BIG CHERRY HOLLER By Adriana Trigiani

This is the sequel to BIG STONE GAP, which I reviewed at an earlier date. There's a couple of different angles I wanna take on this. First I'll tell you what the book was about, and how interesting it was, and then I'll comment on what happened in the story.

BIG CHERRY HOLLER included many of the same characters that I loved in BIG STONE GAP. In this story, we pick up 8 years later, after Ave Maria and Jack Mac have married (they fell in love in the previous book) They now have a daughter, Etta, and they had also had a son, Joe, who passed away when he was four. So Ave finds herself in a marriage that has grown a bit routine, but also a little cold and distant since the death of their son. She grieves, but cannot fully share her grief with Jack. He is quiet, never quite talking about his feelings. Jack suggests a trip to Italy to visit Ave's family, and then at the last minute, he tells her he's not going. He wants her to go alone, so she can decide what she wants to do about their marriage. While she's gone, she is tempted with a handsome stranger. But she finds out when she returns that Jack has also had his share of temptation while she's been away, and it appears that he has given in to it. SPOILER: The story ends with Ave realizing that she has never fully given herself to Jack. Instead of sharing her grief with him, she shut him out. Because of her behavior, he had felt lonely and rejected. Once she realized that she never fully loved him as he deserved to be loved, it was easier for her to forgive him for his indiscretions. He never admitted what he'd done, but in Ave's mind, it didn't matter, since she knew she had never been the wife she should have been anyway.

It was a little corny at times, and some things just didn't make sense. For example, Ave suspects Jack is cheating on her, but when he tells her he's sending her to Italy alone, it doesn't even cross her mind that he will be home...alone...and free. Another thing that didn't make sense is that Ave's friend, Iva Lou, kept telling her that she had to have a "plan" if she wanted to keep Jack. So I was expecting this elaborate "plan" that would be entertaining and clever. But no plan ever materialized. It seemed strange that it was emphasized, and then never a part of the story. Some of the conversations also seemed "stiff" and a bit contrived - without the natural flow of people talking to each other.

As for what happened between Ave and Jack, I came away with a bad taste in my mouth. While it was unclear what Jack did with the other woman, it did infer that he cheated. But it was made to seem like it was all about Ave's problems. I was also disappointed by Ave's reaction to Jack's cheating. It almost seemed like she felt she deserved it for been so disconnected. But who wouldn't go through a hard time after the death of a child? Even though she had experienced her own temptations in Italy, she did not cheat. Yet her friend Theodore told her that she had only restrained herself for "self righteous" reasons. I was so annoyed at the way Theodore spoke to her when she told him that Jack had cheated - it was like he was excusing Jack and condemning Ave. This was one of the conversations that seemed contrived. He is hard on her, and she immediately agrees. I didn't buy that Theodore would say those things, and i didn't buy that she would immediately see his point. I also felt that Jack planned his little tryst by sending Ave away, with the justification that he was letting her figure out what she wanted. He was already being tempted by the other woman, so the timing was just too convenient. He was made to be a man of integrity in the previous book, but I felt like he was a jerk in this book. In the end, it seemed that Ave, who endured the death of her child and her husband's infidelity, was the only one willing to look at herself and consider that she had done anything wrong.

I will continue reading this series because I am invested in, and love these characters. I also hope that the books that follow will be more like BIG STONE GAP. I really wanted to love this book, since Ms. Trigiani was so kind to send me the whole series, but while it was "ok", and semi-enjoyable, it just didnt have the magic of the first one.