Heidi Hart

I struggled through this. I found the first three quarters of the book extremely slow and somewhat uncomfortable, and then the last quarter of the book moved very (too?) fast and was full of angst and melodrama. I enjoyed the heroine, Julia, who is always hungry and talks without thinking. She's honest and funny, but this story put her in a decidedly DIShonest, UNfunny situation: she is in love with her sister's fiance. While it's clear from the outset that the sister and James are not well-matched, everyone involved are good people with good motives, so it was uncomfortable reading about James and Julia's budding attraction, knowing the ultimate result would be the sister, Louisa's, betrayal.

The conflict with Louisa, which built and built throughout the story, ended up being resolved far too easily -- and then, as if Ms. Romain realized she'd shot her wad too soon, all of a sudden new obstacles started surfacing in every chapter, one after another, out of nowhere!

This is the first of a trilogy, but I don't think I'll read on.