Gosh, did this book make me uncomfortable. I'm a true fan of the nice romance or the steamy bodice ripper; I slum with the best of them and came out as a Harlequin reader back during the 60's when it was not in the least politically correct. So it isn't that I was seeking Serious Literature and got disappointed; I was seeking fluff. Maybe fluff with some depth, that's cool.And this is fluff with depth. But I somehow couldn't quite buy into it. Which may be my problem, not the problem of the author. Firstly, there were the overtones of Rebecca (you know, Manderly, the first Mrs. DeWinter, the stalwart retainer, the young innocent)...here we have the gorgeous house, the wealthy grieving husband, the stalwart retainer, the young innocent. And I don't mind books that echo other books, in fact I often enjoy them greatly, feeling all superior because in my English major way I figured it out. And then there was the thesis. Okay, our heroine is obsessed, as she well might be, with discovering her roots. But...she's writing a thesis, she is on task, or thinks she is, but it is so much more fun to do just about any other thing. I kept worrying. While she was maundering about wondering if her feelings were returned, I was mentally yelling "hey, how's that thesis coming?"And the maundering--I mean, sure it's the stock situation (think Jane Eyre here, the meek governess, the brooding master, oh, how could he/she really be into me?)...I don't know, I'm tired of romance that hinges on people not talking to each other. But again, my prob, not the author's.And the traumatized kidlets, and the search for the birth mom, and the tying up of loose ends..I just wasn't buying. Though I must say the depiction of the 13 year old's reaction to her daddy hooking up did ring dismally true to my own experience as a hooker-upper (no, note I did not say hooker) with a parent of a 13 year old who felt much abandoned (it worked out, sorta. Long time ago).So it's a light but queasy-making read. What can I say? I really, really liked this book!!I found it on sale and thought it sounded interesting, so I thought I would give it a chance. SPOILERS:The story itself isn't very ordinary. There's a man, Asher, who has lost his wife a year ago in a car accident and now he tries to go on with his life. He's very busy with work and struggles to find time to be with his children. So, he needs a nanny.Then there's Jane. A woman who decides to leave her work and travels to some small town in Texas to find her birth mother. But she has to get a job and finds herself taking care of two children, who are still mourning after their mother.And yes, Jane and Asher fall for each other and they try to find a way to have a future together.One thing that bugs me almost everytime when I read an otherwise good book is that when the (usually) heroine decides to break things off with an idiot reason. For instance, in this book Asher told her that he loved her and wanted her even though it may not be easy. Jane had just freaked, because she thought that Asher's late wife must be her birth mother (she wasn't, by the way...). Asher said again and again that it wasn't possible. So Jane leaves him. I mean, what the hell?? Don't get it.But of course we need a little heartbreak before we can have the happy ending, right? =)
What do You think about One Season Of Sunshine (2010)?
Alivia picked this book for me.... we'll see!
—Sue
