Official Review: Just Too Easy by Gail McFarland
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Official Review: Just Too Easy by Gail McFarland
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Just Too Easy" by Gail McFarland.]
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Just too Easy is a fast gripping story, that keeps the reader glued on for most of its part. The theme ranges around marriage, cheating, suffering, and how a woman finds her own life and identity after going through all this. It appears to be a story portrayed perfectly, and one can read the first few chapters of the book at one go. However, the writer has tried to capture a story of marriage, betrayal, and also new found romance, all at the same time. This diverts some of the focus of the book in the later part and makes a reader expect a predictable, not so exciting end to the story.
This is a first person story of a woman Karalee deaf since age ten, struggling in her marriage to her husband of 25 years, Ben Marshall. They don’t just share a marriage, but also share a business, a house, 2 grown up sons, and entire era of life together. So when she finds him cheating on him, she is driven into a plethora of emotions and struggle, but refusing to wallow into self-pity and give up. She instead sets forth to do something that very few women in such a situation would do – find another guy for her husband’s girlfriend, Angelique! This makes an amazing beginning for a story. Her several meetings with Angelique subsequently make for an interesting read. The funny part is that her intention to find her a guy is not to save her own marriage, because she also starts working on getting a divorce for herself. Her intention is to teach Ben a lesson and start her own life afresh. The beginning has all the ingredients of a new story line with twist, suspense,and thrill that a reader would look for in a book.
The story progresses and we are introduced to her lawyer, Eldon Quinn, whom Karalee refers to as the ‘lady killer’ in the first meeting itself. He helps her in her pursuit for more information on Ben and she ends up discovering more than she had anticipated. She realizes Ben isn’t just an infidel, there is a lot more of cheating and lying in business, money, and property that he is into, and she needs to deal with all of that. The story unravels further and it turns out that Karalee finds a good friend in Angelique. Some poignant dialogues here that may touch the female readers especially when Karalee defines a husband, “that man who will be there on your best day and on your worst ones, the man who will love you just as much when you’re looking like Homemade Sin as he does when you’re all dolled up. The one who will never take you for granted because he knows that your life is joined to his. A husband, not a drive-by lover. “ They go through several emotions of hurt and despair together up to the point when Karalee does succeed in finding her another guy. But that’s not the end of Karalaee’s woes, her life is still in a mess and there is a lot more she needs to work on.
We get to see more of Eldon Quinn after this and the exchanges that he and Karalee have. He is portrayed as a divorce lawyer whose physical presence spoke more than his own words, at least in Karalee’s mind. He and Karalee are shown to get close sooner than a reader would anticipate. The sexual connotations in Karalee’s mind whenever she sees him get irksome at various points. For a woman struggling with a 25 year old marriage and divorce, it seems odd that she has sexual thoughts almost all through the story. She is shown to be undergoing betrayal, but instead of being clouded by feelings of sorrow at the loss of her love and family, she seems to be thinking more of sex than anything else. It isn’t just with Eldon, but with every other man she comes across. This somewhat dampens the strength with which she is shown to be carrying herself with.
The writer does have a knack for capturing the reader's interest.She has described several human emotions of despair, confusion, uncertainty , fear and sadness, that are just so natural for a person going through a difficult phase in life.However, the story has an unfortunately predictable end ,and makes the reader want to make certain twists and changes to it, so that it would have ended differently. A story slightly different in a way that gave a sense of satisfaction and not left one feeling incomplete. Also there were certain other things I found missing in the story. There is no mention of any of the characters’ age at any point. Age helps a reader relate better with the characters and only when it was not there I realized the importance of age, physical description and other such minute details when characters are introduced in a book. It helps the reader visualize as he reads. There were some conspicuous gaps too. For example, Angelique knows Karalee by her first name and in one of their meetings, she is addressed to as Mrs.Marshall by the detective right in front of Angelique. There is no reaction shown from Angelique to it, which is surprising. Also the romance between Eldon and Karalee look a little forced and too much too soon. They have 2 grown up sons who are talked about, but they do not have a lot of role to play in there when their parents are going through such a mess.
I would have loved to give this book a 4 and that’s what I thought it deserved when I started reading it. However, due to some of the reasons mentioned above, I feel comfortable rating it at 3 out of 4 stars.
***
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This is a first person story of a woman Karalee deaf since age ten, struggling in her marriage to her husband of 25 years, Ben Marshall. They don’t just share a marriage, but also share a business, a house, 2 grown up sons, and entire era of life together. So when she finds him cheating on him, she is driven into a plethora of emotions and struggle, but refusing to wallow into self-pity and give up. She instead sets forth to do something that very few women in such a situation would do – find another guy for her husband’s girlfriend, Angelique! This makes an amazing beginning for a story. Her several meetings with Angelique subsequently make for an interesting read. The funny part is that her intention to find her a guy is not to save her own marriage, because she also starts working on getting a divorce for herself. Her intention is to teach Ben a lesson and start her own life afresh. The beginning has all the ingredients of a new story line with twist, suspense,and thrill that a reader would look for in a book.
The story progresses and we are introduced to her lawyer, Eldon Quinn, whom Karalee refers to as the ‘lady killer’ in the first meeting itself. He helps her in her pursuit for more information on Ben and she ends up discovering more than she had anticipated. She realizes Ben isn’t just an infidel, there is a lot more of cheating and lying in business, money, and property that he is into, and she needs to deal with all of that. The story unravels further and it turns out that Karalee finds a good friend in Angelique. Some poignant dialogues here that may touch the female readers especially when Karalee defines a husband, “that man who will be there on your best day and on your worst ones, the man who will love you just as much when you’re looking like Homemade Sin as he does when you’re all dolled up. The one who will never take you for granted because he knows that your life is joined to his. A husband, not a drive-by lover. “ They go through several emotions of hurt and despair together up to the point when Karalee does succeed in finding her another guy. But that’s not the end of Karalaee’s woes, her life is still in a mess and there is a lot more she needs to work on.
We get to see more of Eldon Quinn after this and the exchanges that he and Karalee have. He is portrayed as a divorce lawyer whose physical presence spoke more than his own words, at least in Karalee’s mind. He and Karalee are shown to get close sooner than a reader would anticipate. The sexual connotations in Karalee’s mind whenever she sees him get irksome at various points. For a woman struggling with a 25 year old marriage and divorce, it seems odd that she has sexual thoughts almost all through the story. She is shown to be undergoing betrayal, but instead of being clouded by feelings of sorrow at the loss of her love and family, she seems to be thinking more of sex than anything else. It isn’t just with Eldon, but with every other man she comes across. This somewhat dampens the strength with which she is shown to be carrying herself with.
The writer does have a knack for capturing the reader's interest.She has described several human emotions of despair, confusion, uncertainty , fear and sadness, that are just so natural for a person going through a difficult phase in life.However, the story has an unfortunately predictable end ,and makes the reader want to make certain twists and changes to it, so that it would have ended differently. A story slightly different in a way that gave a sense of satisfaction and not left one feeling incomplete. Also there were certain other things I found missing in the story. There is no mention of any of the characters’ age at any point. Age helps a reader relate better with the characters and only when it was not there I realized the importance of age, physical description and other such minute details when characters are introduced in a book. It helps the reader visualize as he reads. There were some conspicuous gaps too. For example, Angelique knows Karalee by her first name and in one of their meetings, she is addressed to as Mrs.Marshall by the detective right in front of Angelique. There is no reaction shown from Angelique to it, which is surprising. Also the romance between Eldon and Karalee look a little forced and too much too soon. They have 2 grown up sons who are talked about, but they do not have a lot of role to play in there when their parents are going through such a mess.
I would have loved to give this book a 4 and that’s what I thought it deserved when I started reading it. However, due to some of the reasons mentioned above, I feel comfortable rating it at 3 out of 4 stars.
***
Buy "Just Too Easy" on Amazon
Buy "Just Too Easy" on Barnes and Noble
Latest Review: "The Angel with Burnt Wings" by Scarlett Jensen
