Still

I liked both of the main characters. They were regular people, trying to come to terms with their feelings, or the lack of, and generally doing their best. Enjoyment wise, I did enjoy it for the most part. This is the second Mary Calmes book (erm, I count the Marshals series as a book here) I read and I was expecting to enjoy it. I liked that the reason of the separation wasn't over the top or melodramatic, it was just two people not feeling the same. And that's fine, shit like that happens.

What I didn't like is that this is basically a case of miscommunication and I have some questions. These two people spent seventeen years together, they shared everything, they raised their kids together, they knew each other like the back of their hands and yet, how could Sivan not pick up, in all this time, that Walter is the showing his feelings type of guy instead of saying them? That part makes no sense to me.

The novel also felt in a rush to solve everything, to show what kind of life Sivan and Walter have (sadly that didn't leave a lot of space for just them two), how they interact with other people, and culminate in a family reunion. I am not sure why there was need for that.

The whole crazy guy obsessing over Sivan and shooting Walter was a stretch. Actually it was okay until the shooting happened. Throwing some punches, fine, but showing up with a gun on their front porch was an exaggeration.

Putting all that in balance, there were some parts I really liked too. Unfortunately, what I liked more is the start of their relationship. I liked Sivan and Walter more in the second and third chapter and I hoped they would remain as snappy and fun, but I guess a long marriage does that to people. I didn't actually see any of the possessiveness Walter mentioned and that is a loss.

Despite all that, I did enjoy the novel, even though the plots jumps high and low at times, I found Sivan and Walter to be depicted quite realistically and they are definitely a good fit for each other. What saves this novel for me is that I really liked Mary Calmes's writing from a technical point of view. It's almost impossible to not get caught up in the novel even a little bit.