First let me say Anne McAllister is one of those authors that always seem to keep her characters grounded and relatable to her readers. Although they maybe financially successful they keep in the forefront that family is all important, that being said I absolutely fell in love with Ally and PJ's story for lots of reasons. First, they were in my age group early thirties, not too young to not have experienced much, but not to old were their settled and most things are common place, they are in what I term the magical 30s were your honing your professional skills and if your truly ready, discovering what it means to have a meaningful and lasting parental, intimate and platonic relationships.
The plot of the story is PJ and Ally get married when they are in their early 20s for practical reasons to help get Ally out of a situation she's in. After they marry they have one intimate night as man and wife but they next day go their separate ways, still remaining friends. Five years later they meet up again a little older but not much wiser, only to part not on the best of terms, because Ally is rude and mistreats PJ. Another five years pass and Ally and PJ both now in their 30s; Ally shows up at PJ's office after of a total of 10 years and very little contact. She asks him for a divorce, because she's fallen in love and plans on getting married. Upon seeing her again PJ is confronted with feeling that he has a allowed to lie dormant for years, he refuses to grant her the divorce, and makes the suggestion that they should actually try being married in more than name only, this throws Ally into a tail spin, because she has organized her life meticulously up until this point and having PJ back in her life makes her question all the things she has worked to accomplish and how much they really mean to her once she is forced to stop and think about them, and further more she is force to example feelings she wants had for PJ, from this point on the story is a journey for both main characters that forces them both to honestly look at the lives they've led apart from one another, as well as the life they could possibly have together.
I don't want to spoil the book too much for you, but I will say this was a wonderful well written book with a great plot, character development, were you could actually see the characters beliefs and ideals change, and how the effects of those changes made the story flow and evolve. It wasn't a melodramatic or far fetched storyline just good reading and fun.
I would recommend this book as something you want to curl up with as a winter weekend read, I've read in a few hours, it's a keeper. Happy Reading!
