⇒ Libro Just the Way You Are Barbara Freethy 9780380815524 Books

Just the Way You Are Barbara Freethy 9780380815524 Books

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Just the Way You Are Barbara Freethy 9780380815524 Books

I am such a sucker for the underdog. I absolutely loved this story. Alli is the younger sister trying to do the right thing. Tessa is the older sister who usually gets everything she wants. The story of these two sisters is truly believable and I loved it. I think this might be my favorite book by Barbara Freethy. Highly recommend it!!!


Tags : Just the Way You Are [Barbara Freethy] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A baby brought them together -- and even though Alli has always loved her strong, sexy husband Sam and the life they've made together,Barbara Freethy,Just the Way You Are,Avon,0380815524,FICTION Romance Contemporary,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Romance - Contemporary,Romance: Modern

Just the Way You Are Barbara Freethy 9780380815524 Books Reviews

I read this book in one sitting. I had to see what happened. Ali and Sam are about to get a divorce but then her grandmother has a stroke and ends up in the hospital. They aren't sure she will live. Ali's sister Tess is a super model and Ali hasn't talked to her in years because when they was younger Ali stole Tess`s boyfriend and he married Ali and they had a daughter. Despite this Tess makes it clear she might not be over Sam. This turns into a competition to since which one of them he will choose. Then tess`s camera man shows up and makes it clear he wants to be with Tess. Much of the book the characters seemed to walk around with their eyes closed. How else could they not see everything they needed was right in front of them. That and their pride is to strong and keeps them apart.
This book was really funny and had me laughing on almost every page. I found it to be an easy read. I would read more by this author.
Just the Way You Are is by Barbara Freethy. Barbara has come out with another smash hit. Family strife is the main theme and the solution is different.
Alli and Sam have been married for nine years. They have an eight year old daughter Megan. Alli has finally given up on Sam loving her and wants a divorce. She wants to be number one with her husband and she has always been number two. Nine years ago, Sam was going with Alli’s sister Tessa. In fact, he was going to ask her to marry him when she came home for Christmas. Tessa didn’t come home, she stayed to model. Alli, who had always wanted Sam, consoled him that night and nine months later Megan was born. Alli and Tessa have not spoken since.
Their grandmother, who had raised them after the death of their parents, has had a stroke and is in the hospital. Alli rushes to the hospital to find out that her grandmother’s friend has already called Tessa. Alli will have to face Tessa. When their grandmother is able to speak, she tells the girls they must go to the oyster beds and find a pearl to finish her necklace. Her husband had found 49 pearls but needed 50 to finish the necklace. This necklace represents her love for her husband John.
Will the girls be able to work together to find a pearl and complete the necklace? What will happen with Alli’s marriage? Will Tessa and Sam decide to get back together? It is tissue time again.
I initially picked up this book because the premise seemed to promise a lot of drama.

The main character Allie was by far the best character in the book. She is the younger of two sisters. Her older sister Tessa is (in Allie's eyes) perfect. She's tall, thin and gorgeous. She is also the first love of Allie's husband Sam.

Allie is a wonderful contradiction and that is why i think she is a great character. On the one hand she is a go-getter. She is focused, a good mother, incredibly likeable -- she simply makes things happen. However around Tessa and Sam she is mass of insecurities. In Tessa's case Allie always compares herself negatively to Tessa mainly on the basis of looks. In Sam's case she feels that she got him by default because nine years ago while Sam and Tessa had broken up after an argument, Allie slept with Sam and got pregnant.

As the book opens Allie and Sam are separated. Allie has been madly in love with Sam since she can remember and although he has been a good husband and father, she feels that something is missing -- that he is holding a part of himself back. And she has come to conclusion that she simply can't love enough for the both of them. So she wants out.

Coincidentally, Tessa is coming back to town to see their ailing grand-mother. Tessa has not been back home since Allie and Sam got married. For Allie it just means that Sam and Tessa can finally get together the way they should have all those years ago. From her perspective she had gotten in the way of fate, now she is getting out of the way and letting true nature take it's course.

I think on some level the author succeeds in showing us that Allie's perspective is skewed when it comes to those two and that it isn't quite an easy thing for a man to relegate his wife of nine years into the role of interloper. Especially when the marriage has been a pretty good one. And yet the author also succeeds -- on another level -- in showing that Sam and Tessa do have some unresolved feelings for each other that they clearly do need to work out. So what is real? Sam's nine-year marriage and his wife or his old feelings for an ex-flame?

The problem is don't think the story works through that question all that well. I wanted to see Sam clearly examine what/who he wanted. I wanted the author to show me that Sam was truly struggling with the options he was given. I don't feel that happened. There would be points in the story when I felt like the we were getting tantalizingly close to a point where the story would click and I actually feel that the tangle of feelings and emotions being grappled with. But it always slid away, just out of reach. The whole time I felt that all the characters, especially Sam and Tessa tended to talk around each other (when they could actually finish a conversation without being interrupted).

In the end, Sam does realize where his true feelings lay, but it wasn't very satisfying. Throughout the story I thought that Sam was pretty passive-aggressive., And a bit of a jerk as well, really. Allie was clear about what she wanted from him and he stubbornly refused to give it to her and yet at the same time he wonders why she is pushing for a divorce. Allie left no area for misunderstanding and yet he just didn't hear her.

Tessa comes off as pouty and entitled. She is also, imo, the least developed of the three.

The writing was excellent, I just wish the story had lived up to the dramatic promise.
I know that this depicted situations that do happen in 'real life' but I just couldn't love any of the characters. Sure I 'liked' some of them and Jimmy was my favorite of the ones I was shown. But none of the others endeared themselves to me.

I couldn't handle Alli and her inability to actually sit down and just talk (she seems to have trust issues "If I told you ___ would you really believe me?" {she hesitates} "I didn't think so.") Alli is a, well I can't think of a word strong enough for her. She ruins the lives of her sister (Tessa) and Tessa's boyfriend by sleeping with Sam (the boyfriend) and getting pregnant (surprise surprise!) and then for the next 10 or so years she complains and whines about it, makes herself feel awful about it and files for a divorce without actually discussing it with her husband (Sam). She plays mind games with Sam and is just, all around, a horrible person when it comes to relationships and common decency. And to top it all off the end of the book justifies all this [junk] pile by saying that it didn't matter that Sam ended up with Alli because Sam and Tessa's relationship wasn't going to last anyway, so now everyone is happy!

I got this book for free from and as they say "You get what you pay for." And boy is that true with this one.
I am such a sucker for the underdog. I absolutely loved this story. Alli is the younger sister trying to do the right thing. Tessa is the older sister who usually gets everything she wants. The story of these two sisters is truly believable and I loved it. I think this might be my favorite book by Barbara Freethy. Highly recommend it!!!