Symmetry

an ok read

Such a powerful story concealed behind ridiculousness. I cannot begin to tell you how infuriated I am over Jess and Lee reconciling at the end, and how she flip-flopped back and forth between him and Noah.

Jessica and Lee Cassady are on a break. At least that’s how Lee sees it. Jessica on the other hand is ready to take the walk down divorce lane. After finding out that Lee was unfaithful to her, she’d done. She’s put up with his selfishness, his self-centeredness and his taking her for granted. She’s done with it all. Or so she thinks. Jessica quickly learns that cutting Lee out of her life isn’t as easy as she thought it would be. Especially since Lee refuses to give up on them. He swears he was never unfaithful to her and if she just gives him a chance he can prove that he’s worthy of her love. Unfortunately for Lee, Jessica has started to date and his competition is the exact opposite of him, someone that Jessica once knew in high school. Noah Hamilton is someone who seems to be doing everything right that Lee did wrong.

This book is definitely a departure of the usual romance, HEA reads. As a matter of fact, I don’t know that I would classify it as a romance. There was romance involved to a certain extent but it’s more of a “life’s messy, shit kind of happens book and let’s see how I survive” kind of book.

What I liked about this book was the fact that it was not neat and pretty. It gave a realistic view of what a woman goes through when deciding if she should stay or go. While Jessica was fed up and hurt by Lee, she still loved him; she did the whole “let him come back home thing”, she did the whole “let my friend badmouth him thing”…she did it all. I could really appreciate the author shedding light on a serious illness, trichotillomania. Knowing someone, indirectly, who suffers from this disorder, it was nice to get a little insight on what actually happens to those who suffer from this.

What didn’t work for me was the flow of this book. There were parts that didn’t really “gel” for me. I also had a hard time figuring out their ages. While it seems that they would have been in their late twenties/early thirties, Jessica just came across as a much older woman. I have to say I wasn’t a fan of Jessica, Lee or Noah. Lee was definitely all about Lee. Noah, while described as geek-ish, maybe even shy…he came across as very judgmental to me. I especially didn’t like the way he “chastised” Jessica for the types of guys she dated. As for Jessica…wow; not that she was a “victim” so to speak but for her to feel as wronged as she did you kind of learn that she doesn’t have the best character traits either. She was a bit of a manipulator. I kind of finished this book feeling somewhat incomplete.

This is a bit difficult for me because I want to like every book I read. While there were things that I could appreciate about this book, there were just a lot of things that didn’t work for me. So while I didn’t dislike the book, it just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would.

An interesting story about Jess and her husband Lee, and the issues that their marriage is going through. The struggles they go through on their journey are interesting, and it is nice to see both sides having to accept and change to meet each others needs. The OCD and hair pulling was a little overdone for my taste, and I tended to skim those parts, but as the author mentions, she has this, and wanted to bring it up. I think it is helpful to discuss, but not really an issue for me so it didn't hold my attention. Overall, I enjoyed this book, and was pleased how complete it felt, even though it is not overly long. Would highly recommend this story.

Good points: The first book for me addressing the issue of trichotillomania and the interesting women characters. Downside: Jess just gave up and accepted back the controlling and not-too-much intellectually gifted handsome husband. The writing is good though and deserves a try.