nancy springer the case of the missing marquess

Whiny, demanding, needy, arrogant, nasty, vicious, disobedient - you name it. But is it possible for a narrator to be TOO good? In the first half of this book, Riley's 12 year old daughter comes off as absolutely insufferable. I really have only one complaint - and I mostly got over that half-way through the book. He ends up with a spoiled and bratty step-daughter, an alcoholic brother-in-law, a snobby mother-in-law, and a wife who sides with her dysfunctional family over the one truly good person in her life. This story has such a hastily concluded and unresolved happy ending that I can only see a bad future for Nate. The only reason for the eventual happy ending was Nate's long-standing obsession with the girl he loved years ago and her eventual grudging acceptance of him. She kept revisiting his youthful offense in spite of overwhelming evidence of his currently excellent character and his unwavering mature devotion.

I never understood how she could forgive and accept the most heinous offenses of her family members but still hold a grudge against her college ball date, Nate, for getting drunk and throwing up. She supposedly had a highly successful career at one point, but when we meet her she is a bullied doormat, subservient to her 12-year-old daughter, overbearing mother, drunken brother, and even her murdered husband. Riley, our heroine, seems to have few admirable qualities. There is a romance, but the story provides no reason for a happy relationship ending other than a couple of evenings in bed. There is the trademark dose of MKA snark with some clever putdown quips. There is a murder mystery, which is not the worst ever written but is nothing remarkable. The narration is very good, but the story is depressing, and not in any redeemable way. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD (relationship only, not the murder): The book takes all the fun out of dysfunctional. OL15864807W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 93.10 Pages 234 Ppi 514 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0439929377 Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 16:12:06 Boxid IA133117 Boxid_2 CH107201 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Curatenote shipped Donor

Nancy springer the case of the missing marquess