A seductive and mesmerizing story of obsessive love from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic.After nineteen years in California, March Murray returns to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up. For all this time, March has been avoiding her own troubled history, but when she encounters Hollis—the boy she loved so desperately, the man who has never forgotten her—the … who has never forgotten her—the past collides with the present as their reckless love is reignited. This dark romantic tale asks whether it is possible to survive a love that consumes you completely. The answers March Murray discovers are both heartbreaking and wise, as complex as they are devastating—for in heaven and in our dreams, love is simple and glorious. But it is something altogether different here on earth…
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I like dark books. That being said, this book goes several shades past dark. I couldn’t put it down even when the story line played with normally stable anxiety levels.
Hoffman’s mother/daughter characterization is spot-on. She pulls no punches, but when the mother turns into the child and the child becomes the adult, I started to pray for a miracle. The ride from Chapter One to the end of the book led me down a path filled with people beyond repair. With love that hurt.
Love isn’t supposed to be that way.
I found this book to be a spellbinding, dark tale of twisted love and lies – the worst lies being the one’s the characters tell themselves. The intricacies of relationships, romantic and otherwise, are shown in all their beauty and contradictions. Hoffman does an amazing job of showing how a person can be drawn into an abusive relationship even to the point of defending the abuser. I wanted to be angry with March. I wanted to shake her, to tell her to wake up, grow a spine, and protect herself and her daughter. Yet, at the same time, March’s slow descent into hell from the high she thought was love is so believably drawn, it spells out how this type of relationship can and does develop. Every character is complex. Each has serious faults and hidden strengths. Characters who began as villians became pitiable while pitiable ones became villians and still others grew in strength and became people who surprised even themselves. As a reader, my view of and feelings about each character changed as the story progressed. A dark, but satisfying read.
This was my first Alice Hoffman book. I’ve read so, so many since. It was also my first (and last) Oprah Book Club book. Stark, cold, filled with misery… and yearning. This story kept my stomach on edge and my heart spastically pounding. Doomed love has never been so riveting. Loved it! — Alice Bello is the Author of Hate Him XOXO and Holding onto Hope.
Alice Hoffman is just always a good read.
A look at the characters in Wuthering Heights in a modern day setting with modern viewpoints.
Eveey Alice Hoffman Bokinsky is worth reading.
Just couldn’t get into this book. Disappointed because I generally like this author’s work.
It was not as well written or page turning as I’ve come to expect from books that have Oprah’s name on them
Best of her work.
I expected this book to be as great as others I have really enjoyed by this author.
Nomy Margalit
There were a number of very tragic characters. The writing was very good. Showed a toauch of human nature when someone is treated badly in their houng life and they set out to get even. I enjoyed the book a lot although it was not really a fun book to read.
Not her best, but she is always good.
As always, I can count on Alice Hoffman to write a wonderful story that holds my attention to the very last page. A bit sad but yet whimsical as well.
Predictable. Agonizingly slow. Disappointed since I usually really like Alice Hoffman’s stories. This one felt like a re-tread, or maybe an early work. I gave up on it.
Interesting whimsy ..almost supernatural
It read slow…maybe less discription….but truly worth the end. Kudos to author for writing on this much needed subject…..and the subtle, slow trap that happens to the best of people.
Sigh, I love this author. This story was a heart breaker, but had integrity and true life grit.
I love Alice Hoffman’s writing, and this book is no disappointment!
An excellent choice from Alice Hoffman, a favorite writer of mine.
I love Alice Hoffman. Her writing is magical / poetic. This isn’t one of my favorites – That would be Second Nature or Illumination Night (maybe Blue Diary), but it’s up there.