Strangers When We Meet

I'm not of fan of love triangles, but I bought this book because I was very curious about the storyline, and the excerpt had me hooked.
Now that I have finished the book, I wish I weren't so curious in the first place.

The writing wasn't bad. Like I said, it had me hooked since the beginning. I was reading this book until I had to stop at 6 in the morning to go to bed. Staying up late wasn't unusual with me, but never had I felt stressed while reading like I did with this book. I thought I was going to wake up with a few gray hairs. I suppose the characters' emotions might have channeled their way onto me?

I admired Rosie for making a successful life for herself and her son, Cody, while her husband Nick was away at war. I also understood show more why she chose to move on after seven years since her husband was thought to be dead, but at the same time, I resented her for putting everyone through the confusing and awkward situation when Nick came back.

Nick truly loved Rosie and wanted her to be happy. Since it seemed like she wanted to be with Zach, he immediately filed for divorce and pushed her into Zach's direction so they can all move on. Zach, on the other hand, spent two years waiting for Rosie to commit. When he finally had his ring on her finger, he wasn't going to let Nick steal her away. I didn't like Zach. He pressured Rosie to move on, even though she felt conflicting feelings. Since I knew the hero to be Nick, I hated the fact that Zach and Rosie had more “lovey-dovey” (kissing and cuddling) scenes than Nick, although the few moments Rosie shared with Nick were special.

In his own way, Zach was a tortured hero, too. Before he met Rosie, he was grieving for his fiancée who had passed away from a medical problem. He then fell deeply (or obsessively?) in love with Rosie, but Nick was always a shadow between them. Sometimes I felt sorry that Zach's love life wasn't so easy. He does eventually get his own story in Laura's Baby, but by now he's too intense of a character for me to read any more.

I applaud Winters for writing on victims of war. This was not an easy subject to write about. Nick might have been the one to go into war, but in the end, it effected everyone in the family.

So, while this was a very intense and emotional read, the romance didn't work for me. show less