LOVE LIKE THAT

Author: Amanda Hill ISBN: 0373895186 4/2005 CHICK LIT Publisher: RED DRESS INK

Now that she's engaged, twenty-five-year-old Dalton figures she should temper her penchant for dive bars, abusing her mother's credit card and her fiery, furtive relationship with Jeremy. AFter all, this is her chance to shed her bad-girl habits and live happily ever after. But that diamond ring seems to wink at her in defiance, representing everything she's ever, and never, wanted. Roman's offering a rescue from her drowned existence in L.A., but Jeremy could be her twisted ticket to wonderland. She's been holding out for a crushing feeling, a love like that, but will she figure out which man she has it with before she loses them both?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I will start my review for LOVE LIKE THAT by saying that I have very mixed feelings about this book. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the premise of the book and the characters were phenomenal, but there were a couple of things that I could have done without.

First off, there is Dalton. While I honestly didn't think that I liked Dalton at the beginning of the book, I grew to understand her, and once I did, I could relate to a lot of the things that she was thinking and feeling along the way. I didn't feel so blind sided by some of the decisions that she made, once I realized why she was making those decisions.

There is also her wonderful group of friends, who, through thick and thin, love her and support her regardless of what decision she makes. They love her. Period. No questions asked. A better group of friends a person would be hard put to find.

One of the main male characters is Jeremy, and while I wanted to love Jeremy throughout the book just for who he was to Dalton and how important he was to her, I knew in my heart that he was going to hurt her in the end. He tried to be sincere with her, but it didn't wash for me. He was just too messed up, to scared to be with Dalton the way that she needed.

The second main male character is Roman. He is Dalton's fiancé, and while I wanted to hate him for the kind of man that he was and the things he put Dalton through, I ended up loving him. I wanted Dalton and Roman to work it out and be happy. Maybe that is because once in a great while, everyone wants to believe that love conquers everything and can overcome anything we throw at it. I truly believe that is what Roman and Dalton discovered on this dysfunctional, winding journey of theirs.

Now on to the negatives. One is that I am not a big fan of the four-letter word, and they were here—in spades. I can do without so much vulgar language; it was truly a little over the top. Secondly, I cannot stand when there is constant infidelity in the main characters' relationships. It is demeaning and degrading to everyone involved, and when I read romance, I want to read about romance, not two people cheating on each other. For some reason, and I am not at all condoning the act of infidelity, once everything came out in the laundry, that is one of the things that seemed to make Dalton and Roman the strongest—being able to look each other in the eye and admit what they had done, then trying to move past it. It was like it was a new chapter for them, like a brand new relationship was beginning for them, right there in that moment.

In all, I would have to say that I did enjoy LOVE LIKE THAT, but could not give it the Four Rose Read award that I would have liked to, as it was a bit too flawed in my eyes. Maybe that is what drew me to this book in the first place: These very real, flawed, human people and their ability to make mistakes and learn from them. Through reading this book I literally watched Dalton go from a very sad, confused young adult to a mature, clear-headed woman. I like to see that kind of reality in my books.

Kristal Gorman