** spoiler alert ** The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin is a story of the lives of two people connected over time by a house. The story jumps back and forth between Major Stephen Fairhurst, an injured British soldier in 1819 and Anna Jocelyn Ware, a teenage girl sent to live with her uncle in 1976. Major Fairhurst's story is about his travels from England, Belgium, and Spain. He develops a strong friendship with an independent woman named Lucy Durwood, and much of the novel are his letters to Miss Durwood. Anna's story is about her upheaval from life in London with her mother, and being sent to live with her uncle in the country. She becomes friends with a child named Cecil, and an artistic foreign couple, Eva and Theo. The connection between Stephen and Anna is in the house, Kersey Hall. In Stephen's time, it's a great estate, and in Anna's time, it has become a bankrupt private school.

I found this novel particularly difficult to score. Despite the connections of history, the two stories are virtually two separate novels. But I will do my best ...

** Long chapters ... ugh ... unhappy bus reading. But, to be honest, I was riding planes to and from Portland when I was reading this, so the long chapters weren't as much of an issue - Neutral

** Each chapter ended with a slightly confusing italicized handful of paragraphs. I hated them and had no idea what they hell they were about until the last 5 or 6 chapters- Minus 2

** I loved Lucy's character. I loved that she constantly sketched, and was a true independent woman in Victorian times. Yay strong female characters - Plus 4

** While I disliked Theo intensely, he does have the best line in the book. And in turn the title of the book ... "I would say that the mathematics of love defy arithmetic." - Plus 2 (would be higher if I didn't hate Theo)

** They go to Spain. I have a fascination with Spain as of late - Plus 2

** Just when I was really getting into Stephen's story line, it'd swap to Anna's storyline. It kept the suspense up, but got annoying - Minus 3

** I hate how historical fiction has a tendency to put a lot of the action in the form of letters between characters. I think I'd rather have an extra hundred pages of novel than a brief summary of something - Minus 4

** Despite my dislike of letters in historical fiction, at least the letters were all about things that happened before the beginning of the novel. It helped in telling the backstory of Stephen's character - Plus 3

** I adored Cecil. But I don't understand the nickname Ciss - Plus 2

** There is a random section in the first chapter that takes place in 2006. It makes no sense why it's there, until the last two pages of the novel. And even then, it still does not need to be there. It's almost there as an afterthought, because the author wanted to tie the end into the beginning. I didn't like it - Minus 3

** I liked all the photography stuff during Anna's story. It felt like I was in high school photography class again with the enlargers and fixers. It was cool - Plus 2

** I was quite satisfied with the conclusion of Stephen's story. It felt like a Jane Austen novel. Not that I've ever read Jane Austen. But it'll come this year sometime, I promise. - Plus 3

** I wasn't so satisfied with the conclusion of Anna's story. I needed more than what I got. - Minus 3

Total ... 3 Points. Sounds about right, I didn't really love it or hate it