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To Have and to Hold

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 12,285 ratings · 343 reviews

What happens when your Prince Charming turns out not to be so charming after all? In To Have and To Hold, bestselling author Jane Green offers a sizzling, highly entertaining look at romantic relationships after we say “I do.”

Alice knows she should be happy. A charming twenty-eight-year-old with a successful catering business, she’s always dreamed of a rose-covered cotta...more What happens when your Prince Charming turns out not to be so charming after all? In To Have and To Hold, bestselling author Jane Green offers a sizzling, highly entertaining look at romantic relationships after we say “I do.”

Alice knows she should be happy. A charming twenty-eight-year-old with a successful catering business, she’s always dreamed of a rose-covered cottage in the English countryside, filled with children and animals and home-cooked meals. Her favorite attire is comfy jeans, her best manicure features garden dirt under the nails. But when her teenage crush—the wealthy, dashing man-about-town Joe Chambers—wants to make her his bride, Alice is more than willing to play Cinderella to Joe’s prince. Never mind that he wants her to change—a diet, ice-blond highlights, stilettos, snooty gallery openings—and that he’s allergic to nature and kids. She tells herself she’s happy to sacrifice for love, and besides, with Joe’s stunning good looks and high-profile career at a top financial firm, every woman in London wants to be in her shoes.

But that’s just the problem. Despite Alice’s efforts to be the perfect wife, Joe soon reveals a penchant for being hopelessly unfaithful. When a notorious indiscretion with a female colleague forces Joe to transfer to New York, Alice’s life turns upside down. As Joe continues to sneak around, and her best friend’s beau offers a tempting glimpse of what real love could be like, Alice must decide how much Cinderella she can take before her deepest desires win out—and if she can summon up the courage to find real happiness on her own.

Delicious, witty, and packed with sparkling sex appeal, To Have and To Hold is an unputdownable read that will have you rooting out loud for its endearing heroine. A #1 bestseller in Britain, this latest tale from the beloved, utterly winning Jane Green proves that the search for true love doesn’t always end when someone dons a veil, and offers a lively, refreshing take on modern marriage.(less)

Paperback, 352 pages

Published March 1st 2005 by Broadway (first published January 1st 2003)

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Nov 18, 2011 Booklover rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: chicklit, cheating-grovel, engagement-marriage-on-rocks, office-romance, pilot-business-man-politician, sibblings-best-friends, regret-reading

After reading i was like WTF,making mockery of vows and friendship

the wife Alice was blind to all the signs which keeps nagging the wife that something is fishy,she keeps herself busy by socializing and in their country house,the hubby Joe just can't seem to have control on his lust ,seemed to be any woman who walked by he wanted to have sex with her,he is addicted to sex and seemed to me he might have missed out some therapy sessions in teens that is why now at age 38 he needed counseling and t...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Julie added it · review of another edition

Just a bit of light reading for a change. Chic Lit.
Wife of a serial adulterer who has changed her into someone she is not wises up when they move to the USA. She finds a house in the country, finds a mind of her own and dumps him.

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May 30, 2011 Rea Sinfield rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a huge fan of Jane Green books, with bookends being my favourite. When I was in the library I saw Spellbound which is a book of Jane Green which I have yet to read and obviously I couldn't walk over it.

The main character in Spellbound is Alice who you instantly warm to in Green's clever way of introducing you to her characters. Alice is married to Joe who I instantly disliked he moulds Alice into his ideal trophy wife encouraging her to dye her hair blonde and lose weight and wear designer...more I am a huge fan of Jane Green books, with bookends being my favourite. When I was in the library I saw Spellbound which is a book of Jane Green which I have yet to read and obviously I couldn't walk over it.

The main character in Spellbound is Alice who you instantly warm to in Green's clever way of introducing you to her characters. Alice is married to Joe who I instantly disliked he moulds Alice into his ideal trophy wife encouraging her to dye her hair blonde and lose weight and wear designer clothes. They lead a very executive life, invited to every high profile dinner, dance or party.

Anyone may think Alice should be the happiest woman alive with this kind of lifestyle and a gorgeous husband but truth is this isn't the real Alice. The real Alice dreams of a nice house in the country tending to her garden a very low key life.

Joe is a serial womaniser and often goes home with a different woman after ring Alice to inform her he will not be home as he has to work late yet again. Alice has her suspicions but never talks about it to Joe.

Alice and Joe have a life change after Joe is caught with another woman by his boss and is given his only option.... to move to New York.

It is whilst in New York that Alice starts to feel herself as they manage to have to homes one in Manhattan for Joe to be close to work and one little cottage in Connecticut which Alice has always dreamed of. Thing is with Alice feeling more herself and building the life she has always wanted in Connecticut, things get a bit rocky for the couple. Will their relationship be able to survive?

This book was defiantly upto the high standard of Jane Green's better books. I found the first chapter a bit of a struggle but once past this the story flowed nicely. I didn't feel that there were any predictable parts to this book, there were constant twists happening. Jane describes the two main characters well letting you warm to Alice and wanting her to finally be herself and be happy and also describing Joe making you feel slightly cold towards him like you usually do with womanisers.

I love the way the ending of the book takes each of the characters from the book and tells you how they ended up later in life. I have always wondered after reading books what would actually happen to the characters and this answered all my questions. In my opinion an outstanding ending.

I would recommend this to anyone who has read and enjoyed Jane Green's book as I personally think this is up there with her 3 best books.
(less)

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Jul 29, 2007 Chiquita Hindarto rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

Jangan ketawa, saya kadang-kadang suka iseng pengen baca-baca novel ChickLit. Bukannya apa, novel ChickLit biasanya ringan sehingga kita nggak harus mengerenyit buat ngertiin ceritanya.
Salah satu penulis yang saya suka adalah Jane Green, seorang penulis Inggris.

Sayangnya Spellbound menurut saya nggak terlalu menonjolkan ciri khas Jane Green. Nggak terlalu Inggris menurut saya. Mungkin karena setengah buku ini settingnya di New York ? Tapi kayanya nggak juga, si shopaholicnya Sophie Kinsella masi...more

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Oct 17, 2007 KA rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: die-hard chickliteers

Oh the hilarity.

I have been known to love Jane Green. Jemima J is great, and several others have excellent characters and moments.

But this was too much. Wish I could remember the specific horrors right now, but needless to say it was far more caricature-y than usual and everyone in it was stupid and unsympathetic.

I guess I learned don't marry for money and try to be someone you're not? haha.

Reading this back to back with Erica Jong's mid-life account of Connecticut divorced life (Parachutes and...more

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May 10, 2013 Viviane Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tempest Whitney, with two small children, is about to lose her home in the craggiest part of Utah near its canyons. Her husband’s dead, the mortgage is due and she has no money. She’s a gritty, tough lady who appears in the beginning of the novel standing at her front door with a shotgun as Buck Maddux, a former friend of her husband, rides his horse up to her home to give her a message from her dead husband, Skeet. But she’s having no part of him and threatens Buck, believing he was responsible...more Tempest Whitney, with two small children, is about to lose her home in the craggiest part of Utah near its canyons. Her husband’s dead, the mortgage is due and she has no money. She’s a gritty, tough lady who appears in the beginning of the novel standing at her front door with a shotgun as Buck Maddux, a former friend of her husband, rides his horse up to her home to give her a message from her dead husband, Skeet. But she’s having no part of him and threatens Buck, believing he was responsible for Skeet’s death, which is how the rumors have spread in this locale. Buck initially puts up with it but then backs her up against the wall and they are both startled by the heat rising between them. In true stubbornness, they both refuse to acknowledge that moment and proceed to blister each other with nasty comments! What a feisty couple, ha!

Now the story gets a bit ugly as we meet a rancher who has bought all Tempest’s debts and is about to not only take over her home but force her to marry him. In fact, he comes pretty darn close to doing just that until Buck saves her in a swashbuckling, violent scene. He pretends to marry her instead but they both know it’s just a matter of convenience and something to do with what he believes he owes her for Skeet. Both have their secrets and aren’t about to tell until they can overcome their alternating kindness-animosity pattern that increases in intensity the more they are sexually attracted to each other. They’re passionate people whose passion gets fueled by being near each other.

Not limited to a singular plot line, the story gets complex with the arrival of Buck’s brother who indicates the family is furious at him for abandoning them, not for whatever secret Buck is torturing himself about, something to do with a former wife who is now dead. They don’t really have much time to ponder it all as the creepy schemer Creedy is planning to get rid of Buck and have his way with Tempest, especially when he accidentally discovers there is money to be had that’s a surprise for all.

The story unfolds as Tempest and Buck finally give in to their passion which is now really true love forged by the ups and downs of what other events fill their lives in these pages and some poignant revelations. Charlene Raddon writes great romance fiction that isn’t empty-headed nonsense. To Have and To Hold is an old-fashioned Western romance that will thrill lovers of the romance genre! Very nicely fashioned, Ms. Raddon!(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Tillie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

Not exactly a literary masterpiece, but I went to the beach for a week - I had to read at least one chick lit book while I was there. :)

Quiet, unassuming Alice hits the husband jackpot and marries a gorgeous, successful playboy whose name I've forgotten and I'm too lazy to go look up. He sends her off to the salon and forces her to wear designer clothes, turning her into his perfect companion. He rewards her for her efforts by cheating on her regularly and refusing to have children.

He ends up b...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Whitney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: het

As frustrating as it was, I liked it. As many times as a screamed at the book, I couldn’t put it down. By clicking the link above, you find that the book is about Alice who wasted 6 years of her life married to an insecure man-child, Joe, who cheats on her repeatedly in the book with various (usually younger) women. She leads an unhappy life being someone her husbands wants to be in London, but finds herself in a small town suburb in Connecticut.

I’m not even going to try to be unbiased. I hate...more

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Jun 16, 2012 lia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

This is the story how a woman change herself completely, until she doesn't recognize herself, to get her prince charming. But her prince charming turns out to be a serial adulterers.

SPOILERS:

Alice met Joe a man who she has crush with from long ago. And before long, she dyed her hair blonde, dress in certain way and only do things that Joe approve and they got married.
Alice, blindly unaware of Joe's cheating because she is too busy feeling sad and unfulfilled (that's what you get when you denie...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Imas rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Buku pertama Jane Green yg kubaca.Buku ini dibeli saat mengikuti diklat di Yogyakarta, Des 2011 dengan harga obral,tujuannya untuk hiburan dimalam hari berhubung kamar diwisma diklat tidak disediakan TV,hanya ada diruang makan dan lobby...(Disuruh belajar boo..hehe),tp ternyata sampai diklat selama seminggu berakhir,buku ini ngga sempat dibaca karena kami lebih banyak menghabiskan waktu untuk berburu batik dan kuliner Jogja sehabis mengikuti kelas..:) Jadilah buku ini baru dibaca akhir Maret, me...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Vandrion rated it 4 of 5 stars

To Have and To Hold was the second audiobook I've listened to [Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows being the first, in preparation for the release of the movies]. I don't really know how I decided that I wanted to try listening to a book, but all of a sudden one day I had this urge to go get one from the library. I didn't even have a specific book in mind; I simply went to the library, browsed, saw Jane Green, and checked out. Typically I visit a friend of mine about an hour away once a week,...more To Have and To Hold was the second audiobook I've listened to [Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows being the first, in preparation for the release of the movies]. I don't really know how I decided that I wanted to try listening to a book, but all of a sudden one day I had this urge to go get one from the library. I didn't even have a specific book in mind; I simply went to the library, browsed, saw Jane Green, and checked out. Typically I visit a friend of mine about an hour away once a week, so this has been a great way to make the drive entertaining in some way other than turning on the radio and belting the tunes at the top of my lungs. As much as I enjoy that as well, I usually have a headache by the time I arrive at my destination.

In any case, this book was, in a word: wonderful. The only other Jane Green book that I've read is The Other Woman, and I have picked up on her style quickly, and have fallen in love with it. Her books are very long, which I love, but they are not difficult reads, and they hold attention extremely well. I'm also a sucker for detail and background, and I find the way in which she works these elements into her novels to be clever, as well as effective. In that sense, her style is one that I would like to try to mimick in my own writing.
Alice, the main character, is an average English woman who most readers will be able to relate to. She is laid back, attractive [yet not drop-dead-gorgeous], and sincerely caring/loving. Her one major flaw: her choice to ignore all the obvious signs that her husband, Joe, is cheating on her throughout the majority of their six year marriage. I found myself cringing at her naivety about as often as I laughed out loud at the humor passed back and forth between Alice and her best friend, Emily.

*Spoiler Alert*
Harry was the one character I liked but at the same time was not completely happy with the use of. I was extremely upset with Alice [and Harry] when they kissed on New Years Eve. Drunk and high or not, I would like to think that Alice's friendship with Emily would be ever present, to the extent that she would think before kissing Emily's boyfriend... but I guess that's life? ...
Josie's character was one I found myself disliking, for obvious temptress/other-woman reasons, yet I still found myself pitying her in the end. She was a smart woman; why would she continue some kind of pathetic, unrealistic relationship with Joe after his marriage failed, when she knew exactly what kind of minipulating man he was? I suppose that just goes to show that even the strong, independent individuals of the world are still human enough to pay too much attention to their hearts instead of their brains. Poor Josie... sort of.
It was a relief that Alice found true happiness in the end: her relationship with Emily survived and thrived, she had her country home and four-legged companion, and she did eventually find a man who loved her for the woman she was ["mousey" brown hair, dirty jeans, and all] instead of the stereotypical show-wife Joe had molded her into [blonde hair, perfect makeup, heels, and designer clothes].
Go Alice!(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Nirmala Nurfauzia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I give 2 stars for it, bahkan saya ga rela untuk ngasih 2 1/2 bintang :P

Cerita novel ini berpusat di Alice yg awalnya adalah seorang cewek yg super cupu, sama sekali ga terkenal (saya membayangkan alice ini mungkin seperti the ugly betty). Hidupnya pun biasa aja sampai dia ketemu lagi dengan Joe-si prince charming di masa sma nya.
Awalnya mungkin novel ini seperti cerita Cinderella yg ditutup dengan " And they life happily ever after " sampai hidup Alice yg keliatannya sempurna setelah jadi Mrs....more

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Jan 31, 2010 Talia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, chick-lit

Alice has married her high school crush and lives a life of luxury. She no longer works, gets her hair colored every 6 weeks, lunches with high society, and wears the latest fashions. One small problem: she isn’t herself. Also, her husband, Joe, is a womanizing cad, cheating on Alice every chance he can. When an affair with a co-worker goes awry, Alice and Joe move to the U.S., where Alice buys a cottage in the country. She begins to find herself through a love of gardening, and when her best fr...more

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Dec 02, 2009 Ashleyberg rated it 3 of 5 stars

althought im still reading the book its deffinately got me interested but maybe that is just my opinion for being a girl in high school. the drama and the guy thinking he is so clever. pshh. in a way i can relate i think almost any teenage girl can relate. thought weve not been married weve all had one guy in our life who we would do anything for. I can relate for the fact that i was head over heels for one guy and ended up getting my heart broken and come to find out he cheated on me more than...more

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Apr 30, 2009 Wieta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

Menceritakan hidup pernikahan Alice dengan suaminya Joe yang sering berselingkuh. Pada dasarnya Alice adalah tipikal wanita rumahan yang mangangankan hidup di pedesaan. Tapi tak disangka pertemuannya kembali dengan Joe, cinta pertamanya pada masa2 high school telah mengubah jalan hidupnya.

Alice memasuki kehidupan high class London namun kemudian menyadari tidak menyukainya. Seolah-olah segala sesuatunya hanyalah peran untuk menyenangkan hati Joe suaminya yang sangat dia cintai.
Mungkin andaikata...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Oky Septya rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chic-lit

Buku yang saya dapat hasil minjem di situs http://pinjambuku.org/ gratis. Gratis ongkos kirim pula saking baiknya para member komunitas pinjam buku. Jujur uda sering liat novel ini nangkring di rak obral, bazar, bahkan rental tapi sama sekali nggak menarik minat untuk beli karena meskipun saya pecinta chicklit saya nggak gitu suka covernya. Yeah, people do judge a book by its cover.

Setelah baca, dari awal halaman sampai akhir saya benci. banget. sama. Joe. si. Tukang. Selingkuh. Arrrgh, baru se...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Tori added it

2004- I tried to like this book. I really did. However, I think it's easier to connect with a book when you identify with one of the characters. And the main characters here were certainly not identifiable for me. There's the main character, Alice, who is married to Joe, who is a serial cheater, who is currently cheating with Josie, one of his co-workers. When Joe and Josie are discovered messing around in the office, Joe gets transferring across the ocean...to New York City. For Joe, a new city...more

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Nov 04, 2011 ɑƨħŵɑɡ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, romance, 2011-reads

What would be the purpose of your life if you just kept behaving as you should be? what role would anyone, for that matter, have if they just remained passive? even when it comes to their own life.

No better than the story of Alice's marriage to get inspiration from. Alice gives up 30 years of her life being the (trophy) wife of Joe Chambers, who is very successful and wealthy yet with a problem, he can't keep control of his pants. While he plays the controlling husband by telling his wife what t...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Carole rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

For chick lit, it wasn't bad. It kept me entertained when I listened to it on the way to and from work. I enjoyed the fact that the main character lost her identity in her marriage but regained it again when she realized her marriage wasn't working. I appreciated how she grew as a person. There was one bit that bothered me about the book and that was the feeble attempt to tell parts of the story from the husband's point of view. The guy was a major philanderer and if the story were truly told th...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Nilam Suri rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit

Jane Green bisa dibilang salah satu dedengkot penulis chick lit. gue suka banget buku pertama dia yang gue baca, yaitu jemima j, then i read bookends which i also love...

waktu mau beli buku ini sebenernya bingung milih,ini atau babyville, but this book got me at the word spell...entah kenapa walo dah baca belakangnya masih tetap berharap bakalan ada something magical in this book.

ceritanya memang bukan cerita manis bersalut gula,but it's well written.di awal cerita gue ga gitu suka sama alice si...more

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May 30, 2012 Chev E rated it 3 of 5 stars

For some reason I cannot read a Jane Green book in the traditional cover to cover way of reading books. I intend to, but get bored and confused and end up flipping to the end to see if I like it. If I do, then I flip to the middle to see what is going on. In the middle there are characters who are important yet I hadn't gotten up to them, so I flip back a few chapters and read until I meet them. Then I continue flipping until something catches my eye. Despite this, I feel as if I actually read T...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Alvi Harahap rated it 3 of 5 stars

This's another book of Jane Green that I read. This book told us about Alice who has always dreamed of happily ever afters and white picket fences. As a teenager Alice loved Joe Chambers from afar, but he never noticed her. Fast forward and she is now a 28 year old owner of her own catering business. In a strange quirk of fate, she is poised to marry the fabulous, wealthy and successful Joe, who has always been the man of her dreams. As Alice marries Joe and settles into married life she begins...more

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May 05, 2012 Tia rated it 1 of 5 stars

Can you say love is blind? This book really drove me up the wall. It seemed so far fetched my head was spinning. Not only did it make a mockery out of friendships and loyalty, it made one out of the vows and love people are given. The heroine was a total dumb ass, she seemed oblivious to everything, I swear if a tornado went straight through her home, she wouldn't blink and eye or notice. The heroines husband was a arrogant gross pig which had me turning green sometimes. How the heck can you mar...more

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Sep 28, 2010 Rhiannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was pleasantly surprised at this novel. I really liked it!

I had been wanting to try a Jane Green book for quite some time now, after seeing that she was rated the #1 author of chick-lit, and I wasn't let down by "Spellbound" (the American title.)

It's the story of a woman (Alice), who marries the man (Joe) she's loved ever since she was young and in school. He was the popular guy, and quite known to be a womanizer. He didn't even know she existed before, but decides one day that he'd like to s...more

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Dec 21, 2010 Belinda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-blew-me-away, favorites

Definately my favorite Jane Green Novel, and chick-lit read.
It's an enchanting story about a woman who marries a man she knew from her childhood, who's obnoxious, cheats and dictates the lifestyle she lives.

It's her personality that draws me in: a woman with naturally curly-hair who is refined to the lifestyle her husband accustoms her to, and the lifestye she wants: A house in the country. If I wasn't 18 I would swear she's me. Although her best-friend Emily also echoes me astutely. Hence, it'...more

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Sep 08, 2009 Elmedina rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought that this book was a very weird because at first everything was normal; everybody was with their boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife and then at the end of the book everybody was with the wrong person. What I mean by that is that there was friend’s boyfriend with the best friend; it was just all weird at the end but almost everybody was happy.
This book was about a high class married couple (Alice and Joe) who lived in London and live a pretty good life. The only thing is that Joe kept...more I thought that this book was a very weird because at first everything was normal; everybody was with their boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife and then at the end of the book everybody was with the wrong person. What I mean by that is that there was friend’s boyfriend with the best friend; it was just all weird at the end but almost everybody was happy.
This book was about a high class married couple (Alice and Joe) who lived in London and live a pretty good life. The only thing is that Joe kept on having affairs with all of these different women and Alice doesn’t know anything about it which is the sad part. Then he found himself a woman that he had an affair with, her name is Josie and he liked her very much. So then his boss said that he has to move to New York because he got a promotion. So then he had to be away from Josie and he was really sad. When they came to New York their life style changed completely. They bought a house in the country and made some friends. Alice loved the country so much that she spent most of her time there and Joe stayed in the apartment in New York still having affairs. Then Alice found out about Joe’s affairs and filed a divorce. So then they got a divorce and Alice was better off without him. But before this she kept on hanging out with her best friend (Emily) and her boyfriend (Harry). While they were hanging out with them Alice developed a crush on Harry. So then Emily found out and broke up with him and then Alice took him. Then at the end they got married and had a baby and lived in the country, Emily found another boyfriend and it didn’t work out, but she and Alice are still friends, and Joe went back to Josie and married her. Alice was the happiest out of all of them at the end.
My favorite part of the book was when Alice found out that Joe was having affairs with other women. I was like to myself, thank god she found out because I felt bad that she didn’t know. The only thing that made me mad was that when she told him that she knew and wanted to split he was all like, come on I love you, I won’t do it again, blah, blah, blah. Alice even before realized that Joe is forcing her to live a certain way and she doesn’t like it. And now plus she found out that he had affairs which was a double whammy.
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Sep 29, 2012 Lynsay Lambert rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, read-in-2012

I have to say, I found this disappointingly bland. I've read several Jane Green books, and I always read them with the vague feeling that I've read them before and have just forgotten the specifics. I think this may be my last attempt at a Jame Green book, which is frustrating as I loved Jemima J and Mr Maybe! Its just too annoying to read a book and find the storyline so derivative that you have a constant sneaking suspicion that you've read it before. I was also frustrated as *possible spoiler...more

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May 29, 2012 Josee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book although at times it was a little cliched, and it also dragged on a bit before it got to the last 50 pages or so. The story was tinged with sadness throughout -- Alice was so surprised that someone like wealthy, handsome, investment banker Joe Chambers wants to marry her that she readily changes who she is, what she looks like and gives up her dreams to marry him. And for a while it's all ok, but underneath it's really not. Alice feels like she's so lucky, but is she really? Jo...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Adina is currently reading it

Definitely not what I thought after seeing the cover. I read the first half of the book and I started getting suspicious on how the book would end. I scanned through the second half of the book, and I got really disappointed. I know that Joe did not make the best choices and that he kept Alice so that she would be a trophy wife. But I really wanted him to change after she kicked him out. I think that if Harry would stay being Emily's boyfriend (so that there would have been no feelings between A...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Linda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Dear Elise,
Do you love characters who tie themselves into knots sublimating their thoughts and feelings to satisfy others? Are you interested in a protagonist who abdicates all responsibility for her life by letting her husband dictate the minutiae of her existence? What if I said, there is absolutely no textual evidence that would suggest this husband is remotely worth the extraordinary efforts of said protagonist. Hmm? Somehow, I did not think so.
If you were very cold and on the point of hypot...more

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About Jane Green

Jane Green (born in 1968 in London, England) is an U.S.-based British author. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, four children under the age of 5 - including a set of twins - and dog Palmer. She attended the University of Wales, Aberystwyth from 1987-88, although she left without completing her degree and worked as a journalist throughout her twenties. At the age of 27 she was inspired to...more

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Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans

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Quotes from Spellbound

“Marriage is supposed to be this huge great overwhelming passion, and that we're supposed to be looking for our soulmate, our other half, but it's actually pretty damn mundane. After all the excitement goes, what you really want to be left with is someone who is a really good person and who adores you, and who you can grow old with. I know the bastards are exciting, but they don't make a good husband material.” — 3 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31100.To_Have_and_to_Hold?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320411751l/31100.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31100.To_Have_and_to_Hold?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]To Have and to Hold by Jane Green[/url]

To Have and to Hold

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