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  Fool's Gold Group Read #2: Almost Perfect ***SPOILER ALERT***

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  BEWARE ALL WHO ENTER HERE! THIS IS AN OPEN DISCUSSION OF THE BOOK AND AS SUCH MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS/SURPRISES.
  
  Please post your comments as replies to questions and feel free to add your own questions as well!
  
  Once again, thanks to Miranda for contributing some of the questions.
  
  Have fun!

  Lauren B started this discussion 4 months ago. ( reply | permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Liz Sutton is introduced in this book. What are your first impressions? Did seeing Ethan's actions through Liz's eyes change your impression of him from the previous book?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 5 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    Liz is one of my fav heroines in this series. I don't know if it's that she's just that great a character or that I could relate to her. Seeing Ethan through her eyes was a big revelation.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I adored Liz. I thought she was a great combination of strength and vulnerability. Seeing Ethan through her eyes definitely changed my impression of him, and not in a good way :).

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    Yay! Glad you liked her too, Erin. :)

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I liked that Liz overcame so much with an abusive mother and an unplanned pregnancy. She was a very strong character who knew her priority was her son.

    I wanted to like Ethan, but his attitude really grated on me. I wanted to hit him more than once.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Liz is such a great character...very strong and loving. I felt so bad for her when people were being horrible to her. Yeah, I was not a big fan of Ethan in this book, but he wasn't that great in the first one either (holding a grudge with Josh).

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Liz and Ethan have kind of an adversarial relationship through a lot of this book. Did you feel like you took a side as you were reading? Do you like/dislike romances with this type of relationship?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    I totally took Liz's side in this book. I wanted to smack Ethan about a million times during this book. I honestly thought through most of this book that I wished she had a different hero. One of my issues is this - I felt like the person he should really be mad at is his dead wife, but she's dead so he is very passive-aggressive with his anger and directs it toward Liz. And they will have a moment and then he'll do something or say something so shitty and she'll call him on it and he'll just be all "oh, yeah...uh...I know. I said I would stop pulling this and discuss things with you if I had a problem. But I decided to just be a jerk instead." Grrrrrrrrr!

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    Lol! Looks like I'm not alone in my opinion of Ethan. I agree with Miranda on this one. I was pretty solidly on Liz' side. I think what it boiled down to for me was that they both made mistakes as teens/young adults but one of them grew up and decided to handle the situation with maturity and the other one ... didn't.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I'm definitely on Liz's side. I couldn't believe how many times Ethan would just start (over and over again) on how he didn't have a chance to see his son grow up. Good grief. Get over it.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    You all pretty much summed up my feelings. Team Liz all the way!

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    I'm so glad you all seemed to echo my feelings about Ethan. I was worried there'd be this huge, "omg you're crazy, he's just misunderstood" backlash. ;)

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Yeah, team Liz for me too. I agree with the comments above.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Do you think Liz did enough to try and let Ethan know about his son? Do think most of the blame for how things worked out in the past rests with Liz, Ethan, or both equally?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O (edited)

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    She made a few tries. The best try was the last one in which his wife did the wrong thing. How could Liz have known that Ethan's wife would have done something so dirty? In her spot, I might have made an attempt to contact Ethan's mom but that's it.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I do think that she waited too long to try and contact Ethan initially. I absolutely, positively can understand why she ran off without telling him but I'm not sure that that excuses her waiting years after that point to make another attempt. After the second attempt it was definitely not her fault anymore.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I think Liz waited too long between attempts, but at least she tried again. And the failure of the second attempt was not her fault. She thought he knew about it when she received the letter. At that point her job was done.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    I think she waited a tad long as well. However, she was only 18 when she found out she was pregnant, and Ethan had broken her heart twice in the span of only a few weeks (whether or not he knew it). She was young and apt to making mistakes. So I kind of excuse this poor choice. If Ethan had really loved her, he would have sought her out after she left. Which he didn't, so I think she truly thought she was better off without him.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    I completely agree with Monica.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  What do you think about the treatment Liz got from Ethan's mother, and the rest of the town - both now and then? Fair or unfair?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 6 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    Oh this got me so mad. If I hadn't read this series out of order and read the later books and fallen in love with the town, this would have totally put me off the town. If I were Liz, I prob would have said to hell with this town and went back home.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I completely agree, Miranda. I was fuming mad with them for getting into her business so aggressively. AND, I was equally perturbed that it took Ethan till the end of the damn book to defend her. Sheesh. He was so immature I could barely stand it!

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I could understand Ethan's mother being mad for a while, but she got over it and tried to help Liz out. I thought the scenes where various people in the town approach Liz and rant at her were very over the top. I live in a small town where everyone knows everyone's business. I can't imagine a stranger approaching someone to tell them off. This happening over and over again was crazy.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    I felt like some of the scenes with the townspeople were like something out of the Twilight Zone or one of those cold war alien movies. I was just waiting for people to demand a stoning.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    Again, I agree with everything you all said. And Erin, you're right, how could Ethan have waited so long to stick up for her? I think he was waiting until he thought she had paid her penance. What an immature jerk.

    This also turned me off the town. I struggled with how they ignored what was happening to Liz in the past and how they verbally assaulted her after she returned. That's not a town I'd want to live in.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Yeah, I was not impressed with the town with how easy they were to judge Liz as a child and now.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  There are 3 main characters in this story who are children - Tyler (Liz & Ethan's son), Melissa & Abby (Liz's niece's). What do you think about their contribution to the story? What do you think about the side story involving Melissa & how Liz handled it?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    The stuff with Tyler, especially seeing things from Liz's point of view def pulled at the heart strings. I liked the side story involving Melissa. From personal experience, I've seen that situation before - kids in transition, with unstable homelife take things. I like how the author handled it in this story and I like how Liz handled things.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I think watching Liz' interactions with the children in this story really made me love her character. Despite her terrible childhood she was selfless and had excellent instincts when dealing with the troubled teens and she was so careful with Tyler when it came to his father. I love that no matter what idiotic think Ethan told Tyler about her she didn't stoop and bad mouth Ethan to his son.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I agree with both of you.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    Agreed. She handled both situations so well, single parenthood and taking in her nieces. It had to of been hard to not trash talk Ethan after she found out he had done just that about her with Tyler.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    I liked how she stepped up with Melissa and Abby. She was also smart to give Melissa a little leeway but didn't let her go without consequence.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  What did you think of Liz & Ethan's romance?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 6 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    Let's just say it's a good thing he put it all on the line in public at the end like he did but personally, I might have gone all dominatrix on him for a bit.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I didn't enjoy it. Ethan was absolutely not worthy of a woman like Liz. He was irritating beyond belief with all of the spoiled man-child tantrums. Ugh.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I think she should have sent him packing. I didn't understand why she would let him kiss her 10 minutes after he ranted about her keeping him from his son.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    Again, I agree. Liz deserved better. Now she's raising 4 kids and Prince Ethan will be the most demanding.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    LOL!! I was sitting here trying to do the math about 4 kids. Excellent point, Monica.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Yeah, I was hoping she would get someone better than Ethan.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  What did you think about the scholarship revelation?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 4 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    That made me weepy. :)

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    Me too!

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    Loved it!

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Same!

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Most interesting secondary character?

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 4 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    Ethan's sister Montana was the nicest to Liz so she kind of got my vote for fav secondary character.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I think Pia is an interesting character. I love that she has a cat that hates her.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    Pia def grew on me. I did like her more by her own book.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    Pia is a mean drunk, lol.

    I liked Montana also.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Fav scene and/or quote

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 1 reply

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    Kris 

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    When Ethan had to take care of Tyler all on his own for a week.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  Other thoughts

  posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 6 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    I couldn't stand Ethan's mom in this one. She was such a bitch to Liz. She eventually got right, but at first rather than take the high road and try to have a good relationship with the mother of her grandchild, she took the lowest road possible. I like the character in later books so I have to chalk this up to grandmamma temporary crazy.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I agree about Ethan's mom. She was horrible! Even when she turned things around I really had a hard time forgiving her for her deplorable behavior. Immaturity seems to run in the Hendrix family if Ethan and his mom are any indication.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M (edited)

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    I kind of liked that she wasn't one of those characters who is all-knowing and sees all sides and tries to keep the peace. I really didn't have a problem with Ethan's mother. The story she heard was from Ethan's point-of-view. He told her that Liz kept his son away from him, etc. He never really explained up front that she told Rayanne who never passed on the information. Yes, she was mad but she got over it like an adult.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    @ Robin - I do agree that in a way her shitty behavior made her seem real, but I expected her to talk smack about her to her friends and family rather than act so highschool to Liz's face. I just thought she would be smart enough and mature enough to not jeopardize her time w/ grandkids. My grandma can't stand my uncle's wife (he was youngest & only boy so nobody would ever be good enough) & talks smack to me and my mom and her sisters but she knows that we would never carry stories out of school. She has (since one was born today!) two new grandkids (and they are just the cutest) and she wouldn't say stuff in front of the kids or antagonize my uncle's wife to her face. She knows that much. But I do get her only hearing Ethan's side and that coloring her actions.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Monica 

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    I get that, too, but I think as a parent, especially as a parent, you have to know that every story has two sides. She didn't even wait before Ethan first met Tyler to talk to Liz and that really bothered me. Ethan is an adult, let him handle his own business. No wonder he's such a mess.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Miranda O 

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    Yeah, I totally got that too, Monica.

    posted 4 months ago. ( permalink )

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  Lauren B 

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  I just want to confirm that everyone is OK with continuing the group read of this series.

  Remember, we decided to alternate between this and IAD, so if we are continuing then book #3 will be scheduled for March.

  posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

  show 5 replies

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    Miranda O 

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    I am good with it. I liked the hero in the next book much more than Ethan.

    And let me know when/if you need help w/ questions.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Robin M 

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    I'll continue with the series.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Erin L 

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    I'm sort of undecided at this point. I think, for me, if it wasn't a group read I would probably not continue reading the series but I really enjoy group reads so I may keep going. :) The books have been good but I tend to have a hard time with contemporary romance these days. For some reason, I get bored with them quickly.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Kris 

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    Yes, I am all good with that!

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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    Lauren B 

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    Thanks for the feedback everyone. We will read Finding Perfect in March.

    posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )

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