false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1226627536m/5650430.jpg 5650430 1 Tess Dyer is in pain. It's not the kind of pain she can see and smell and wrap with an ace bandage. It's the kind she tries to numb with sex and work and cleaning-cleaning-cleaning the house. The kind that comes from enduring a lifetime of rejection. First from her mother--whom Tess knows would have aborted her had the law allowed it--then from a string of men whose names she can never remember. And finally, at age thirty-four, from her husband of ten years; the man who once promised to love her forever. Now her divorce is final. She trudges out of one small Maine town and into an even smaller one. There she meets twenty-five-year-old Brian LaChance. He is struggling to keep Rachel, the sister he raised, from becoming another victim of the drug problem that infests their impoverished town. Brian is immediately drawn to Tess's quirky, outspoken nature, and to the beauty he sees in the haunting pictures she paints. Her own initial attraction to him is purely physical; just a warm, young body to help her mask the pain. Soon, though, she comes to admire his kindness and strength, and reluctantly allows herself to fall in love with him. But the fear of losing it is always there. Because Tess has heard the promise of forever before and now she knows that there's no such thing. And when her ex-husband pays an unexpected visit, his cruel, taunting remarks make Brian wonder whether her feelings for him are genuine. Whether they go any deeper than just sex after all. Meanwhile, Rachel begins a relationship with an abusive drug dealer and dives head-first into the dangerous world of addiction. As his sister's life spirals out of control, Brian is unable to cope with his guilt and grief, and Tess is unable to comfort him. Because she has finally found a pain that sex will not bury. A pain that uncovers her own barely-suppressed feelings of worthlessness, and forces her to make a choice: continue wandering through life, drifting and numb, or confront her past and start living…for real. 5821905 2007 Waiting For Spring total:22|5:8|4:9|3:2|2:3|1:0| 22 88 61 8 3 1 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 04:58:50 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 19:25:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 11 14:46:21 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 11 03:48:08 -0800 2009
The protagonist (Tess) “looks like shit” most of the time and works as a cleaning lady and her love interest (Brian) has a construction company. They are working class, real people with even more real problems that m...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 18:41:32 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 21:01:25 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 07:35:25 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 07:44:41 -0700 2009 The writer's voice is clear throughout the entire story, drawing you in, creating such real characters that I couldn't force myself to go to bed without read...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 17:29:53 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 16 17:58:12 -0800 2009
This book has no spiffy genre classification. After some thought, I think I’d call ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Oct 31 09:05:27 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 09:14:22 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 11:34:49 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 09:52:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 19:05:11 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 08:29:47 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 19:05:21 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 19:05:21 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 13:35:51 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 13:39:12 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 08 04:54:31 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 04:54:31 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 04 20:30:44 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 20:30:44 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 07:32:40 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 07:32:40 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 12:55:17 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 12:55:17 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Oct 30 16:13:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 16:13:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 21 04:46:29 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 04:46:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 17 17:56:39 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 17:56:39 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 13 21:30:34 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 21:30:44 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Oct 07 16:38:32 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 16:38:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 16 10:27:49 -0800 2009 Mon Oct 05 05:20:01 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 05:20:13 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5650430