Jan 25 - Jan 30, 2012

Lothaire
Kresley Cole
Paranormal Romance
Published Jan 2012
468 pages

9/10

  Lothaire, Enemy of Old, is a mad Vampire of Royal lineage - he's kicking ass and taking names (in his ancient ledger of Blood Debts) and is hell bent on taking control of the Vampire Kingdoms... by force.  Elizabeth Peirce is a foxy backwoods piece who, unfortunately, is possessed by the spirit of the homicidal goddess Saroya and has landed on Death Row.  Lothaire intends to wed Saroya in Elizabeth's body, once he gets rid of her pesky soul.  But Lothaire begins to feel conflicted in his plans, because Elizabeth makes him all kinds of hot in all his lusty (and well-endowed) Vampire parts, and Soaroya... well, Saroya only has one thing on her mind and it's a lot more decapitations and a lot less lovin'...

  I'll level with you - this is the first adult paranormal romance I've ever read.  Really, the only one I've ever read, if you don't count Twilight (which I'm sure most people wouldn't).  But Simon & Schuster sent me this book at the beginning of the month, and I figured I could use a break from my usual fare (zombies); so what better way to start than with some random book from the post office?
  From what I could gather, there was a whole slew of other books from this particular Universe, but I didn't feel like an uneducated asshole for not having read them; instead there were allusions to other characters and plots (as opposed to referencing things mysteriously and adding footnotes like *Buy book 5 for the explanation!*) that seemed... pretty interesting, actually. 
  This book was super easy to read; every character was individual and well developed with their own back story (another reason why I'll read more from this series) and the Universe itself was badass - there were so many types of supernatural creatures with different legends and it all comes across as really new and exciting.
  Lothaire as a character was fun to read about; he's ridiculously handsome, rich beyond measure, violent, mentally imbalanced, and completely sex crazed.  My kind of dude.  Elizabeth was kind of standard romance fare (I have read a couple of historical romances in my time): spunky, unpredictable, and a babe.  She seemed a little stereotypical at first; stay strong, keep it together, don't cry out loud...

  Sorry, couldn't resist.  Any time I can work a reference from that movie into my life, I will. 
  Anyways, Elizabeth evolved from from that kind of well-done sticht, and definitely grew on me.  She definitely put that badass in... badass a time or two.  The other characters were a neat mix of old-timey traditional and uber modern Valley/Hipster/Punk.  Another neat take on things (the mixing of mediums, as it were) and another reason why I want to read more of these.
  As for the sex and violence?  Lots of sex, and not a shit load of violence, but it all worked for me.  The sex was nice and graphic (and bizarre at times, which is a plus) and there was just enough violence to keep my interest piqued and the action moving along.  I say this as a hardcore horror junkie (Just put it in my veins!) but nice, normal readers my find it all pretty intense. 
  There was a weird spot towards the end where I was expecting everything to work out, while instead it got pretty messy (severed fingers and shriveled hearts, anyone?) where I was a little wigged out (My first time reading a proper Paranormal Romance and it deviated from the formula?  What?!) but everything came together pretty dang well, in my opinion.  For the most part.
  I really liked that, at the end, while the book did wrap itself up in more specific terms (majority of major conflicts resolved, etc.) it ended in such a way that there was an opening left for another book, which I'd love to read. 
  Kresley Cole did a good job - great characters, well developed Universe, lots of dirty nasty sex, and she's funny, which made this book a lot of fun.  And that's what reading is supposed to be (at least some of the time) right? 
  Honestly, I think I found a new favorite author, but check back with me after I've read a few more...

Sep 30 - Oct 1, 2011

Kat Rides the Iron Men
Christine Michaels
Old West Erotica
Published Feb 2010
163 pages

6/10

  It's the Old West, and a woman named Kat has to save her home from creditors after her parents die.  Although she has a younger sister to look out for, Kat leaves for more lucrative parts, so she can use the poker skills her dearly departed pa impressed upon her to save the family home.  Meanwhile, lovers Gideon and Nathan have been hoping to add a woman's touch, so to speak, to their manly coupling, and Gideon just so happens to meet the ever passionate Kat at a poker table...

  I love dirty-ass smut as much as the next guy - possibly more so, even.  Unless the next guy just so happens to be the weird dude who used to come into the used book store I worked at; he would take a stack of historical romance novels into the washroom and not come out for 20 minutes at a time.  Eventually he was caught jerkin' it by one of the staffers who forgot he was in there.  No lie.  He may like dirty-ass smut more than I do.  But only just barely. 
  This was basically smut with a loose (Ha!) plot line holding it all together.  There was a bit of a build up to the first encounter, and then each subsequent encounter became more and more daring, until the final... climax. 
  The dirty parts were written well enough that reading it at work proved to be somewhat... distracting.  I always seemed to be interrupted during the juiciest bits, and would find myself looking up from a wild, no-holes-barred threesome... right into the eyes of some delicious looking guy and his buddies.  Christ.  If only they knew what I was reading!  If it was a porno movie, there would have definitely been some gettin' it on.  My one criticism of the sex scenes is that the author's repeated use of the term "weeping pussy" really kind of grossed me out.  You know what I think when I hear the term "weeping"?  I think "weeping sores".  Fucking gross.
  The characters were the basic stock types.  Aggressive and rough guy.  Cool and collected guy.  And headstrong stubborn chick, who happened to piss me off to no end because she was totally irrational and wishy-washy.  None of them really drew me in, but they had all the necessary genitalia, so they were kind of necessary, I guess. 
  The non-smut bits were basically filler.  I couldn't have really cared less about what was going on when they weren't coupling (or tripling) but I understand that those parts are what build the story line, tension, and characters.  But it wasn't written particularly well, and it was kind of jerky, so it wasn't that integral for me. 
  It was what it was.  Smut.  Personally, I'd like something just all around better (Maybe one of those paranormal romances that Cara always raves about?) but I didn't have very high expectations of this book (Well, I mean, the female protagonist's name IS Kat, though, so I was hoping it would be passable) and I wasn't really super disappointed.

Sep 9 - Sep 21, 2011

The Law of Nines
Terry Goodkind
Fantasy/Romance
Published 2009
502 pages

7/10

  A regular every day normal guy:

... finds himself at the center of a mystical battle.  With no information and little preparedness, he must defend himself, as well as a mysterious and beautiful woman who swings from throat-slitting to sobbing at the drop of a hat (but don't all women?) and not one, but TWO worlds; all from the evil manipulations of a highly organised and ruthless group of bad guys numbering in the probably hundreds, with sophisticated and well-thought out (and already partially implemented) designs for World Domination.
  In the real world, regular every day normal guy would be toast.  But this is fantasy.  ROMANTIC fantasy, at that.  So clearly, we're reading with some liberties here...

  I like things.  LOTS of things.  Doritos Sweet Chili Heat chips immediately come to mind when pondering things I like.  My husband, most days.  Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.  BOOKS.   Cara.  Bob Ross' mystical painting and happy little bushes.  I could go on and on. 
  But there are also things I don't like.  Olives.  People who are ambling along slowly in front of you and suddenly stop for no reason.  Pina Coladas.  Walks in the rain.  Actually, my friend Adam wrote a book full of things not to like, and I agree with lots of them.  I also don't like the fantasy or romance genres, and the idea of smushing them together generally repulses me. 
  So surprisingly, I did not NOT like this book.  I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I LIKED this book, but I certainly didn't hate it.  After an excruciatingly slow start, it picked up some steam on page 116.  Exactly page 116.  It rolled along for a bit, got mushy, got exciting, got REALLY mushy, and then finished exciting (though a little anti-climatic).  But the final scene was HELLA unrealistic.  Not because it's a fantasy book; I can deal with that.  It was unrealistic because... well... normally I don't like to discuss specific plot points in a book because I don't want to ruin it for someone who is thinking of reading it.  But I can probably discuss this in the broadest sense without spoiling it.  But just in case...
                                                               SPOILER ALERT!
 
  As I was saying, the book ended on a terrifically unrealistic note for me, because if the woman you love if a super-important leader of a dramatic and violent political rebellion and she's going back to her world to incite upheaval, there's NO WAY she can make any kind of promise to come back to you, and there's no way you can believe it.  She'd be more likely to take a mystical arrow through the face or have her organs melted by wizard fire.  Or at least suffer a hand-to-foot spell.  Wizards are crafty like that. 

  No one wants a dame with feet for hands, a vice a versa. 
  Scratch that.  Someone out there does, and I'm sure if I typed that into Google I'd find all kinds of sick shit and the people who love it.  But not everyday normal guy; he wouldn't be down.
  It seems this was written with a romantic idealist in mind for a reader, and I am not one of them.  Fair enough.  I KNOW I'm not one of those people, and therefor I understand that this book was not geared towards me.  I am not the target audience, and I get that.
  So I was able to enjoy it for the most part, although it seemed... kind of weirdly British to me.  There wasn't as much action as I would have preferred, and too much mush.  All the characters seemed to take things in a fairly deadpan manner.  Our protagonist was riddled with anxiety but still very monotone, and not super exciting.  Our lady protagonist was a lot more... manic, at least.  Stab stab, cry cry, stab stab, cry.  Women!
  Also, there were also a couple of awkwardly worded sentences that piqued my interest:
  "As they raced away slowly down the street..."
  "There could have been no better comfort in the face of all the difficulty they faced."
  And the phrases "... jumbles of rock..." "...rock jumble..." and "... the jumbled, weathered rock..." were used over the course of two pages.  But I'm just being persnickity.
  This struck me as a bit of entertaining fluff, and while not my cup of tea (Two more lumps of blood and semen, please!) I can see how people who like this kind of book, would like this book.
  And just so you know, this is the first Terry Goodkind I've ever read, so maybe I'm missing some epic Sword Of Truth references.  People hype the fuck out of those books, and this wasn't so bad that I would refuse try the series out.  But I'm not exactly chomping at the bit for it, either.
 

May 14 - May 18, 2011

Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen
General Fiction
Published 2006
335 pages

9/10

  A grizzled old geezer recounts his surprisingly entertaining adventures as a young veterinarian traveling with the circus.  Not quite the same as when grandma gets liquored and gossips about that bitch who queers the numbers during Bingo at the retirement castle.

  Hey there!  Welcome to the first edition of:

  Obviously, I know this isn't an Oprah book, but when a book gets a shit-ton of hype from those types... you know, the ones that watch Oprah and Dr. Phil and hang out at Starbucks to sip their uber fancy coffees while they discuss PTA nonsense and have book clubs as an excuse to get drunk (I certainly don't need an excuse) and discuss their husband's failings - in my books, it's an Oprah book.  It doesn't necessarily mean the book is bad, it just means that I think the people who like these books are typically douche bags.  Usually.  If you're not a douche bag, and you love these types of books, I commend you.  You truly are a rare breed.  See if you can get the other book club members to smoke a joint, or maybe go to a Pink Floyd show or something, OK?
  But honestly, it's no small wonder why this book is so popular - it MOVES.  No lie, I'd be all snuggled into bed in the middle of the night, and realize I had somehow burned through a hundred pages or so in less than an hour (and large typeface can only contribute so much to that).  Reading this book required barely any effort on my part, other than turning the pages (if I'm in the zone I can totally blow them over) and zigging and zagging my eyeballs to and fro.  It was easy easy easy to read.  And you know why?  Water For Elephants has a rare magic combination of  two bestseller factors - it was entertaining fluff that happened to be written really well.
  First off, it's about the circus!  Elephants, dwarfs, psychotic animal trainers, moonshine, and coochie tents!  Sex, booze, and violence!  It would be damn hard to make all that dull, but on top of all that, those elements are orbited around... a forbidden love!  Dun Dun Duuuuuunh.  The romantic in me was just totally done for (and the sicko in me would read that and wonder - How forbidden?  Flowers in the Attic forbidden?  Or Linda Lovelace forbidden?  Because I'm sick like that).  Then, it's all backed up with some pretty great writing chops that move the story along swiftly and easily, with believable dialogue and plenty of action, and a cast of characters that seem realistic and multi-dimensional.
  Present day Jacob was difficult to like because, lets face it, he's a grumpy old coot; young Jacob totally makes up for his future self by being sweet, brave, and utterly human.  He runs away from school, and falls in love with a married woman.  But he also connects with the animals and his fellow human performers on a really sincere level.  He's a normal person, and therefore easy to identify with and care about.  Marlena though, is a total badass, and I think she's a standout player.  I can't go into more detail without giving away some major plot points, but that woman does things that most women, past or present, would never have the courage to do.  Kudos, fictional character that is the production of someone's imagination... kudos.  I love that the villains are extra villainous; I certainly felt some hate at times.  But there were comeuppances all around, and I felt the glorious satisfaction of bad things happening to people I don't like.
  You can tell this book just kind of flew out of Gruen - the amount of stuff she tries to tell you in such a fast paced manner... Awesome.  Sure, there were some convenient formulae put to use, but it's fluff, man!  And I didn't care much for the very end as I found it to be unbelievable, but that's why I gave it a 9 instead of a 10.  But this was definitely the most easy to read and entertaining book I've come across in AGES.  It's one of those stories you just want to pick up and immerse yourself in because it's so fun.  There is no heavy thinking required - you know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, you know who should win and who should be garroted, and it's the type of feel good story you can just relax into because you're sure everything will be OK in the end.  I totally would have been upset if they all got run over by the Titanic, that's for sure.
  This was escapist fiction of the highest order - action, tears, romance, and a dead fat lady in an elephant car.  Classy, wholesome goodness.

May 3 - May 12, 2011

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness
Paranormal Romance
Published 2011
579 pages

6.5/10

Despite the danger from opposing forces, a Vampire and a Witch fall in love.  OR  Two wieners make shit difficult for everyone because of conveniently ridiculous circumstances.

I've never really read paranormal romance; the paranormal is cool, but the romance is always too... mushy for me.  I mean, I have read the Twilight series, but in my defense, so have a billion other people.  And I'm totally willing to admit that I LOVED Twilight, but I assume that has something to do with Stephanie Meyers selling her soul to the Mormon Devil.
Now, after reading A Discovery of Witches, I've come to the conclusion that this book is pretty much Twilight, but with adult protagonists, and two swear words.  Does this sound familiar?  " 'There's a lot I don't understand about all this, Hamish, but there are three things I do know... I will not give into this craving for her blood.  I do not want to control her power.  And I certainly have no wish to make her a vampire.' "  That's kind of similar to Twilight's "About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."  Coincidence?  I think not.  Now throw in the fact that our overbearing vampire Matthew is waiting to go all the way with his beloved simpering Witch Diana, and you have some striking similarities.  I've already read Twilight; I don't need to do it again.
Another downfall is that the writing isn't that awesome.  I mean, it's generally written well enough, but there are some issues.  The pacing is brain-jarring.  The first half of the book is draggy as fuck, with little action or excitement.  The we read the second half, which is pretty much all action (and makes for way quicker reading) but it's all crammed in there with so many competing elements that it's hard to keep everything straight.  There has to be a happy medium between boring as hell and too much shit to comprehend properly!  Harkness also feels the need to go into every little friggin' detail about EVERYTHING.  Crusty old architecture (snooze) crusty old school history (snore) even the exacting process of putting on riding gear - "The vest was snug and hard - but it wasn't as bad as I expected.  The hat interfered with my ponytail, and I slid the elastic band lower to accommodate it before snapping the chin band together."  Really?  Is THAT how you put a hat on?  I had no idea!  I'm mesmerized!  Harkness also mentions Matthew's eyebrow "rising into the shape of a question mark" no less than three times, with nearly the same wording each time (and clearly Matthew has never had Botox, if he can do THAT with his face).
And when she describes Miriam's "flat black curls" I was totally confused.  How can a curl be flat?  Is Miriam made out of paper?  Is she the undead version of Flat Stanley?

Also, when Matthew says, "I don't want you near me when I'm angry." all I can think of is this guy -

I could have lived with all that lameness, if so much of it hadn't been so friggin' slow and uninteresting and I could find nothing else focus on.  Maybe the author was just trying to build up our emotional investment in the characters?
BTW, the characters mostly sucked (with the exception of Juliette, the insane vampire assassin).  Diana started out nervous and standoffish, and suddenly (literally, in the space of a paragraph) she this simpering idiot who literally has to be carried through most of the rest of the book and acts like a huge cunt to her family, all because she realizes she's in love with a Vampire.  In fact, an exchange between Diana and her aunt sums my feelings up perfectly - " 'You've known Matthew for a few weeks.  Yet you follow his orders so easily, and you were willing to die for him.  Surely you can see why Sarah is so concerned.  The Diana we've known all these years is gone.'  'I love him,' I said fiercely.  'And he loves me.'  Matthew's many secrets - the Knights of Lazarus, Juliette, even Marcus - I pushed to the side, along with my knowledge of his ferocious temper and his need to control everything and everyone around him."  That sounds EXACTLY like something a battered woman would say.  If some broad said that to me, I'd be all:

On the other hand, Matthew is pretty static.  He skulks around, keeps secrets, stalks Diana, gets all moody over previous lovers, and treats Diana like a child.  He says he loves her hair because "It's imperfect, just like life.  It's not like vampire hair, all polished and flawless."  He KILLS and SUCKS THE BLOOD OUT OF A DEER, and Diana's all, "Shush deer, he needs to kill you to show me how dangerous he really is.  Just go quietly, because this is really romantic, and I'm totally turned on right now."  The she kisses his bloody mouth, and compares her eating an egg sandwich to what he just did.  Maybe it's just because I'm a vegetarian, but I think that's gross.
But in all fairness, I was able to breeze through the latter portion of the book because it was just a bunch of action packed fluff.  I was able to just accept the flaws and just go with it, and I even kind of got lost in it for a bit, until way too much stuff started going on and I started to auto-pilot.  But I know that it's the first in a trilogy, and Harkness wants us to want to find out what's going to happen next, so I can't really blame her for leaving so many loose ends.
Really, I know this book is an epic.  It's long and involved, and has multiple plots that could go in just about any direction.  If it was horror, I'd totally be into it.  But it's not.  To me, it's a Twilight ripoff paranormal romance.  And I generally don't enjoy that kind of stuff.  But I can see how other people totally could.

Feb 22 - Feb 25, 2011

Mercy
Jodi Picoult
General Fiction
Published 1996
400 pages

8.5/10

    Jamie McDonald euthanizes his terminally ill wife via a pillow over her face; Cam McDonald euthanizes his terminally average marriage via a love affair with a mysterious nomad.  Judgment ensues.
    It's not often my book comes with an official "Reader's Club Guide" to help me evaluate my reading experiance.  Let's go through these Q's and explore our A's, shall we?
    1. To what degree is the title a metaphor for this novel?
    Mercy is not a motherfudgin' metaphor for this book.  It is a legitimate feeling/action that occurs in this book over and over again.  Theme?  Yes, definitely.  Metaphor though?  Not in the least.  Fuck you, Reader's Club Guide, for starting off like a pseudo-pretentious asshole, right out of the gate.
    2. Are Jamie's actions justified? What about Cam's? Allie's?
    Jamie's actions, I feel, were justified.  I've had to put down a beloved pet before, and animals inspire a lot more feeling in me than most people do.  I think I could put down a dying loved one if they were begging for it.  I'd make them sign a goddamn contract, though.  Cam, however, is an asshat, and a pansy to boot.  Philandering is a quality that will put you in my bad book, and hiding it so as to have your cake and have sex with it too?  So despicable.  Not in the least bit justified.  And Allie?  What did she do; try to help someone and find evidence that true love does exist?  She's a woman.  We're programmed to eat that shit up for breakfast.  Justified due to gender.
    3. Who is the author of the "notes"between the chapters? Who are these snippets addressing? Did you believe this throughout the book?
    I have to assume it's some sort of mystical time-traveling robot that has nothing to do with this story, because those segments were confusing as hell.  If I had to guess though, I'd say Cam.  Which makes me dislike him even more, because they seem to be written from a "down the line" perspective, which means he's still griping about the one that got away.
    4. Jamie says, "You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride."Do you agree?
    Truer words have never been spoken, but the best relationships are the ones that have an ever changing balance to keep things fair.
    5.  In what ways does Mia's memory of her parents' love influence her relationship with Cam?
    I think Mia is just outright fucked, and EVERYTHING she does is influenced by her parent's relationship.
    6. Who is the most selfish character? The most selfless?
    The most selfish?  Maggie.  Duh.  She was DYING, and she asked her heart-broken husband to suffocate her to death because she wasn't willing to do the job herself.  Selfless?  Jamie.  He KILLED a broad.  And consequences be damned!  Most (?) of us aren't capable of that.  Well, 9 out of 10 of us, anyways.
    7. In what ways are Cam and Jamie similar?
    They were both brought us with traditional values, but participated in non-traditional acts.  And they're both Scottish gingers.  Ugh.
    8. How is Cameron MacDonald like his namesake ancestor? How is he different? To what extent does the Scottish history of this clan affect his decisions?
    I think all that was just thrown in to fluff the reading experience up and give Cam a false sense of morality and heroism so as to make his downfall all the more shocking.
    9.  What is the significance of the moments in MERCY that are magical or somewhat unreal?
    To be honest, that shit confused the hell out of me, and I promptly disregarded it.
    10. There is a catch-22 in Mia and Cam's relationship… they have each fallen in love with a person who would no longer exist if they were to run off together. Do you agree or disagree with this statement, and why?
    I agree, because nothing is ever as perfect it seems to be, and while the relationship was incredible for them at the time, they knew, once it became real, it would be weighted down will all the trappings of a normal relationship.  Or maybe I disagree, because they were both cowards, and that was just the excuse they used so as not to take full responsibility for their actions.  If it was really true love, they would have been together, no matter who they disappointed, and consequences be damned!
    11. Is there a hero in this book?
    Why, the first Cam McDonald, of course!  He had a sword!
    12. What attracts Allie to Jamie? To Cam? What attracts Mia to Cam, and Cam to Mia? Do you believe that we try to find parts of our personalities that are lacking in the people we love?
    Allie is attracted to Jamie because, to her, he represents what she's been seeking; true unadulterated love.   Allie is attracted to Cam because of his strength and stolidity.  And his gun, I assume.  Weapons make babes hot!  Mia's attraction to Cam is based on her desperation, insecurity, and parental related issues.  And possibly true love.  And Cam's attraction to Mia is based on her mystery, and his yearning for adventure.  And that love thing.  And I think we are attracted to people different than ourselves, because we all want to feel complete.
    13.   At the end of chapter 17, Cam "wondered how he had so quickly gone from holding everything he wanted in the palm of his hand to having absolutely nothing at all. He wondered how he could have been so blinded by something shiny and new and elusive that he couldn't at least give equal credit for the strength of something stable, and strong, and his."  Do you think his feelings are heartfelt? Do you agree?
    I think Cam is just a red-headed redneck that gets WAY too much credit.  His feelings are only heartfelt insomuch that he's probably emo.  And I don't agree.  If you really love a person, you're not going to be blinded by shiny shit.  Close you eyes, for Christ's sake!   There's a reason why our parents told us not to look at the sun!
    14. Why did Picoult choose to make Jamie a pioneer in virtual reality?
    So he can be more perceptive to Maggie's ghost?
    15. How has Jamie changed by the end of the book?
    He begins to take a healthy interest in his own welfare.  When he killed Maggie, he didn't give a fuck.  When the final decision to his fate is being handed down, he definitely gives a fuck.  Also, in the end, he sees dead people, which was never mentioned before.  If it was continually happening, it probably would have been brought up.
    16. What will happen to Cam and Allie? To Mia? To Jamie?
    Do I look like Jodi Picoult to you?  I don't have the foggiest.  If it was my book, Cam and Allie would go through a messy divorce and he would be cowardly-slut-shamed out of town while she engaged in introspection, pottery classes, and a lesbian fling with Cam's mom.  Mia would find herself in a sticky situation or two, slowly growing older and more desperate for love, until she's murdered by an angry wife with a double barrel.  Jamie would grow crazier and crazier, until he kills himself.  And that's why I don't write other people's books.  I would ruin them.  You'd hate to see my "Hop on Pop - Part 2".
    17. Is this novel about love, or loyalty? Are they the same thing?
    Love is what binds you to your soulmate, no matter the cost.  Loyalty is what keeps you at a crappy job you hate until you die of ulcers at 40, or eat a pube sandwich at your favorite restaurant.
    The whole time I read this book, I was agitated as shit.  Cam's infidelity seemed to have no real reason behind it, other than a need to escape his responsibilities under a thin veneer of "love".  Hell, Mia even admitted that it wasn't Cam she wanted, but Allie's life!  And for all their talk of LOVE, they didn't even own up to their actions by BEING TOGETHER!  So NO ONE is happy!  They took all those stupid risks, and hurt Allie for pretty much no good reason.  And was there some magical subtheme I was missing?  And WTF happened to Mia?  I found myself wondering about so many loose ends, and I don't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing... it means I want more from this book.
   Also, by the last 20 or 30 pages, I was gearing myself up for the big BANG signature of Jodi Picoult's books.  When it didn't come, I was disappointed (where's the twist?) but relieved (no sappy ass predictable cry fest).
   It was a stirring book, no doubt.  It mostly stirred my rage.