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Alison Hopkins has a mediocre job at a small newspaper office, and a live-in boyfriend she is firmly, completely, undeniably in love with. She and Tom send wedding gifts together as a unit—and they’re happy together—at least until Tom is sent out on the eve of a dinner party to buy some mustard and never comes home. He calls Alison to tell her that he is in love with someone else and isn’t coming back. Alison is understandably crushed—what went wrong? But the only explanation she can come up with is that the woman Tom is seeing now is ‘like a drug.’ How can she compete with that?
Alison is tempted to write about her humiliation in her relationship column, but instead decides to treat it as a gift. She risks a fling with her new boss and daydreams about what she will say to Tom if he ever comes back. In the midst of it all, she’s searching for her big love—the one who will want to marry her. To have babies. The one who isn’t afraid to commit. Is anyone like that still left out there? And if Tom isn’t Alison’s big love, who is?
THE BIG LOVE is funny and an easy read. I did find some of the subjects addressed offensive, especially as this was sent to me as an inspirational chick lit. There, as far as I could see, was nothing inspirational about it, unless you counted the fact that Alison was raised protestant, but now she completely hated Christians and everything about them. If you find this in a Christian bookstore, readers might have some problems with the book like I did. Otherwise, it was a quick read.
I sympathized with Alison when Tom walked out on her, but otherwise, some of the decisions she made were just plain stupid. Nevertheless, she is a quirky, enjoyable, real character that could be almost anyone you meet on the street.
Pick up a copy of THE BIG LOVE for a good book to take to the beach.
Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
for The Road to Romance
September 24, 2004
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