I REALLY wanted to love this book! The plot is fresh and interesting. It had a nice smooth reading style. Some of the characters were well drawn and likable. The story is really simple: girl meets boy, boy and girl date, fall in love, and move in together with the anticipation of marriage. Then the guy invites the woman to meet his mother. That's when things begin to move sideways. It becomes obvious that THE OTHER WOMAN referenced in the title is Adam's mother. And when Adam brings Emily and Pammie together bad vibes begin to vibrate between the two women.
And we are only into the book 30 pages or so!
But a book like this rises or falls on the backs of the principal characters and the truth of the matter is that Emily's character fell flat. I simply could not believe that she could not see what we the readers could see all too clearly: that Adam was NOT a person worth pursuing.
When it came to Emily, I am reminded of an old story. A woman was trapped when flood waters were rising around her home. A rescue truck came and urged her to leave. She refused saying, "I prayed to God and God will provide." The water rose to the door level and a boat came, but she responded the same way. When the water came to the second floor window another boat came, but she still refused to leave saying, "God will provide." Finally she was trapped on the peak of the roof and a helicopter came, but she still refused. Eventually she died. When she got to heaven, she was confused and challenged God's agents. I believed you would rescue me, but you didn't. Why?" In respond, God's agent said, "We sent a truck, two boats and a helicopter! What more did you need?"
That was Emily! Continually she is hit in the face with reason after reason why she should just move on from Adam, but evidently she was too weak and helpless a character, needy, and without enough self-esteem that she could not permit herself to do other than to cling to Adam--come hell or high water. As a result, by the time I got to the end of this otherwise very will written book, I did not care enough about Emily to be shocked or upset. On the other side, the character of Pammie was very well written and she never failed to intrigue me.
Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book.
And we are only into the book 30 pages or so!
But a book like this rises or falls on the backs of the principal characters and the truth of the matter is that Emily's character fell flat. I simply could not believe that she could not see what we the readers could see all too clearly: that Adam was NOT a person worth pursuing.
When it came to Emily, I am reminded of an old story. A woman was trapped when flood waters were rising around her home. A rescue truck came and urged her to leave. She refused saying, "I prayed to God and God will provide." The water rose to the door level and a boat came, but she responded the same way. When the water came to the second floor window another boat came, but she still refused to leave saying, "God will provide." Finally she was trapped on the peak of the roof and a helicopter came, but she still refused. Eventually she died. When she got to heaven, she was confused and challenged God's agents. I believed you would rescue me, but you didn't. Why?" In respond, God's agent said, "We sent a truck, two boats and a helicopter! What more did you need?"
That was Emily! Continually she is hit in the face with reason after reason why she should just move on from Adam, but evidently she was too weak and helpless a character, needy, and without enough self-esteem that she could not permit herself to do other than to cling to Adam--come hell or high water. As a result, by the time I got to the end of this otherwise very will written book, I did not care enough about Emily to be shocked or upset. On the other side, the character of Pammie was very well written and she never failed to intrigue me.
Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book.