Tess Wakefield

I caught a trailer for the Netflix adaptation and thought, 'I'll read the novel instead' - I should probably have gone with the film, because the original story doesn't exactly add depth and nuance.

To start with, the premise is ridiculous, at least to a reader from the UK with a renewed respect for the NHS. Cassie Salazar, a part-time waitress and singer-songwriter in a band, has just lost her day job when she learns, after passing out in a bar, that she has diabetes. Unfortunately, the ambulance, stay in hospital and future health care costs will run to thousands that she doesn't have - and her insurance ended with her job. Instead of letting her mother help out, or applying for a loan, or literally any other solution to her debt, Carrie decides that the answer is a marriage of convenience with a soldier whose army benefits will also support his spouse. I mean, what? She asks her childhood friend, who brings his friends to the bar where she works one night before being deployed to Afghanistan, but he's already engaged. His friend, Luke Morrow, overhears her desperate plan and agrees to her dodgy proposal, having a few outstanding and dangerous debts of his own. They get married, consummate the fake relationship, and he leaves on a tour of duty. The plan is to get divorced when he comes home, but then Cassie, as his next of kin, receives a phone call ...

I read this in a day, like I would have watched the film in one sitting, but honestly, the plot is standard Lifetime movie fare, as Cassie even comments at one point, and the characters are superficial cardboard clichés. Luke is a recovering drug addict - only painkillers, folks, he's not a lost cause - and his father and brother have fallen out with him over his past behaviour, but a wounded leg and the Purple Heart of the title work miracles. Cassie's health briefly upsets her plans but doesn't get in the way of her music, which leads to a love rival for Luke and a recording contract, naturally. There is also lot of of unnecessary detail in the lull between Luke and Cassie's wedding and his return home, including descriptions of her diabetes-friendly meals and his volleyball games with the locals in Afghanistan. Luke's battle with painkillers is dramatic but like the threats from Johnno the ex dealer, not entirely convincing. And the flipping back and forth between Cassie and Luke's narratives was hard to follow at times because their voices sound the same, although I did find Cassie more amusing.

Passes the time, but watch, don't read this one.… (lisätietoja)