I love reading books by Nora Roberts. Her romances are typically easy to read, but still powerfully written. I especially love her trilogies and her occasional quartet of books, as I always love to know what happens to characters once I close the book. The Next Always delivered on all accounts. I can't wait for May to arrive, and with it the next installment in the Inn Boonsboro story.
I was, quite honestly, hoping for an intellectual break from intense novels after reading The Fifth Witness, which is why I opened the Nora Roberts book instead of Life of Pi (which is my next read). I was expecting a sweet story full of love and while I did get that, I was faced with a fear I didn't even realize that I had. Now my head is swimming in thoughts of "what if..." Specifically, what if I lost Rob? Could I fall in love again? And more importantly, could I ever find someone who loved both me and my girls?
Such is the battle facing Clare, a young widow whose husband died fighting in Iraq while she was pregnant with their third son, Murphy. She returns home to Boonsboro, quite to the delight of Beckett Montgomery, who has loved Clare since high school. The love story begins here, but is not without some twists and turns, a fairly frightening event, and even a ghost, Lizzy, who inhabits the Inn. The plot was full, suspenseful, full of love, and overall was a great, quick read.
But, it did get me to thinking about my life with my family and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I am already feeling old and the reality that I will not live forever has hit me hard. Couple that with the reality that Rob won't live forever and that I might actually outlive him and now I am truly fearful. But, I would imagine that finding love for the second time is hard enough, but now that I am a Mom, I can't imagine how hard it must be to find love that works with a family. My girls love both Rob and I because we are all they know. I love them more than myself and if faced with the choice to love and be loved in return, or to have my girls, well...that's a no brainer. I choose my girls. The reality is, not everyone loves kids and not everyone loves my kids. I think I always took for granted that should something happen to Rob, or myself, and we've both said undeniably that we'd want the other to remarry, should the other be lucky enough to find love again, that the new person would also love my girls. But, that's not always the case. It is a lucky person indeed, Clare the Fair, that finds a second chance at love with someone who loves her boys as if they were his own.
I hope that what I am feeling is purely hypothetical and I hope that I never ever have to be faced with this sort of decision, ever. In the event that I do, I am glad that today I had the chance to think about it and to realize that my girls trump a second love. Well...they are my second love. Maybe they are all I'd ever need...
This is a great book for my friends who love love as much as I do. Read it. You'll love it!
Happy Reading!
:) Dodie
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