing.

The ending especially demonstrated lazy writing. Everyone pretty much gets what they want and need without any serious consequences, despite the fact several of them participated in felonies. It makes you think they're going to hold hands, hop scotching away into the sunset.

Seriously, save your money or just pick up another book. This one is not worth the money.

What a disappointment! Undeveloped, shallow characters and ridiculous, vindictive story plot made this an unpleasant reading experience. This book is totally unlike other Fern Michaels books I have read and loved in the past.

This story starts out with lots of empathy toward the main character, Lin Townsend. Abused her entire life by her beastly father, Lin becomes pregnant at age 17 and is thrown out of the house. I was really liking the character and feeling her pain, admiring her hard work in trying to survive her circumstances until . . .the story took an about face and became the most ridiculous tale that a supposed professional author has written. All of a sudden Lin goes from pauper to millionaire on the salary of a waitress and then this kind-hearted person becomes a vindictive lunatic and doesn't even see the error of her ways. I actually felt sorry for Nick Pemberton with all the stupid, crazy antics Lin was pulling on him. She had no conscience about the mean pranks she, Sally and her PI were concocting and what really got to me was how they played down their nasty revenge (they should have all ended up in jail). The story got way too over the top as it progressed and just plain dumb at the conclusion. What I would have liked to know is did Will have a relationship with his father and was he able to help save his life? The writing was terrible as was the continuity of the script. I am still trying to figure out why Fern Michael's is a NY bestselling author; this is the second of her books I have read and I am really not impressed in the least bit.

This is one of the worst books I've read in a long time. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't for the main character to be so unlikeable. She "pranks" the man who got her pregnant...by hacking into his financial accounts & freezing them for days and then, because that wasn't a big enough deal, she stabs his wife with a syringe full of Valium and kidnaps her. Sure, that's just a "prank." The rest of the story is completely unbelievable too. She starts out as an teenage, single mom and can't even afford to feed her kid (but could feed a stray dog???) and then by the time the kid's in kindergarten she's got all kinds of money - from working at a diner in a small town in Georgia. It's all just ridiculous! I kept hoping it would get better, but it just kept getting worse & worse. Save yourself the time and find a better book to read.

In the past, I have enjoyed Fern Michaels. Hadn't read anything of hers in awhile, so when I saw this one, I read the description and thought, "Hmmm, this could be interesting." Well, WOW, I was in for a bad surprise. It started off well. The main female character, Lin, was a person who had taken a very rough beginning in life and made a success of herself. She was a single Mom who had a son entering college. She was treating herself to a short visit in New York while accompanying her son to the start of school. Immediately upon seeing Nick again at the college reception it was like she went bi-polar in her actions toward revenge.

There wasn't much that was believable about this story. A very young girl became a mother and was kicked out of her home by her religiously abusive father. She was completely on her own without any support. She had no money to care for herself and her son except what she had saved from babysitting. She got a job at a diner and another part time job to eke out enough to pay for rent and food. However, within five years she was able to buy the diner where she had worked for $50,000 and bought her own little home. Gee she would have make a great financial planner!

By the time this story begins (eighteen years or so after the son was born) she has greatly enlarged the diner, built her large dream home free and clear, set aside money for her son's entire college education, and was paying for her abusive father's care in a private, luxurious and expensive care facility.

The money she then begins spending money on her revenge towards Nick makes it seem as though she had discovered a money tree in the back yard. When looking for a private investigator in New York, she accidentally finds the precise one (what are the odds) that has a personal axe to grind toward Nick. Lin then, with the assistance of her friend, kidnaps Chelsea from her apartment by stabbing her in the neck with a syringe of Valium, leaves her on a doorstep in an unsavory neighborhood and tips off the newspapers trying to lay the blame on Nick. She and the investigator are able to hack into Nick's financial information and freeze all of his money and assets. Nick finds out his accounts are frozen and thinks it is Chelsea's work because he froze her charge accounts. Lin breaks the law in so many ways that it's not entertaining, it's appalling. But, I guess it's OK, because Nick never responded to any of her letters after Will was born. Most of you can guess what happened to the letters to Nick and why he didn't respond.

There was nothing likable about the other characters: Nick was just mean and rather hateful to everyone, Chelsea's only interest was money, shopping and making sure Nick didn't survive his leukemia so that she could inherit everything. Lin just became a crazed person consumed by revenge. When it appeared as though she was going to feel remorse for what she was doing, she read an article in the newspaper that told of Nick donating $5 million to an orphanage. Lin sees red, and renews her efforts toward revenge. I didn't care what happened to anyone. I was relieved that the son, Will, was in and out of state.

Yes, I read this through to the end, because I hoped that Fern Michaels would somehow redeem some of these characters. She didn't. But at the end, there was a romance beginning between Lin and Nick's oncologist. Well, that came out of left field and felt like a life ring being thrown out as a live saving effort for this story. It fell too far away from it's mark.

I don't usually feel compelled to write negative reviews, but somehow this book just irked me enough to do so. Where to start? In a nutshell, the plot is incredibly weak and full of holes, loose ends and moments requiring huge suspension of disbelief; the main characters are to a person unlikable; and the writing is mediocre at best. The female lead tries for sympathy about a bad childhood, but she behaves in such a mean and inconsistent way that I had a hard time even feeling sorry for her. Her son's character is so poorly delineated that he scarcely counts, and the "father" in the plot is equally hard to like, even though he's intended to be (I'm guessing) wrongly maligned and dying. As for the plot! How believable is it that a starving single mother working as a waitress in a diner somehow puts together enough money to buy said diner and become wealthy from it? It's not as if she's smart... The whole plot revolves around her missing an "address unknown" stamp on dozens of letters mailed over many years and returned "to sender", despite the fact that she apparently never leaves the house without them. Either stupid, or blind, but either way not a shoo-in for a miraculously successful business woman. Add to that she behaves without any empathy or morals herself, but then is constantly reminding her GROWN son to mind his manners and be respectful. Nauseating. Let's not even mention the dumb murder plot where a wife tries to kill her husband, with no consequences. I wish I could give it less than one star.