One More Night by Kathleen Creighton

How to review a book with a flaw that probably wouldn't bother anyone else? That's why I don't write official reviews!

One More Knight by Kathleen Creighton (SIM 890)
(1998, Contemporary Series) 3/1/08
Grade: 3

Twenty years after running away from home, Charly Phelps has decided to pay a visit to her past. But when she ends up in jail, she ends up being rescued by Troy Starr, an ex-Navy Seal and the brother-in-law of her best friend. Troy is immediately attracted to Charly, and determined to help her as she revisits the most painful and tragic months of her life.

It was hard to grade this one. The book was well written and heart wrenching, with believable characters, but it suffered from a couple of serious flaws. One problem was that the story of Charly’s past took over the book, to the point that the romance with Troy almost felt like an intrusion at times. The chemistry between the two characters was strong, and it worked most of the time, but there were points that it just seemed out of place. That was a fairly minor problem, though. The bigger problem for me was the resolution of the story. It felt like Charly was being blamed for her choice to give up her child for adoption. She’s the one who’s made to feel guilty for not coming back home, even though it was her father who forced her to give up her child, drove her out of town and then never tried to find her. But somehow, he’s the good guy (because anyone who gives up their child must be bad, bad, bad). Maybe the author could have explored this in a more nuanced way in a longer book, but here, it just left me feeling uncomfortable.

I waffled when trying to assign a rating to this one. The main characters had great chemistry, the story of Charly's teen pregnancy was poignant, the writing was good. But the ending just left me with a bad taste - and I know that's because it pushes my personal buttons. But hey, it's my blog!