I didn't like Featherstone's writing style; I loved it! It was emotional, melancholy, lyrical, heartwrenching and poignant. I also liked the characters in this one much better than in her first novel. However, this was in truth more like 3 stars than 4 stars for me. Why?

My bad mood during this weekend is probably reason enough for me to not appreciate this as much as it deserved (that's why I rated it with 4 rather than 3 stars which was what I felt like when I finished it). But, there was something else bothering me while reading this. It came to my mind that this book was like a beautiful sonata written with the explicit purpose of emotionally moving the audience and executed flawlessly by a talented performer; only while technically the execution was perfect, artistically there was something missing. There was just too much planning behind it, that in the end the emotion seemed forced and premeditated.

Also, IMHO, the author was so enthralled with her own writing, that she included many scenes which, while beautiful, were more or less a repetition of each other and didn't add anything to the plot. Thus the story lagged after the middle and the pace became too slow.

Did I enjoy reading it? Would I recommend it? Of course! Such good writing is not to be missed by romance fans and certainly the book is much much better than your average romance. But, again IMHO, the author needs to work a little more on her plot because sometimes it changes pace mid-stride, causing uncomfortable bumps.

PS: Depression level is high on this one. This is not a book to read when you're feeling down:)

Updated: Changed my rating to 3 stars. The more I think about it, the more things I find to dislike.