"Dangled Carat" by Hilary Grossman - 3 Stars (***SPOILERS***)

Book description available via Amazon.

I didn't realize Grossman's "Dangled Carat" was a memoir until I was about 80% of the way through the book, so that had a major impact on my feelings as I was reading. To be honest, if it had been fiction, I would have given it a lower rating. The story itself was okay, except for the fact that Marc came across as a jerk in a number of instances and I couldn't figure out why Hilary would put herself through the stress and pain of staying in the relationship. Yes, they did end up married in the end, but was the ring really worth all of the pain he put her through in the years leading up to the wedding? There were also Marc's family and friends to contend with, who may have meant well with their advice to Hilary to break things off and efforts to force Marc to propose, but they just seemed interfering and almost cruel to me. I would not have been able to handle that kind of pressure from so many people and probably would have broken things off for that reason alone. I have to admire Hilary for knowing what she wanted and being strong enough to resist the pressure from those around her to walk away.

My biggest frustration with the book was the author's writing style. I had a hard time keeping track of the timeline because of the way the author randomly inserted flashbacks into the middle of whatever part of the story she happened to be telling. She also tended to go off on tangents a lot, and spent too much time describing irrelevant details like what their vacation condo in Islamorada looked like. Some details are welcome and necessary, but three pages seemed excessive to me. Overall, though, it was an okay read. I was definitely engaged in the story and wanted to know how things would turn out in the end.

NOTE: This review is also posted on Goodreads and Amazon.