First, I would recommending reading the book versus the audio. I purchased the audio version and the narrator’s voice (Eva Hamilton) got on my nerves so bad-it was difficult to get through the book. I really enjoy Mary’s books as she is such a talented writer. I did purchase the e-book and definitely better. When they were young Rouke and Kate were in love and a tragedy tore them apart. They went their separate ways as she became and wife and mother and her husband was killed on a job site. Turns out Rouke, a highly successful business man owns the company. He then finds out the widow is Kate and he is obsessed with picking up where they left off. He wonders if the daughter may be his? A secretary who is out of her element and a niece who drives him crazy. On the anniversary of Kate’s daughter’s birthday, she write a letter in a journal which she never mails to the man who holds her heart. Another story of second chances. Can the big city businessman and the small town girl really turn back time and pick up where they left off, or will secrets and lies destroy them? Imagine sitting down to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. The picture on the box is interesting. You're not given the number of pieces, but based on the description on the cover it looks like it'll be challenging. You open the box and start assembling. The border is an unexpected shape and you become excited. This could be harder than you thought, but you're up for the challenge! Then you find big chunks of the puzzle already put together in the box. The machine didn't cut all the way through and although you can see the outline of the individual shapes, there's no way to separate the pieces. You shrug your shoulders in disappointment and put the chunks in their obvious spot. Then you realize pieces are missing and they're to the part of the puzzle you were most looking forward to putting together. You can still see that part of the picture, but it's not complete. You finish the puzzle, because that's what jigsaw junkies do, but you're not happy about it. When the puzzle is done you take a moment to admire your work but you can't help thinking that you missed out on the full enjoyment of putting that puzzle together. You take everything apart and put it back in the box, put on the lid and turn the box over. What's this? The pieces that were stuck together are now cleanly separated and taped to the bottom of the box! Some of the missing pieces are there, too! Who in their right mind would sell a jigsaw puzzle in that condition?!?! You have half a mind to write a stern letter to the manufacturer and express your disappointment.That paragraph sums up how I felt about reading this book.Any book blurb worth its salt not only gives the basic premise, but also contains "hooks" or plot points that lure a potential reader into cracking the cover. The blurb for "The Way They Were" had several such hooks and I looked forward to getting more of the story. With second chance romances, an important part of relating to the characters is finding out what happened the first time around. How did they meet? How did they fall in love? What was their first time like? How did they part? You would expect to get this information via flashback or some other devise. The reader needs this information to really buy into the fact they love each other and root for them to get back together. The book fails to deliver the goods within the official pages. The author decided to include deleted passages at the end of the book that satisfy the reader's appetite, but it comes after the meal is already over. Some diary entries and scenes of Rourke reading his yearly investigative reports also appear as extras.Author Mary Campisi does a better job with the mystery tragedy that separated Kate and Rourke at eighteen. She dangles just enough information to keep the reader intrigued, but once again it's not enough to feel the real impact it had on all the parties involved.On the plus side, the plot point revealed in the first chapter was totally unexpected and a great way to kick off the book. Also, the depth of the feelings revealed via Kate and Rourke's internal dialogue was enough to sell me on how much they loved each other despite the lack of back story.I'm glad I decided to read the deleted scenes contained after the epilogue, but I wish they had appeared within the pages of the book where they belonged.
What do You think about The Way They Were (2011)?
Kate and Rourke are so meant to be together, I love second chances that work out :-) xx
—jedipwnces
Good read. Seemed like things happened fast in the book but I still liked it.
—specialgirl_34_76
sometimes it was like.. let's go already!... but overall enjoyed the read
—allie
