DC?s most eligible bachelor, Senator Jamie Calhoun, needing her father?s help, promises to assist Abigail in getting her man. Something weird happens to Abigail and Jamie. They fall in love, but he refuses to believe in such a wasted emotion and she is confused over her former infatuation for the lieutenant and her sudden desire to only be with Jamie.
Readers will think they journeyed to nineteenth century upper class Washington society with the depth inside Susan Wiggs? strong historical romance. The story line is fascinating mostly because the cast brings alive an engaging period of America?s past. The lead couple is a charming duet who struggle with his and her respective growing awareness of love for one another. HALFWAY TO HEAVEN takes the audience all the way to readers heaven with another winning novel from Ms. Wiggs.
Harriet Klausner
What's more, I really fell in love with both the hero and the heroine, so much that I really cared about what befell them as the storyline progressed. It was wonderful to mark the progress the heroine makes as she grows, as she learns more about herself, and I fell in love with the hero over and over again with each evidence of his enduring faith in this girl, despite her lack of self esteem, despite her lack of obvious beauty, despite his own lost faith in himself and in love. Instead of painting him as the perfect hero, Wiggs instead makes him human, and through his actions and his faithfulness to others, we see him as heroic and redeemed.
Morever, this book illustrates an important lesson: how important it is to believe in yourself, and how that elusive self-confidence is really what distinguishes the popular from the wallflowers, more than simple aesthetics. We see the evolution of the heroine from shrinking, bedraggled violet to the confident, unfurled rose.
On a side note, Wiggs deftly inserts a subplot, involving the heroine's sister, without detracting from the overall plot (a worthy feat in itself). I gleefully expected a setdown for the sister, for her self-absorption and lack of support for the heroine, only to completely reverse my sympathies, as the author revealed more. The sister was not the only character for which I experienced this fluctuation of emotions; with the heroine's first love interest (the only plotline which Wiggs seems to recycle frequently, but with great skill so that it doesn't grow too old), I was prepared to hate him, then admired him for his ability to fall in love with heroine through words and not just appearances, and then fell OUT of love with him, but with no hard feelings, as they both realize the superficiality of their feelings. All in all, these transitory relationships were very well drawn, with a sense of flow, yet not diverting the reader's attention from the main protagonists. Meanwhile, I eagerly anticipate the next book, as I want to know what will befall the sister.
This book reminded me of how much I enjoy this genre, for its belief in second chances, in life, in love. A truly fresh perspective on the well-trodden but rocky path of falling in love, one that was thoroughly absorbing and well-written. Read it, if only for the opportunity to travel to another dimension, away from the harshness of reality and current events, where people believe in each other, in love, and in a better world.