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Family By Choice #9
A Son's Anguish
How long can you run before your past comes back to haunt you? How much good can you do when you have so much to make up for? Can a lifetime of good make up for the sins of the past? What if those sins aren’t yours? What is they come from those who raised you? Bill always knew his father was a terrible man. He had grown up with the sting of beatings most of his life. His childhood was full of pain and anger and disappointment. He vowed to break the cycle. He joined the Army. He did everything right. He met and married his true love. He had two beautiful children. He found a sister he never knew. He overcame his past. Or did he? When Bill begins to uncover the secrets of his father’s life, all he thought and all he knew to be true turns out to be a lie. Everyone has their breaking point, and for Bill, finding out the truth about his father is more than he can take. Not to mention what happens to his wife…
536 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2013
1 person is currently reading
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2017
This novel could have definitely been combined with the previous. A LOT of filler which could have been cut and thus combined with the previous novel. I wish I had a print edition to cross out everything not needed. This series would go from 20 something books to maybe five. Hell, Harry Potter was done successfully in seven! Take note Nadler.
The open-ended thoughts/paragraph at the beginning of chapter 26 was a little off with the flow Nadler had established. She usually continued the story one chapter after another, some even with cliff hangers helping to make it "a page turner." But, the open-ended thoughts/general idea was just different and unexpected. She did this once before and I noted it as a negative as well.
The flashback series of Tommy and Brittany with their journey of Naomi was too much and not needed. I flipped past this whole section. In a recent novel in this series, there were a series of flashbacks of previous journeys noted in the previous novels - those worked then as a good reminder ; here Nadler had a tendency to insert general thoughts or flashbacks when something dramatic just occurred - it was annoying! I just wanted to read the consequences/results/outcome of the cliffhanger you just instilled, not flashback filler bulls#!t. I skipped through A LOT of the flashbacks throughout this entire novel; they were easy to determine as they were in italic.
Chapter Fifty-Four was a bogus filler - a "let's recap the past...again" chapter. To say I was pissed was a good guess; I wanted to throw my iPad across the room like "what the hell?! What a damn waste!" It could all be cut and the novel read just fine and the outcome be the same.
Again, as noted above, the downfall this novel had was flashbacks to event that have occurred in the previous novels, some fairly recently. The majority of this series is available for digital download so one can assume they just read something and hopefully remembered it as they continue to read within the series. I understand recapping here and there, but using a whole novel to do so is unnecessary.
I got a little confused as to why the characters felt the negativity, the depression they felt and what felt like a sudden shut out of everyone and shut down on themselves. I felt like I missed something or an important key(s). I understand a lot was going on, but the shut downs were sudden and kind of unexpected. I shook my head and said, "wait... what? I wasn't expecting that from this character."
::SPOILER ALERT:: Nadler made Stephanie pregnant again during the middle of Julie's and Naomi's crisis'. REALLY?! WTF... Good grief.
Inconsistency: it read that Jack picked up Bee and David from the sitter and dropped David off at his [Jack's] parents. Then it read Bill walked into their bedroom to find Julie holding a sleeping David. Seriously, someone needs to proofread this stuff. It's been annoying and insulting and sadly consistent in every one of Nadler novels in this series.
In short, the majority of this novel could have been deleted. Another sorely disappointing novel.
1 out of 5 Stars
The open-ended thoughts/paragraph at the beginning of chapter 26 was a little off with the flow Nadler had established. She usually continued the story one chapter after another, some even with cliff hangers helping to make it "a page turner." But, the open-ended thoughts/general idea was just different and unexpected. She did this once before and I noted it as a negative as well.
The flashback series of Tommy and Brittany with their journey of Naomi was too much and not needed. I flipped past this whole section. In a recent novel in this series, there were a series of flashbacks of previous journeys noted in the previous novels - those worked then as a good reminder ; here Nadler had a tendency to insert general thoughts or flashbacks when something dramatic just occurred - it was annoying! I just wanted to read the consequences/results/outcome of the cliffhanger you just instilled, not flashback filler bulls#!t. I skipped through A LOT of the flashbacks throughout this entire novel; they were easy to determine as they were in italic.
Chapter Fifty-Four was a bogus filler - a "let's recap the past...again" chapter. To say I was pissed was a good guess; I wanted to throw my iPad across the room like "what the hell?! What a damn waste!" It could all be cut and the novel read just fine and the outcome be the same.
Again, as noted above, the downfall this novel had was flashbacks to event that have occurred in the previous novels, some fairly recently. The majority of this series is available for digital download so one can assume they just read something and hopefully remembered it as they continue to read within the series. I understand recapping here and there, but using a whole novel to do so is unnecessary.
I got a little confused as to why the characters felt the negativity, the depression they felt and what felt like a sudden shut out of everyone and shut down on themselves. I felt like I missed something or an important key(s). I understand a lot was going on, but the shut downs were sudden and kind of unexpected. I shook my head and said, "wait... what? I wasn't expecting that from this character."
::SPOILER ALERT:: Nadler made Stephanie pregnant again during the middle of Julie's and Naomi's crisis'. REALLY?! WTF... Good grief.
Inconsistency: it read that Jack picked up Bee and David from the sitter and dropped David off at his [Jack's] parents. Then it read Bill walked into their bedroom to find Julie holding a sleeping David. Seriously, someone needs to proofread this stuff. It's been annoying and insulting and sadly consistent in every one of Nadler novels in this series.
In short, the majority of this novel could have been deleted. Another sorely disappointing novel.
1 out of 5 Stars
March 8, 2014
Wow! Bill has been to Hell and back, not just from his time overseas at war, but now going through the realization of what his father did to his sister, and the pain and guilt of not being there to help her.
Once again, it's another fabulous read, and I can't wait to get to the next book to see what will happen! Bravo, Robin!
Once again, it's another fabulous read, and I can't wait to get to the next book to see what will happen! Bravo, Robin!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews