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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOTE: "Spellbound" is "To Have and To Hold",
This review is from: Spellbound (Paperback)
When I saw this on Amazon I thought, "Hey there's a Jane Green novel I haven't read before, or even heard of." Turns out, I had read it. Called "Spellbound" in this UK edition, the American version was retitled "To Have and to Hold" but it is still the same story. So while this cover art is much better than the US version (in this graphic designers opinion) if you've already read the US version, you've already read this too!
39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Jane Green's best...,
This review is from: To Have and To Hold (Hardcover)
I am a huge Jane Green fan since her Jemima J days. I've bought and devoured all of her books ever since. However, I've noticed a decline in her writing since Bookends. Though Green now writes novels centered on women that have bigger priorities than going to trendy clubs and searching for Mr. Right, her new material lacks the edge and sharpness of her earlier work. To Have and to Hold was a chore to read. As much as I love Jane Green, I just couldn't get into this novel. The main reason is that I couldn't empathize with the somewhat pathetic heroine. Alice sacrifices her dream of living in the country and having kids in the name of her love for Joe -- the man she has loved since she was a teenager. Not only does she have to give up on various lifelong dreams, she also changers her appearance to please her selfish husband. But blond highlights and trendy clothes don't keep Joe from having more than just a wandering eye. He has a thing for leggy blondes, something that gets him into trouble at work and is forced to transfer to Connecticut. Alice is excited about finally living in suburbia, but with Joe's constant infidelity and overall awful behavior Alice may well venture into a little indiscretion of her own...I know that a lot of women turn a blind eye on blatant bad behavior when they're in love, but Alice's conforming ways irritated me at times. The thing about the Connecticut home's so-called curse made Alice's denial all the more acute. I am aware of Green's message in the story, but it was still difficult to swallow. But the bigger picture is that this novel didn't enthrall me the way Green's earlier work did. I missed Jemima as I read about Alice. Perhaps Jane Green's earlier novels were lighter and more simplistic, but they had a naivete quality to them that is missing in her most recent novels. And, as mentioned earlier, this new novel lacks Green's sharp narrative and crisp dialogue. All in all, frustrating heroine aside, To Have and to Hold failed to spark my interest. I couldn't wait to finish it up. In a nutshell, this is a disappointing read from one of my favorite authors...
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
somewhere in the fair to poor range,
By A Customer
This review is from: To Have and To Hold (Hardcover)
I bought this book while on vacation in London back in March (it's titled "Spellbound" in the UK- wierd!) Just finished reading it. I agree that it was pretty intereting 2/3 of the way through, but I definitely began to lose interest towards the end. I was rooting for Alice, but she became so DUMB about what was going on with her husband that it began to annoy me. As a married woman myself, it was hard to read some (ok many) scenes where her husband was cheating on her. Disturbing.I would suggest reading some of Green's other novels first, they are much better. Hope this helps.
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