>>>Passionately in love with her husband, Emilia has a secret, guilty loathing for her precocious little stepson, William - a forty-year-old in a five-year-old's body, whom she picks up from nursery every Wednesday afternoon. He is lactose intolerant, she feeds him dairy products; he mustn't get cold, she pushes him - accidentally - into a pond in Central Park. How can she forgive William for living, when her own cherished child has gone.

Love and other Impossible Pursuits is funny, candid and raw, a humerous and emotional novel about family in today's fractured society.<<<

Edited 9th February 2006
I loved this book and cried buckets over it - I was in the mood to indulge in tears anyway. I'd recomment it to anyone who enjoys well-written chicklit.

I was going to release this book as part of the Woosang Wedding release on St Valentine's Day but although I am only halfway through it I am enjoying it so much that I have decided to offer it as a bookring so that other bookcrossers can have the opportunity to read it.

Participants
catsalive - received 15-2-06 posted 20-3-06
kzel - received 25-3-06 - posted 17-4-06
luv2readwa - received 3-5-06 - posted 1-6-06
mummafour - received 6-6-06 - posted 15-6-06
Mundoo - received 16-6-06 posted 30-6-06


To see journal entries for the replacement book please click here.


Back to pinkozcat

Posted to catsalive today. Enjoy. :)

Thanks, pinkozcat. Boy, you get these things moving fast.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought it was a bit light on for the seriousness of the subject matter and I didn't particular like any of the characters. Really, Emilia should have been ashamed of her feelings regarding a William, a five-year-old. She really was being extremely childish. Yes, she'd had a traumatic experience and was making it worse by believing it to be her fault, but she was still the adult in the relationship. However, I did enjoy the reading for the most part.

Thanks, pinkozcat, I'll get this off to kzel today.

Received safely today (25/03/06). I'm off to Thailand tonight, and don't want to risk misplacing it over there, so I will begin reading it once I get back in ten days

Slightly difficult to get into as at the beginning, the main character is hard to like. However, as the story goes along, you begin to understand her behaviour.
There's lots of angst and a steady plot to keep the story moving, and although it didn't quite bring me to tears, it left me contemplative.
I did think that things tied up a bit too nicely in the end, considering the anguish of all the characters throughout though.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent onto next recipient today

Hooray! Received from Kzel in the post today. Parcel was a little tatty but the book is OK no woonder it took two weeks to get here

Thanks pinkozcat

Yeah !!!!! Not lost after all. :)

This was a really good read - Its very moving without the heroine getting soppy, The husband really is the weak point, he doesn't know who to love!!
Am PMing the next person now.

Posted off to mummafour in South Australia today.

Cryptic comment (I hope its journey speeds up this time)

It's really a good book and I loved it

Thanks Pinkozcat!

Thank you luv2readwa this book arrived today. I will start on it tonight.

I enjoyed reading this book. I did find it hard to get into at first but when I did I understood Emillia and the way she felt about her loss and her poor stepson William. Thanks pinkozcat


Posted to Mundoo this morning!

Book arrived today. Next to be read. Thanks for the choccy. Yum. But I am wondering if the choccy will be needed during the reading of this book!

I quite enjoyed this book. I had no problems getting into it. I did feel sorry for Emilia and the situation she found herself in. And William's problems stemmed a lot from his overbearing mother. What hope did Emilia have really?

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to viola7

I received two of these a while ago, but I have had a lot of trouble lately so I couldn't keep up with my bookcrossing rings, etc. I am really sorry and I'm going to send them both on this week.

I did read this - I stayed at Mum's place for a while. There's no computer there and mine had to be fixed up.

Anyway it was an interesting study of love and betrayal, but the style was rather 'in your face' for me. Emilia, a young lawyer, falls in love with her married boss. His wife isn't very nice to him so it's understandable that he leaves her for Emilia. The problem is her rather obnoxious step-son, William. This is not helped by the fact that the former wife dotes on William and poor Emilia can't do anything right where he is concerned.

Emilia has to try and overcome this, her guilt about the break-up of the marriage, and her ambivalent feelings about her father who betrayed her mother. She has a lot to contend with!

I liked the book but I found the style and the characters a bit hard to warm to. Emilia was easy to identify with, but a bit 'loud', I felt. It's a very well-written, modern book and the account of life in New York was also very interesting.

Returned home in good order. Thanks Viola7 for posting it back to me.

RELEASE NOTES:

On a bench in Napoleon Street