I tried. I really tried to find a reason to both like and even finish this book but once I hit page 250 it was over and became a DNF. The read itself was dull. There was very little chemistry between the characters and the heroine just wasn't likeable. The deceit and lying just go on and on with the heroine and I can't really figure out her behavior even after she finds out Adrian did absolutely nothing wrong. Even more to the point, I can't for the life of me figure out why Adrian bothers to keep trying. The breaking point was when the heroine fell to pieces after being confronted by a former lover of Adrian's (page 250) I mean, really? This is what we've come to for writing female characters? Negative stereotypes? She manages to escape a bad situation and build a new life for herself but a few unkind words from one of Adrian's former lovers sends her running to her room to have a breakdown? And the worst of this? The "lover" was from a time when Adrian thought Kate was dead. We hit DNF status at that point. It was ridiculous.But like I said, I had difficulty liking the heroine so I'm probably going to be exceedingly harsh with her. There's a lot going on in this book. Suspense about what really happened to the heroine's dead husband, when secrets will come to light, tortured love-hate stuff between reunited lovers. Generally, I enjoy those things. This book was nevertheless kind of a dull read. I didn't ever find myself all that interested in the characters. Some of the foreshadowing (along the lines of "he didn't know what she'd think if she ever found out... no she can't find out, she'll never know!") left a bruise it hit me over the head so hard. There were attitudes that just felt inauthentic, anachronistic - the heroine balks at wearing a feminine and colourful gown, for example, because she so strongly identifies herself as a businesswoman. Even now just thinking of it, my face is screwing up into a deeply skeptical expression. Which kind of sums up what a lot of the book felt like to me. Disengaging.However, I have read maybe 2 or 3 other books by this author, and none worked very well for me. So, maybe serious Dahl fans would love this.
