As college students, Kate Connors, a law
student in a college in small town Renfrew met Lauren Dawson, a sociology
student and wife of Kate’s classmate, Drew. Despite the fact Lauren was
married, Kate and Lauren had an intense passionate affair. Which ended badly. Gathering
pieces of her broken heart Kate left Renfrew for the city.
Fifteen years later, Kate is back in
Renfrew as a librarian, with a 10-year-old daughter, Jack, in tow. Kate had
felt burnt out and had also felt that she was unable to give Jack enough
attention. Having saved enough money, Kate is back in a smaller town to slow
down their pace of life.
The first person Kate meets in Renfrew is
10-year-old Abbie, immediately followed by Abbie’s mom, Lauren. As luck has it,
the two girls become the best of friends and it is impossible for the two women
to not interact.
About 97% of the book has Lauren chasing
Kate making herself vulnerable – in the past and in the present – and Kate
brushing her off, pushing her away and rejecting her with varying degrees of
coldness, rudeness and plain nastiness. As a result, there is no real chemistry
between the two.
Lauren is special. She is filled to the
brim with every characteristic we like, garnished with a great sense of humour.
In fact, this is the first time we’ve actually envied a pen person. We were
intensely jealous of Kate especially since there is absolutely nothing to like
(much less, love) about her. Even when she’s supposedly smooth and charming,
she comes across as just an ass.
We cannot imagine what sort emotion (love
or guilt?) Lauren feels and carries to keep her faith, self-esteem and hope for
one year after Kate returns and rejects her on a daily basis. Kate takes
pains to be horrible to the woman she is supposed to have this great,
unexpressed love for, namely Lauren, who
is now divorced and unfailingly nice, warm, loving, mature, flirtatious and
openly expressing her feelings for Kate. The chip on her shoulder that Kate has
is more of a forest than just a chip.
This one just wasn’t for us.
About the rating: Since Lauren is a 5 for us and Kate a zero, we’re
averaging the overall rating for this one to 2.5.
⭐⭐☆
