Judith McNaught

Judith McNaught is the master of emotional peaks. I have noticed that her plots are very soapy, but they work because of realistic emotional reactions by the characters. the plots hinge on the fact that these books are coming of age stories where teenagers are trying to navigate relationships with more experienced adults. They are misunderstandings that snowball into each other because while a nineteen year old may seem older than her years, she only has the experience of a nineteen year old girl. The thing about nineteen year old girls is that they are really good at knowing when they are in love, but usually don't know that there is more to a relationship. The problem for the main character is that she loves her husband, but she is unable to trust him because of past actions. Her husband's problem is that he is older, a genius, but is also kind of bad at relationships by making snap judgements and being kind of unforgiving. His main problem is that he forgets that he is married to someone who is much younger than him and hasn't figured out the things he has, so he treats her like they are on equal footing even though they are not. There is knowledge he has that she doesn't simply doesn't because she is sheltered and inexperience and she gains experience throughout the story. It's kind of like how the plot of Romeo and Juliet doesn't make any goddamn sense until you realize that Romeo and Juliet are overwrought thirteen year olds trying to be adults. This is the same thing. The plot seems to be a bit out of control with all the big things that are happening, but you have to remember that things are spiraling out of control because the main character is nineteen. Normally a large age gap is something I ignore in romances because it is extremely uncomfortable but this story simply doesn't work without it.… (more)

I was not a fan of Judith McNaught's novel, "Remember When". The plot literally dragged on with no end in sight. So much of the thoughts were repeated throughout the novel, that I found myself skipping pages in hope of finding where the novel finally took off. It never did. A quarter of the way through, I finally skipped to the last chapter, to the predictable conclusion. Ms. McNaught seems to have quite the fan base. Since this is the first novel of hers that I have read, I will give another of her novels a chance.… (more)