Customer Reviews

The Sanchez Tradition

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

 

 

Spoilers abound ****

The heroine left the hero five years ago because he wanted to control her life too much. Apparently he loved her too much and so became afraid that anything harmful would happen to her but she had also become pregnant and miscarried and he thought she deliberately behaved recklessly to lose the baby.

During the five years the heroine has been living with her father who has apparently gotten into trouble with some shifty people over his antiques store. She comes to see her husband to ask for help only to find out that he has just sent her correspondence to begin divorce proceedings. While she is staying with her mother-in-law, thinking that her husband is sorting out her father's troubles, she is told that her father had been very ill for a while and had died shortly after she left England for the Bahamas (where she went to find her husband). The hero at this point basically forces his wife to go to Brazil and act as nanny to his niece for three months so that the heroine can get over her grief.

Towards the end of the three months the hero unexpectedly turns up at his brother's house and takes his wife sightseeing for two weeks. The night before he leaves to go back to the Bahamas, they sleep together - presumably, this is a 70s HP after all. The heroine realizes that she is pregnant upon her return to England and vows to keep the baby but without telling her husband....

A few things I couldn't quite get over from the book:

1. The heroine is an avid smoker. Even after she realizes that she's pregnant she only cuts back a little but doesn't give up the habit. The hero is also a frequent cigar smoker.

2. The heroine is 25 and the hero is 40. 40!

3. There is almost no dwelling on the fact that one of the hero's sister was kidnapped and killed during the five years. How is it possible that the heroine was unaware of this and wouldn't it have made sense if the hero, upon realizing how dangerous things could be, would have sought out his estranged wife? Wasn't he worried?

4. How can you be estranged for five years? At some point you would have realized that something needed to be done about your marriage. Five years is too long.

But the biggest problem I had with this book was; what has changed? The hero is pretty much the same person while the heroine is a bit of doormat. All over again. What was the point of their separation?