The concept of this book was pretty interesting, but the execution was really lacking. The writing is often weak, and a fair amount of what happens move beyond implausible territory and into ridiculous territory, so that prevented me from getting into the book. Still, I could have suspended my disbelief more if the characters had been stronger.

The most egregious offender, though, is the ending.

Serious, huge spoiler about the ending ahead, so do not click unless you're prepared for it!

Spoiler

Bix? Really? There were so many things wrong with that guy, from his shady connections to his lack of ambition to his constant, annoying, and offensive "teasing" of Josh. I really hated how Hankins basically used Josh as a punching bag for Bix (not that I'm a Josh fan, mind--he was far too underdeveloped for me to form a real opinion about him), and it was clear to me from the beginning that I was supposed to root for Bix. That was hard for me to do, considering I despised him. So, needless to say, there was a great deal of eye rolling going on when Caitlin rode off into the sunset with him.

Public service announcement for anyone when they're evaluating someone's potential as a love interest: If you have to think to yourself, "I know this person has shady connections...", along with a list of other flaws, then insert "BUT, at heart he/she's a good person!", you need to ditch that person and move along. All those little things about Bix that Caitlin noticed should have served as loud, obnoxious warnings in her head that she needed to hightail it away from him.

Not to mention that Bix is really judgmental and condescending about Caitlin. He liked Katie, the wild child, but he looks down his nose at the more conservative Caitlin. Okay, fine, he's entitled to be attracted to what he's attracted to, but I could not shake the creepy feeling that he was leading Caitlin down a specific path, as in, "Hey, Katie, you'll be the sexy woman *I* want if you..."

Josh is judgmental too, but at least it makes more sense from his perspective, since he and Caitlin have been married for years, so he has a highly developed idea of what her baseline is. His judgement is still annoying at times, but it makes sense he'd find it disconcerting that she's not acting like the person he's known for so long.

You know how the book should have ended? Caitlin should have ridden off into the sunset all by herself, embarking on a new life and learning about herself without either of those men dragging her down or trying to tell her who she was or how she ought to be.