Loved this book even though it was so sad ... ( )

If Judith believed in the Rio kind of love, why did she settle for so so with Malcom all those years? This sort of book just makes me sad. I don't like to read about people making the wrong choices in their lives and regretting it and not being able to fix it. I don't like to read sad stuff. I loved the young Willy and really have no respect for Judith for how she treated him. So just a depressing book all around. ( )

Beautiful. Lyrical in its simple prose. Imagine if Hemingway were to write a novel that combines the best of THE HORSE WHISPERER with the best of THE NATURAL (in terms of relationships and destiny) and you might get a sense of this one. Willy Blunt was Judith Whitman's first love during her teenage years in Nebraska, where she had chosen to live with her college professor father after the breakup of her parents' marriage. But fate throws the young couple a late summer curve, and their plans go the way of the plans of many young people who separate in the hopes of being among the few to survive a long-distance relationship at that age. Fast-forward 27 years and we have Judith feeling unfulfilled in a number of areas of her life and for a number of reasons. And despite the passage of those years, she has never really gotten over Willy, whom she never saw again after that end of summer separation, and now fate and some internal drive are telling her that it's time to reconnect. What happens next will get to even the hardest reader's heart in spite of a few clichés, as it is so beautifully presented by the author. Overall, the story is nonlinear and flips back and forth between young Judith and Willy and their older counterparts, and we see how their paths led them back to this particular place at this particular time. The characters are richly drawn and deeply developed, and I was rooting for Willy throughout. Actually, I found myself rooting for both of them in spite of their flaws and in spite of what I sensed would be their ultimate fate. I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon. ( )

The audio version of this novel was narrated by a woman with a too-sweet voice. Had I read it, perhaps I would have given it 4 stars. ( )

This book was just OK for me. It actually took me a couple of tries to get all the way through it. I'm glad I gave it a 2nd chance because I eventually did get into it, but it was still just OK. Maybe it's because I just didn't like any of the characters. ( )