Love Reconsidered: A Novel, by Phyllis J. Piano

Publication: SparkPress; August 8, 2017

love reconsidered About the book:

When Aleen Riddick’s marriage falls apart after her eighteen-year-old daughter, Sunny, loses her beloved boyfriend in a tragic accident, they look to the dead boy’s father, grief-stricken Ted Hammand, to help them heal and redefine life. When shocking developments force them to confront those who deceived them, Aleen, Ted, and Sunny must decide if forgiveness will drive them back to the pain of the past or forward to a future of possibilities.Love Reconsidered is about families―their grief, guilt, compassion, love, forgiveness, and hope.

My Review:

I was lucky enough to win a paperback copy of Love Reconsidered, the latest from author Phyllis J. Piano, and it was such an emotional, yet heart-warming read.

This novel did not go as I expected. Ted and Gerrie’s son Stu died in a car accident after learning that his mom Gerrie was leaving Ted for Durk. Durk was Stu’s girlfriend’s father, Aleen was Durk’s wife and Sunny’s mother. So basically, it was all a big nasty mess.

Despite this being the biggest Jerry Springer mess I’ve seen in awhile, the premise of this novel was love, forgiveness, and looking forward. I was expecting Aleen and Ted to turn to one another in some passionate love affair, but this novel was much more and surprised me the entire time I was reading.

You have two families joined by the love of their children. One of each marital pairs cheats with the other and tragedy results. However, everyone in this novel stood up, owned their own faults, and gave nothing but unconditional love when needed. This is a novel that could threaten to put therapists out of business because of their healthy lines of communication and devotion to one another despite earlier betrayals.

As much as I loved this story and the characters, I do have a big issue with this novel, which was the dialogue. No one speaks to each other in such a proper manner. The sentences with and without dialogue were short and choppy. Moreover, they sounded almost robotic. It reminded me of my years as a teacher, especially in elementary school, when the primary focus was on grammar. Considering this novel has very adult themes and was certainly not a written by or for a child, I was distracted by the writing style. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the overall story.

Love Reconsidered is a clean, emotional, complex, and surprising novel about love, forgiveness, and moving forward. Despite the writing and dialogue, it was very enjoyable.

*Thanks to the author for providing a copy of this novel via Goodreads giveaway!