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** spoiler alert ** Library loan.

I liked this book. I didn't love it. My observations regarding why I didn't love it will be quite spoilerish so please do not move ahead if you plan to read this book:

What I liked:
--The writing. It was clean and effective. There were no wasted words or dandelion-fluff-like adjectives floating across my field of vision;
--Jane's author angst about not receiving any love for the novel she worked on for 10 years. And her whines about the trials and tribulations re: the state of publishing. To say that I could relate is a massive understatement. I screen-shotted many pages and paragraphs of this book and sent to writer friends;
--Ruby and Finn were lovely interesting children;
--The many bits of beautiful storytelling, particularly when Jane revisited her past;
--I learned a lot about what it means to be biracial in this world. I appreciated this intimacy more than I could have imagined;
--The Golden Eagle apt.--I SO wish there'd been more about the people there;
--The ending was perfect (with one exception. See below).

What I did not like:
--Jane's lies and deceptions. Once that part of the story began, she lost me as a fan. In the same vein, I was rather disgusted by the manner in which Lenny and Jane took advantage of Brett's generosity. Although I was not specifically rooting for Jane, her offensive behaviors did not stop me from continuing to read/to be invested in the story. This speaks to the skill set of the author;
--Lenny's character felt too ghostly for me. I know this book was JANE'S story, but so much revolved around her marriage to Lenny and their interactions. At the end of the day, if someone asked me to describe him, I'd find myself staring off into space with my hand on my chin, muttering, "Ummmm";
--Hampton Ford's dialog felt so beyond slick it bordered on cartoonish;
--The name-dropping was exhausting;
--And, finally, I offer here the most irksome/anger-inciting element of this book--the one thing that moved the book from a 4-star to a 3-star rating: I didn't for a second believe that Jane would so easily give in/give up about Hampton STEALING her book. NO NO NO NO NO. God, no. I kept waiting for the scene of her--strong, defiant, needy Jane--forcing her way into his building, slamming past Layla and Topher and barging into Ford's office DEMANDING redemption. But, uh, no. Instead she crawled up a hill behind his house and spied on him? Head-slap.