Juani Sarrabayrouse Sarrabayrouse থেকে Vadugankuthagai, Tamil Nadu, India
Childhood favorite and beyond! Ferdinand is my hero!
I think I would bump this up to 3.5 perhaps. The biggest issue for me is that Ganek has too much going on for such a small novel. The central issue is Cassie's growth as a character after her divorce -- in particular, her relationship with her half sister. This, I thought, was handled nicely. Cassie's love story isn't surprising (this reads like chick lit to me), but there's so much telling instead of showing that I felt shortchanged. The "mystery" at the center of the book seems placed there more to move the plot along -- otherwise you'd just have a bunch of people sitting at the beach in the Hamptons, reading Gatsby and talking a lot. Unfortunately, that plot device is shallow, almost silly, and really transparent. I immediately figured out what was going on, and it almost felt insulting, like a waste of time that I even had to read about it. I enjoyed Ganek's first novel, and this one had its good points but it just wasn't even enough all the way through.