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New review when in a better state of mind. I apologize to anyone who 'liked' the old review. See if you still like the message.

I realized today I should not write any sort of review when I am sitting in an auto shop, listening to technicians torquing down bolts the whole time as I sat in the waiting area trying to read. Then, after reading some friend's comments I also wanted to say what I felt worked in this book and celebrate some of the author's successes. (Not be so snarky)

First of all, this is the first book I've read where a psychic is actually handled well and her predictions and thoughts were true enough, but confused the main characters in interesting ways.

This is a fairly conventional story, with main characters meeting, feeling the spark, trying to be proactive with their emotional life but having beyond-their-control events occur at the same time, all the while trying to deal with emotional devastations that they have not resolved in the past ten years.

Catherine is high powered executive whose life is her her career. She's not the boss but is being groomed to take over. All of this before 30 : She is unhappy though because a woman broke her heart when she was in college and she decided that men were easier and switched teams. *I found this implausible, but in speaking with my wife she informed me of six women she knew who had 'changed teams' as did Catherine half-heartedly, so I stand corrected. All in all she is living a sterile life, in a sterile rich girl's condo, probably on some sort of minimalistic subscription service where different Ansel Adams photographs are exchanged for her each month by a service.

Imogene lost her father to 9.11 and has not ventured into the city since that event. She is very adorable in all ways and runs her own successful store named "Cowboy Frans". She is vaguely eccentric, which always has me saying, "yes, please", and knows in her mind how events should play out with Catherine, while Catherine remains apparently clueless for much of the story.

I loved the character of Imogene and her little world, store, cat and apartment. I could've just read a story about her. This beautiful, eccentric, dancing little fool made me feel good every time the focus was on her. I could've ditched the romance part of the book and just learned every part of her world, or, Imogene on a cruise winning a dance competition, Imogene in Berlin with lost luggage, Imogene looking for her cat in the city and the second perspective being the cat's.

The book is written well and I noticed only a few homophonic word mistakes.

Negatives for me... Having standard events like the ex coming back to create 3/4 possible break ups, friends who only seemed to exist but to get these two together, and I never really enjoyed the Catherine character that much, if at all. She could have been just a financial consultant, taking care of a friend of a friend, but no, she's almost the CEO of this prestigious financial firm.

Some humor could have been played out more with the false interpretations of the psychic predications, building on the funny confusion of "blue" and "11". As it is, they exist in the story only to confuse Catherine into thinking she should go out with the new hire. (I've never seen a possible contender played out so weakly. He was a Ken doll without any background, intelligence or dialogue.)

Was Linda really that important to the story to bring her back? At that point I felt protective of Imogene, but also, like I said, was enduring some auto shop noise which was quite irritating. I am even have to reread that section.

This is M. Ullrich's first book? I say "well done".

Old review:
I thought this was just an ok read. I loved the Imogene character and Catherine not so much. I didn't see what Imogene saw in Catherine to tell the truth. The story had a lot of implausible elements for me. All of the minor characters seem to exist just to get the MC characters together.

I get the heart broken bit, I really do. But to change your sexual orientation from a bad break up? Does that happen? Then one back character comes out of the blue at the 3/4 mark? Ho Hum. It's either that or some ER visit these days to bring 'em back.

My review seems negative and I rated the thing three stars. what's the deal? I loved the character of Imogene and her little world, store, cat and apartment. I could've just read about her. This beautiful, dancing little fool made me feel good every time the focus was on her. I could've ditched the romance part of it and just learned every part of her world, or, Imogene on a cruise winning a dance competition, Imogene in Berlin with lost luggage, Imogene looking for her cat and the second perspective being the cat's. You get it, no Catherine. I want to walk around in Cowboy Frans and check that out.

I love damaged individuals. I am one myself. But if the gates open to happiness, don't mess around in the decorative shrubbery outside before walking through them. I was ready to throw the book in the lake when **** shows up, but it's a Kindle and that would be foolish.