Thomas, PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS

[oracne]

Sherry Thomas, Private Arrangements: This is a romance of a romance gone wrong that takes years to mend. It's told in alternating present-day (Victoria Period) and flashback to the beginnings of the couple's relationship. I don't normally like flashbacks, but the author used them skillfully to draw out the characters' tension and pain almost

Comments

[fiveandfour]

I quite enjoyed this book, though I had a quibble about the resolution of their difficulties. There was no Big Misunderstanding in this story, but rather youthful mistakes that caused some deep hurts. For that reason I thought the two of them needed to really talk things through and offer forgiveness to one another. I especially felt Gigi deserved some bleeding heart moments from Cam; after all, she had demonstrated some bleeding heart moments for him.

Aside from that, I found this book terrific in a variety of ways, like the ones you enumerated. Thomas is now on my "search and purchase" list.

[oracne]

Yes--we the readers see Cam's bleeding heart moments through his pov, but Gigi doesn't. The back and forth in time structure also made it harder for me to keep track of the individual character arcs, possibly more my problem than the book's.

I've pre-ordered her next one.

[oyceter]

I liked this a lot, but yeah, I had the same issues with Cam's actions as you did -- it particularly felt weird compared to how in love he seemed in the flashbacks. And yes, I adore Gigi.

I think the author cheated on the ending, but I like her characters enough that I am definitely getting her next book (plus, food porn!).