First published as a Kindle ebook in 2011 (an electronic copy was provided from the author for review)
Description (from Goodreads)
Gwen Perry has the picture perfect life. Her Washington D.C. based photography business is booming, her husband's law career is lucrative, and after years of trying, they're only months away from the birth of their first child.
While a nasty turn of fate leaves Gwen devastated, angry, and on the verge of depression, her husband Rob walks a dangerous tight rope. He's hiding something from Gwen that could destroy their marriage. But even the deepest secrets won't stay buried forever.
When Rob's past is revealed, Gwen agrees to join her college friend at the artists' retreat he's leading in Colorado despite the consequences to her marriage. But Rob's not the only one keeping secrets from the past and her trip down memory lane could burn the bridge leading her back home.
My thoughts
Angle of Incidence was a book that I wasn't sure what to expect of. The description was informative enough to make me want to read it, but not much more than that. So, when I started reading it, I was pleasantly surprised by both the story and character development, as well as the writing. I have read a few self-published books and what is most prominent about them was their rather obvious lack of proper revisions. While the writing was not perfect, it was definitely a lot better than other self published books I've read.
The story itself is good, despite the fact that it is about a pretty popular issue; marital problems. In this case, we have Gwen and Rob, a couple who have been together for years and they are - at the beginning of the novel - expecting their first child. But then, something happens and Gwen loses the baby, leading her to become a shadow of her former self, who can't even open up to her husband and share a little of her pain and anger. And as if losing a baby wasn't enough, new secrets begin to come to light, leaving Gwen betrayed and hurt, despite the fact that she also has secrets of her own she's never told anyone about.
The characters in this story were very well developed, despite the fact that sometimes what they said or did, did sound a little over the top. Gwen, for example, is an ok character. She has a good heart and is capable and strong, but her grief over her lost child sounded a little too over the top to me (I do not mean that losing a child should be easy to get over, just that the choice of words to describe what Gwen was going through at the time needn't have been so strong). Another thing that annoyed me a little about Gwen was the fact that she went on and on about how Rob betrayed her (through not telling her his secret), but then again, she hadn't told him hers. So it made her sound a little selfish and cruel and two-faced. Rob was a little better. He was trying to make the most of a bad situation foisted upon him and has no idea what to do to help his wife get out of the pit of despair and denial she has pushed herself into.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. One thing I especially liked in this book were the little photography related definitions at the beginning of each chapter, each one of which was chosen specifically for a certain chapter because of what was going on in it. I thought that was a lovely touch, especially since Gwen is a professional photographer. (Though having said that, I did notice that a few of them kept being repeated. Maybe it would have been better if each definition was only used once.)
Rating: 6/10
Author:
Christy Hayes is an American author from Atlanta, Georgia. She writes women's romantic fiction. She has been writing seriously since 2004 and made the decision to publish her novels independently in 2011. Other than Angle of Incidence, she has also written:
You can find out more about Christy Hayes and her books from her official website.
Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011
(Disclaimer: Anything stated in this review reflects my personal opinion of the book. Other than receiving a copy of the book for review purposes, I have not been compensated in any other way for what I have said.)
