This one is more a drama than just a romance.
Dramatis personae
Cecily Yates
- Married to a perfectly amiable man, Luke Yates
- Loves him, not in love with him
- Had a hot and heavy relationship with work colleague, Willow Carmichael, for four years having made it clear to Willow that she had no intention of breaking her marriage
- Now separated (after Willow left Chicago for Las Vegas four months back)
- Looking to pick up her relationship with Willow again during her work trip to Vegas
Willow Carmichael
- Something of a player
- Seduced and stayed with a married Cecily knowing that the latter wouldn’t leave her husband
- Claims to love Cecily
- Cruel in dumping Francesca with whom she’d had a relationship for three of her four months in Vegas
Francesca Lopez
- Bartender
- Sweet
- Heartbroken
- Unexpectedly swept away by Cecily (and also sweeping Cecily off her feet)
Luke Yates
- Amiable
- Considerate
Cecily is the centre of the story. Given that all her actions seem wrong (cheating, having a long illicit affair, closeted with no intention of coming out, getting into an affair with Francesca rather quickly), she is surprisingly very, very likeable. Maybe because she really sees herself and doesn’t make excuses for her behaviour – amongst many other likeable factors. She is a very, very pale shade of grey.
Willow, while not exactly a main player on page, is quite the pivot of the story. She starts off a deep black and ends up a very-close-to-black grey. Barely.
Francesca is charming, sweet and wholly white.
Luke also, mostly white. Well, maybe an even paler shade of grey than Cecily.
We loved the chemistry between Cecily and Francesca and were totally rooting for them. But we just did not get the conflict, particularly Cecily’s actions, words and reactions. This, despite really, really liking Cecily.
On the whole, we quite enjoyed this book because we were invested in Cecily and in the romance between Cecily and Francesca right up to the end.
⭐⭐⭐☆
