First, Best and Only
Barbara Delinsky
Romance
I’m sad. Way back when I used to
devour romance novels like they were candy, I loved Barbara Delinsky. She
combined family drama and relationships into un-put-downable books. This is the
first time I’ve picked up one of her novels in awhile, and I am appalled that I
ever liked her.
First, Best and Only is the story
of Marni and Brian Webster (she calls him “Web” throughout the whole novel,
which really bugged me). Marni was seventeen when she fell in love with twenty-six
year old Brian. They secretly began dating and everything was fine until Brian
got into an accident with Marni’s older brother, who died. After that, they
lost contact thanks to her parents. Now, thirteen years later, Marni’s
president of her dad’s company and is persuaded to be the cover model for their
new magazine. Imagine her surprise when she arrives at the photo shoot and finds
the photographer is Web, the only man she ever loved.
I just could not get invested in
these two, which is bad because that’s the point of a romance novel. Perhaps it
had to do with the writing. Marni and Web both said something “softly” so many
times that by the end of the book I wanted to start slashing through that word
with a red pen. Ms. Delinsky also hates the word “said”, apparently, because
she came up with numerous different substitutions: “chided”, “announced”, “put
in”, “murmured”, “breathed”, and my personal favorite, “interjected”. Dear god,
I get ragey just thinking about them.
I would not recommend this book,
especially if you’re into romance. Steer clear, people. Steer clear.
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