This is not a Romance novel...

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	• Passing Through Paradise Susan Wiggs Grand Central Publishing, 2002 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is not a Romance novel...

First of all, before you purchase this novel, you need to know that this is not a romance novel. This story is a fiction that is based on a love story. I know most of you would know the difference.

This is a very good novel: well written, interesting, deep, and touching. As a peice of fiction, I would have rated this novel a little higher; but because it is categorized as a romance,I had to rate it and compare it with other romance novels...the end result-this was a medeocre romance.

I will tell you why in a minute, but let me give you a brief plot-line first: Sandy has been widowed for a year, her deceased husband-Victor- was a famous and aspiring politian. Although the medical pratictioners ruled his death as accidental, the car accident that killed him was blamed on Sandy by the media (she was the driver). Nevertheless, the media and the public, as well the local residents of Paradise where Victor grew up and where Sandy is currently living in an old Beach House, believe Sandy killed her husband to get her hands on his money. To add to her distress, her in-laws are suing her for the wrongly death of their only son.
In order to get out of the suffocating atmosphere after she deals with the civil law suite, Sandy decides to renovate the old house, sell it and move out of Paradise and move on with her life. So she hires a contracter named Micheal-a newly divorced father of two children, and the story continues from this premise.

I absolutely adored Michael and I genuinely rooted for Sandy, but two things really put a damper on the story for me, as a romance novel and as a fictional one: Victor was smothering every page of the story. Victor was literally everywhere; he was in Sandy's mind incessantly, and it never ceased. I felt like I was reading the love story of Sandy and her dead husband, not Sandy and Michael. It was cloying and it never gave Michael a chance at all, when all you wanted from Wiggs was MICHEAL, MICHEAL, MICHEAL, but the only thing she kept giving you was Victor, Victor, and oh god not again..Victor. The book was constantly about the past and hardly ever about the present relationship between her and Michael. If anything their relationship was more of a sideline, whereas Victor's memory and Sandy's grief were the whole show.

The other factor that put a damper on the novel was Sandy herself. I was sympathizing and rooting for her throughout most of the novel until the end. What did Michael have to do to win her trust and let her open up to him after he proved himself repeatedly, and I mean his behavior was truly showing her how much he loved her. Yet she still held back and let him come to her and do all the hard work. I got so frustrated with her and her paralyzing fears, which were no longer justified, that I just did not believe she deserved Michael in the end at all.

The last factor for my mediocre rating was that although Wiggs knows how to weave a dramatic story-she almost does everything right- she lacks something essential as a romance writer, which is not being able to evoke an emotion from you when she tries to make you feel the love and connection or passion between her heros and heroines. The details are all in the right place, but it never reaches you.

Like I said in the beginning, as a fiction this is a far superior novel, but as a Romance this just fell flat to me for the aforementioned reasons, but mainly because of Victor's memory and Sandy's grief that constantly consumed the story-line.

Hope that helps you decide whether to purchase it or not. But I still would recommend it, even though I had many negative things to say about it. It was a very good novel nonetheless and a very touching one. I think you would enjoy it more if you begin reading it knowing this is a work of fiction based on family dramas and love, instead of a romance.

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and a 1/2

This was my first Susan Wiggs book, and probably not the last, if her other books are written as well as this one.

The attention to detail and descriptions are so rich that I found myself IN the book. I LOVE when that happens.

I figured out what happened to Victor right off, and the reason for his "departure," which made the book a little less interesting, but through NO fault of the writer's.

My attention span these days is limited, so this book was quite lengthy for me. I skimmed over entire chapters that didn't seem to matter, and with about 200 pages left, I skimmed the last part of the book.

It seemed to me that the ending was a bit rushed. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Oh well, it's still worth reading.

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Could Not Put This One Down

I grew up in southern Rhode Island and am now transplanted to Central New York. I miss the ocean but this book brought me the sounds and the smells of the sea. From Sandra's house on the dunes to Mikes boat in Point Judith, I could envision each scenario clearly as I read the book.

I am also an alumnus of the University of Rhode Island and always get a kick out of it when a work of fiction actually mentions my alma mater! There was a time when a lot of people didn't know Rhode Island existed!

This was actually the first Susan Wiggs book that I have read and I am going to seek out other titles. A good read and one that I recommend.

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It was okay....

Nicknamed the black widow since her husband Victor, an aspiring politician apparently died when she was at the wheel (they went off a bridge and his body was never recovered), Sandra tries to pick up the pieces of her life and restore the dilapidated beach house Victor left her so she can move on from Paradise. Down on his luck carpenter Mike Malloy has lost everything - his job, wife and kids - he agrees to restore her home, though he wonders about her innocence. Little does she know, he is her late husband's childhood friend, and he too is seeking answers. As the two work together, he has difficulty seeing Sandra as the cold and calculating killer everyone assumes she is. But Victor was hiding a deep, dark secret...

Wigg's contemporary love story is pretty light on the romance, and not a vast page-turner. I just didn't get a love vibe between the two protagonists. The so-called "twist" of the novel is so predictable that it can be seen coming from a mile away; a three star read at best.

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Mystery and Romance

Worth reading once. A widow tries to cope with the loss of her husband, she is also a suspect in her husbands death. With the help of her late husbands childhood friend she discovers her late husbands well kept secret. With an unexpected twist to the story. If you like Romance with a mystery you will like this book.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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