Excellent First Novel-Love vs. Friendship

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	• A Line Between Friends Michele, VanOrt Cozzens McKenna Publishing Group, 2006 - 244 pages average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I enjoyed every minute of it...

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this book. The way the author begins with present day and ties in the past to show the reader how they got to the present was fantastic. What captivated me the most was how you can just feel what each Noelle and Joel were feeling/thinking...and as women, we always want to know what the men in our lives are actually thinking! Everyone has a "Joel" (or a "Noelle") in their lives, whether or not the feelings were to the extent that these characters had for each other so I think everyone can relate in one shape or form. The way the novel ends.. I feel was most interesting. Although I did not necessarily 100% agree with Noelle's thoughts or assesment of her situation, I do think that (and this is generally speaking) if the story were true, it would end the way it did....with Noelle searching & finding answers while Joel never really did. I particularly liked that the answer to "can men & women be friends after each marries another" is not an easy one to answer...and this book truly shows why!

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What a Fine Story

After having read and enjoyed Michele's book about her resort and disc golf I'M LIVING YOUR DREAM LIFE I couldn't not order A LINE BETWEEN FRIENDS the second I stumbled across it while mousing around on Amazon. If her fiction was has half as good as her DREAM LIFE, I knew it was going to be money well spent.

Plus, there was the subject matter. I'm a guy who is happily married and has a best friend who happens to be a female. So I wanted to see how Michele's characters were going to handle the situation. First off, let me say she nails the characters with just a few words. Her device of having them give nicknames to each other is nothing short of brilliant. We have Soulful Joel, Nobel Noelle, Don Juan Carver, Sam the pig farmer and the list goes on. Michele draws her readers right into the story, so real are her people, especially the duel narrators, Noelle and Joel.

Joel has been in love with Noelle from the moment he first laid eyes on her. But it seems he keeps missing the boat and as a result she finds somebody else and he marries Anita Dambra and though she's a hottie, she is as sour (at least to my way of thinking) as her name sounds to me.

After years of friendship one day Noelle gets a very short letter:

"Dear Noelle, I don't think it's fair that you keep in touch with me, and it's not fair to my wife Anita. Please don't write to me or call me anymore. Joel"

Jeez, any guy who'd write a letter like that after the history these two had had together is a loser, but you won't be a loser if you read this book, because even though Joel is the man of missed opportunities, he's a likable character. However, Noelle is lovable and a joy to read about. Her experience with college, her life afterwards, kept me enthralled.

Then there is the ending, will Joel finally approach Noelle, tell her how he's felt all these years? You gotta read the book to find out, but either way, you'll fall in love with the people in this story, most of them anyway. You probably won't like Anita all that much and like me you'll probably find Joel wanting, but as I said, you won't find the story wanting. Michele VanOrt Cozzens is a first class storyteller. I know that to be true and so will you if you pick up this book.

Now to answer the question the book poses. "Can a man and a woman remain friends after each marries someone else?" I think yes, but about Noelle and Joel, I don't know. How about you, do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you are completely open with? And if so, are you completely honest with your spouse about her/him? Because if you're not, give Michele a call, perhaps you can be the germ that inspires her next novel.

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Cross that Line, Lose it All

My best friend gave me this book to read. He's married, had been that way for years before we met. His wife Sara has a couple girlfriends she's very close to, girls she went to college with. They get together all the time and they've included me in their group. At first I was the outsider, the girl who pals around with Sara's husband. The girl who thinks like him, drinks like him, writes with him. But after a bit they got used to me, then accepted me, because they know, Sara especially, that unlike Joel and Noelle, Jack and I will never, ever cross that line.

But even though in this story, Noelle and Joel, did cross the line between friends, they seemed to have worked through it. They both met somebody else, both married. They sent Christmas and birthday cards to each other, wrote letters, then one day out of the blue Noelle gets a letter from Joel which, according to her, killed their friendship.

It was a short letter, only three sentences, he told her he didn't want to keep in touch with her anymore, told her not to write him. She honored his wishes.

Noelle actually reads the letter in the first chapter, then we go back in time and experience the couple's relationship through Ms. Cozzens' touching story. She is a gifted writer who draws you deeper into her story's web with each paragraph. I sympathized with Joel, but identified with Noelle. She was better put together, better able to handle the situation. She could've remained friends with Joel, because, like in my case, his friendship was enough. There is nothing greater than a best friend. Joel on the other hand could not, in my opinion, maintain such a friendship.

This is a sometimes heart warming, sometimes heartbreaking story. Noelle is a divine character, one who I'd like to read more about. Joel, on the other hand, is somebody, I don't care to know anymore about. I found him wanting in so many ways. At times he really got me angry and that is the mark of good story telling, when you both love and hate the characters you're reading about, when they seem like real people, when you care about the outcome. Michele VanOrt Cozzens has crafted such a story here.

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Friendship...and Crossing the Line

Noelle begins the story by telling us about sending Christmas cards out, and a specific one she received from her long-time friend, Joel. Joel has asked her to no longer contact him.

The tale unfolds as we are pushed back to their high school days of where they met, and through college. Noelle tries to figure out why Joel would ask her to stop writing to him...after all; they're just friends, right?

We soon see that Joel has a very special place in his heart for Noelle, and he compares every other woman to her. They both date other people and go their separate ways, but they always end up back with each other. While making friends, moving all over the country, and marrying other people, Joel and Noelle are able to remain friends. However, many years prior, they "crossed the line of friendship," and now had a sexual relationship as well.

Noelle's reaction to Joel's request that she no longer contact him is to write a book about their relationship. She becomes famous for this book--and Joel never speaks to her again.

Cozzens' first book reminds me of a popular teen soap opera TV show, Dawson's Creek. Two childhood friends who one day cross 'the line' and then struggle to have relationships that aren't compared to their first love. In the end, one of them moves on and the other makes a bunch of money exploiting the relationship.

It's your typical 'friends grow up and grow apart' storyline and was very easy to read. With a time frame that goes back to 1977, there is a lot of history and political and legal issues that are dealt with, along with personal struggles by each of the characters. Even though this wasn't one of my favorite novels of the year, I can only hope that my first novel is this good!

Armchair Interview says: Good title to attract readers.

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Excellent First Novel-Love vs. Friendship

I really enjoyed this book for the way the characters grew from childish college freshman to wiser adults with the perspectives of time and experience. Their voices were unique and very true to character, and the play between their differing views on the same shared experiences was cleverly woven. Congratulations on an excellent first novel!

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5

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