Past Imperfect

PAST IMPERFECT is the story of a woman with plans for the future. Five years after an almost fatal crash, Diana (a successful writer and a pilot) sets off to show Adrian Cahill that they were always meant to be together. She's learned so much in those five years, changed. The surgeries changed her. She changed her identitiy. Time and the loss of love have perhaps changed her most of all. Adrian didn't see what he had the first time around. She is determined not to let it get past him this time.

Like many of us, she works hard to lay out certain plans. Life always has lessons to teach us about who isn't in charge. What she has been up to since that accident has everything to do her past but more to do with her future than she knows.

I can't tell you much more without spoiling the fun. There are smart bits of whimsy in this book. Diana has a strength and a flare about her that I enjoy. Each character offers a personality that pulls you in further to the story. I didn't see how every thing was going to play out.

I liked the fact that while it was a romance, it was romance light. Diana takes you with her as she bounces from situation to situation. She controls the pace of your ride through her life. Sometimes those are dark places and sometimes they are beautiful and luxurious. In the end, you feel what she feels. You laugh right along with her and curse the follies of love just the same.

Pure and simple: enjoyable, warm, funny, and exciting

While I'm not a big reader of romance novels, I'm a huge fan of good stories that take me on a heady ride through the labyrinth of human motivation. "Past Imperfect" delivers that in spades.

Yes, the novel has all the benchmarks of a standard romance. There's love lost, love reclaimed, money at hand, glorious settings, a few winks in literary directions, and some terrific dialogue. However, these are all secondary players to the inner landscapes of the four main characters: Diana/Lynn, Adrian, Logan, and Jack.

In truth, it's the collision between inner landscapes and outer realities that make this story work. This is particularly well developed in the main character, Diana. She lives in a world of her own making both as an author and in her everyday life, but perhaps she confuses fiction with fact. When she has to step across the line between the dream she plotted and the life it became, she walks headlong into a mirror . . . and sees herself truly for the first time in five years. The beauty of the telling is that - just like in real life - she hasn't the luxury of time for meditating upon the deeper ramifications but has to think fast and act faster.

There's no putting the book down once Diana crosses that line.

The deft handling of Diana's contradictory emotions makes "Past Imperfect" a believable tale, and her character one that will resonate with everyone who's ever fooled themselves about what they wanted, and why they wanted it in the first place.

I only gave this 4 stars rather than 5 because I wish Logan's character had been more deeply developed. Dare one hope for a sequel?

As a guy, I'm not a huge romance novel fan, but I must admit I do have my "must read" authors (Nicholas Sparks is one). Anyway, from the moment I started reading, J M Cornwell had complete control of my time and attention. I'm not much for putting thoughts into words, but Diana's story was captivating. I give this rating 5 stars with only a slight complaint that the reading is what I will call almost too dense - there is a lot in what is written and perhaps the story could have been expanded to develop characters more and spread the story out over more time (story time, not reading time), but I hesitate to even call that a negative because the writing is done so well. I guess if "fluff" was added, it could've easily been a novel twice its length. In the end I was satisfied but sorry the read was over. I'll be watching for more stories from J M.