I fail to grasp how this one-small-step-above-Harlequin book got such quotes from respectable magazines. Maybe they have a special 'Romance' section in addition to the normal book review section; that's the only way I can figure it out.

One third through the book, almost everything is in order, and I was quite mystified what the remainder of the book was going to be about. Of course I knew it all along, but I was hoping with all my might I would be wrong.

People behave like idiots, inventing ways to be unhappy when nothing stands between them and their happiness but their own refusal to act sensibly. That's what the rest of the book consists of, and it's agonizing seeing them go through the motions ever so slowly.

I'm beginning to form a theory that any book which spends a lot of time describing the characters' looks is bound to be bad. Especially if it's done again every few pages when they've changed clothes and/or hairstyles. Extra points if all the main characters are magically beautiful, as is the case in this book. You can only read so much about steel-gray beards and piercing eyes and luxurious hair and...I've got to stop before I get sick.

The only reason I ever got this book was because it was the least worst looking amid all the boring thrillers available at the kiosk in the Florence train station, and I absolutely had to get something to read for the train. In hindsight, I'd probably have been better off with one of those cheap Clancy clones.