From This Day Forward

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I don't know if I can properly express how much I loved this book. It isn't easily defineable, just that it hooked me from the beginning and didn't let me go until the wee hours of the morning. The characters feel real, and their emotions and actions ring very true. I have never had to deal with the horror of rape, but the fear and lasting injury that it causes was described so vividly here that I agonized along with Lori. And while lesser romance authors might have had Adam believe her from the start, that wouldn't be realistic. Of course he wouldn't want to think the worst about his brother. But he supports her and helps her overcome her fears because he falls in love with her (and her baby!) despite all the obstacles in the way. Yes, he makes *big* errors in judgement, but his loyalties are understandably torn. Interesting secondary characters help highlight the complexity in the dynamics of relationships on a late-Civil War plantation. Let's just say it's not all "black and white". An intense read that held my interest to the last page. It goes on my keeper shelf.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read with an important insight.
Review: In 1997 when VT wrote this book, it was on the cutting edge of an important problem in society called "date rape". To write about it so poignantly and insightfully yet incorporate that within the context of the civil war era took great talent and research. The story is very good, the characters well defined, and the problems of that era very apt..I only gave this a 3 because I save 4*-5* for books I would re read..Although I am glad to have read this and it certainly held my interest I probably wouldn't read it over.The one thing that
I disliked about it was that Lori, the heroine who was raped by the hero's (Adam) vindictive/sadisitic brother(Eric)is described often as poor white trash, "beneath" the hero's sociol strata. The fact that the hero has been interested in Lori all of his life does soften the characterization somewhat. In reality, Eric would have raped any woman that his brother was interested in out of spite whether she was rich or poor so that rape had nothing to do with economic issues anyway.Ther hero was a good man, very patient and likeable...and perplexed as to how to help Lori heal from this trauma. Good job, VH. Thanks for giving us all insight into the emotions of a rape victim with the context of a love story.