Sad Books Say So Much

Dear Aaron Paul Lazar,

i took a risk with you.  I accepted a free copy of your book, not knowing when I'd read it, and fearing (even as I read it) that I would have difficulty providing you with the honest review you had requested.  But, as I think I've told you, you made me want to read your books.  You're a kind, generous soul who doesn't over-promote, and you make a genuine effort to connect with people on a human level.

I wasn't entirely happy with the physicality of the love scenes depicted herein.  Sex isn't love.  It's raw need, and power, and self-expression, and desire.  And Finn and Libby's love story did not begin to ring true to me until they were tested.  Did I want them together at the end because they were so often parted by circumstance, or because they were meant for each other?  WHY were they meant for each other?  What did they share that bonded them through it all?

But I'm not the target audience for this book.  Romeo and Juliet was never my idea of a classic.  I'm hopeless, but I'm no romantic.  I'm jaded, and cynical, and I look for imperfections everywhere (often finding them).  So I can't fairly say the romance fell flat.  Only that it wasn't MY cup of tea.

i loved the interlocking mysteries, and the war between the McGraw siblings, and the shocking conclusion was the best part by far (I have never rocketed through the last quarter of a book so fast, but I had to know!)  I felt the book depicted family very accurately, in its various levels of complexity.  

Some time this year, I'll read the other book you gave me.  I feel the need to get a better sense of who you are as a writer.  You mentioned in the foreword that The Seacrest isn't your usual genre.  I look forward to continuing our journey together.

Thanks for offering a small taste of what's to come.