The Caretaker

I can explain.

This book was okay. But it's not what I've come to expect from C.P. Harris. And this isn't about boxing in the author or anything like that. I'm used to these books packing quite punch, emotionally. And then the crescendo is sooo good it has you rooting for (emotional) criminals to get their man.

This one tried. I could feel the effort but the punch didn't quite land for me. It was just so incredibly sad, but the catharsis at the end was almost nonexistent. It was a book about a series of really bad things happening to really good people.

The infidelity was there, but given that these two weren't even the primary cheaters, are they really cheaters except in the very technical sense that they weren't married to each other?

The resolution was too grim. It was realistic, sure. But I don't feel like I got a romance novel worthy HEA. WHERE WAS THIS REALISM WHEN WE NEEDED TO FREE LELAND FROM FRANKIE? It's for poor Noon that we find it? Really?! Sigh.

Sort of an addendum to the above. This just felt tragic. It was a story about a man learning to live without his memories and that was the central plot. So much so that I felt it overshadowed and outpaced the romance.

I didn't like the Pauly interference bit. I know the two MCs see it differently but to me, the fact is that Noon didn't really remember on his own, did he?

Also, is it valid to say that he fell in love with Solace anew yet he didn't even admit it to himself or Solace until after the post-Pauly conversation? Am I nitpicking? Am I the drama?

What kind of names are Noon and Solace? Solace is too on the nose, right? Yeah. I think I'm nitpicking.

Why do we not get any details about the conversation between Stacey and Noon? Was this not worth him remembering? Does Solace have to live with that kernel of doubt forever? Does he just rationalize it away because Noon is here now?

I could get behind them having to make fresh memories going forward but I would have loved Solace to have that firm confirmation on what transpired, beyond Noon saying he 'never could have done that'.

“Some days I’m so sad that it hurts to breathe, Noon. I have to stare at those wedding rings around your neck............. It hurts so much to know I may be forcing you into something you’d already decided you no longer wanted.”

COULD WE NOT HAVE GIVEN THIS POOR BABY SOME FIRM CLOSURE ON THAT FRONT?

Basically, yeah, there were good bits, but the general feeling was that this was such a difficult journey for them both, and there's not much joy to be found in their story. Not at the start, not in the middle, and the epilogue was sort of generic.

I guess I just had ridiculously high expectations for this(passion, betrayal, love) and I mostly got pain.

And not even the good pain, where one MC does something so heinous that you can't help but anticipate the grovel. These men suffered for no reason. They were just minding their business and got fucked every which way by life.

Wild.