Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book had such promise. The premise was creative and interesting but the book just couldn't deliver anything. The writing was horrible, predictable and so elementary in its progression. Clearly, the author has an immense background in coffee and so we were subjected to pages upon pages about her blends but then the conflicts in the story, that are alluded to countless times, are a quick sentence and then the story moves on. I had to reread the rape and the incest part because I felt the author truly would focus at least the same time on this tragedy as she did describing the cocktails Aimee drank at the beach. And that is another thing that bothered me: do some research!! When you fly to Mexico and it would never take 19 hours - no place is serving Americans ice water, everything is bottled. Also mai tais are Hawaiian and while I am sure some resorts in Mexico serve rum drinks like that, I have never seen them on a menu in Mexico. Also Barry Bonds' last MLB appearance was 9/2007; the Jambox debuted 11/10 so there is no way Aimee and James could have watched Bonds in a Mets/Giants game and then listened to a Jambox while they fooled around. Also the Florida Everglades are famous for alligators NOT crocodiles, even my 10 year old knows this and we live in Colorado. The dialogue was phony, the allusion and foreshadowing was so heavy but then never addressed. The timeline was just bizarre. And so many loose ends like was Claire, who has her own level of crazy, ever told the story about her son? Why was she so harsh to Aimee when they were kids? Did the Dad really need to be physically abusive since we already have incest, multiple personalities and rape? Then James, as a single dad, with a "sister" who works full time running a resort, has the time to open a gallery, teach, paint and train for a marathon? Preposterous!!! The characters were one dimensional and ridiculous. I had to finish the book because that is what I do but it was painful!