Monday, October 13, 2014

Susan Wiggs - Halfway To Heaven

At a glittering White House gala, Abigail Cabot discovers the man of her dreams. Only, he's not interested...yet. So the gifted lady astronomer, whose passion for measuring stars has left her woefully lacking in social graces, seeks someone to educate her...someone who is a master at the art of seduction.
Jamie Calhoun's handsome looks and easy charm have made him as popular on the Senate floor as he is with the capital's most attractive women. But secretly he loathes the cynical, manipulative man he's become. Initially, he befriends Abigail as a means to a political end. But somewhere along the way the plan goes awry.
First laughter and then love take them completely by surprise in this wildly romantic story. For a man convinced he's incapable of love and a woman who believes she can reach the stars, could this be a match made in heaven?


Comment: This is the third story in the Calhoun series by the author. I've read the previous two months ago and decided I wanted to finish the series within the year, so the remaining 3 books are spread over the last three months of 2014. This month it was Jamie and Abigail's story.

The story focuses on Jamie and how he decided to become a congressman to change politics and a law about railroads which would affect his late brother's land in Virginia. In honor to him, Jamie will do anything to stop the railroads appeal to government funding. He will do anything even getting close to the daughter of one of the senators who might have influence over the possible law.
Abigail Cabot isn't known for her beauty and grace. She prefers to watch the sky than to go to a ball, even more so because of her physical limitations. But when she sees the man of her dreams, she joins forces with Jamie so a mutual relationship can help them both. But what will happen if they fall in love on the way?

First of all, I didn't remember Jamie from the previous books. Thankfully, this is one of those stories where there's plenty of mentioning of family members, meaning the main couple isn't an oyster living on their own like it happens in so many books.
The story has several classic tropes and we can recognize them throughout the story. I don't think this diminishes the story's appeal or worthiness, it was just a way for the author to simplify her goal, I think. Honestly it didn't bother me.

I liked how the main couple seemed wrong but they had a lot of common after all. I liked how both took steps to undertsand the other, they went out of their way to help and to be supportive. I think Jamie had some notions about himself which were hard to accept, sometimes I wished he would just get over it. But in reality, there isn't any amount of time to just get over a tragedy and guilt like Jamie went through. My impatience was for show, but if one thinks about it, it wasn't so out there.
Jamie has a lot to think about, to deal with and Abigail is someone who understands, who is there for him. Abigail also has issues about herself and what she believes are true feelings for someone she exchanges letters with. There's a lot of mixed and wrong assumptions in this book, but of course all is solved after some angst ad heartfelt confessions.

The romance was good. I think it was balanced because they both gained a lot from being together, both her issues, some were worse than others, but on their own way, both had to go through truth and acceptances and th fact they fell in love was obvious. I liked how things went in the end.
There are some parts where is so romantic to watch them, others where they could have been more assertive. I think their night together was done with the right mood and attention but seemed to be there just because and afterwards the meaning didn't seem as strong as that, but all things considered, it was still perfectly acceptable.

There are some secondary characters who will have an important role in the following books. Still, their presence was key to this story too and I kind of liked how they mattered and weren't there just to fill up the place. I'm curious over Helena's story.

The story has many subjects to read between the lines, ideas and characterization which adds up emotion to the book. I think the author did a good job in  exploiting so many themes and how that affected the characters and their actions. In my opinion, it was a successful job and I'm still curious over the rest of the series and other work by her.
Grade: 8/10

2 comments:

  1. I dragged my feet reading this one because I'm generally not wild about politics in my romance reading - but that's mostly kept to a minimum in this story. And I really need to find time to read Helena's book! It's front and center on my book shelves but......

    Sigh.

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  2. Hello Wendy! Well, I liked the romance because despite the subjects around it, we still can enjoy the romance for what it is. So many stories have romances but the things surrounding it are too distracting, so... yes, this worked for me :)

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