| Date: 22 May 2011, 18:06
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I must say, this book had a promising and a controversial premise, albeit no longer relevant in today's society.
You see, one awful rainy day Christy Steele babysat her sister's 5 year-old son. Against her sister's advice, she goes for a drive with him. The car is hit by a truck. Christy barely survives, her nephew does not. When she finds out what has happened, Christy is devastated, crushed by the guilt of taking away her sister's only child. Her sister's recent fight with ovarian cancer, guarantees that she'll never have more children, and no adoption agency would consider her suitable to receive a child.
The bond between the sisters seems fragile yet tangible, reminding me of my own relationship with my younger sister. If I was in Christy's position, I too, would have given ANYTHING to somehow fix such a horrible thing. But what could you possibly do to undo the loss of a child? Christy makes the desperate and selfless decision to give her sister a new baby. She considers artificial insemination, which for the early 1980s would have still been scandalous: a "single mother" would never be granted the procedure.
Luckily, several months later, her aunt introduces her to a red-headed stranger, Mark Brandon. She is immediately smitten by the close resemblance to her brother in law, and yet he has the same red hair that Christy and her sister have. A child by him would look very similar to her nephew. He is the answer to her prayers. A crazy plan hatches in her mind. Being an honest person, she tells Mark her plan and why she is doing this. All she wants: is to get pregnant and go away, ultimately becoming a surrogate for her sister's child. Mark thinks her insane, but relents on the condition that she marry him so that he can get a promotion at work. And thus "the contract" gets made. They will live together as husband and wife for 1 year only; she can get pregnant and give their child up; and he can get his dream job and move to Australia.
Most of the book is about their life together, in the small town San Felipe, near San Francisco. They have a turbulent relationship with very believable problems. Unfortunately, after the solid beginning, Christy and Mark's attitude towards each other is cold, unromantic, and lacks any passion. The plot stales. Then suddenly the ending sneaks up on you, where predictably everyone gets what they want. It felt so rushed an fake. Although I learned quite a lot about this time period, and I actually couldn't put the book down, this one doesn't make the list of my favorite books. How disappointing!
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