Bygones

I actually have read this a thousand times I think. Finally purchase on my kindle. Lavyrle is an absolute gem of a story teller. I loved this story of rekindled love. Such a great read! Bess and Michael are real and beautiful people. Their love was joy to unfold. The family dynamics here was another plot that lured me in til the end. Great book!

This was a wonderfully written book. I've loved this author for so long and have read many of her books. The true information she puts in her books teaches those who read it about many aspects of life. Truly a lovely read.

I have all the Lavyrle Spencer books and wanted them in my Kindle library to re-read. There is not one of her books that I do not like. I do not usually review novels, but with Ms Spencer's work I felt the need to let others know how special her stories are. I am so thrilled to see them on Kindle.

I have just tried, again, to understand the point of this book. The wife, and mother of two, decides to go back to college. OH, THE HORROR! A woman actually thinking she deserves an education?!!? What was she thinking? So, of course, her husband has to have an affair. They divorce and he marries his much younger lover who leaves him six years later. What to do, what to do, what to do? Well, the son is turning into a dope head and the daughter is pregnant and getting married but does anyone, other than the son, tell the idiot father just was a wonderful legacy he is leaving his children. Not in this book. Oh, there is some hostility between the parents but they overcome it. Boy, is this book loaded with cliches. The father gets the glamorous woman, the wife gets a nerd, the daughter gets pregnant and the son nearly dies from an overdose. Into this little tale come the maternal grandmother who tells her daughter it was all her fault. The sad thing about this book is that a first rate author wrote a third rate story.

The emotional bond between father and son might be twisted but it will always be there. Brought tears to my eyes. Good reading.

Lots of emotion in this book! A new author for me! I Sam pleased! A real-life story that causes one ton reexamine attitudes. Teaching forgiveness & growth within us all! Try it! You'll like it!!!

I've read somewhere around 200 romance novels in my short life (I'm 30). I mostly read books from Nora Roberts, Judith McNaught, Sandra Brown, Danielle Steel and, of course, Lavyrle Spencer. I consider these 5 authors to be the best in the genre. Of these 5 none are better at characterization, descriptive writing, storyline, sustentative plot, and absolutely drawing you in to a book than Miss Spencer.I have read probably 95% of all of her available titles. Normally, I am so drawn into the story that I am reading at work, I'm reading at stoplights, I'm getting up early to read "just one more chapter", I'm racing home to read just a little before my evening starts. I can normally finish one of her books in about 3 days, with my normal reading pattern.I've had Bygones for a while and, just reading the description on the back, I honestly was not that excited about it. But, the last few books I'd read were `historical' romances and I was ready for something a little more modern. So I picked up Bygones and started reading. I should not have bothered.When comparing Bygones to books by some of the other authors I've read (NOT any that I've already mentioned), it comes away as a spectacular novel. However, when comparing it to any of Miss Spencer's other books, it gets an F.I read a romance novel so that I can get drawn into the story of the romantic leads. Yes, they are predictable, yes they are a lot of fluff, yes they can be very unrealistic and kind of cheesy. But, this is what I love so much about them. We all know that the couple will end up together but the fun is in the journey.One of my problems with Bygones is there was entirely too much attention paid to the children and their lives. A good 40% of the story was about other characters that I simply did not care about. By about 150 pages in, the romantic leads had only had a few interactions. When the finally did get together, it was completely anti-climactic and I had trouble believing that they cared at all about each other, much less were "in love" as they claimed. Normally, before the couple gets together there is a good bit of interaction between them, there is a building of their relationship, there a build up to the moment that they become intimate.As I mentioned, nobody is better at writing these aspects than Lavyrle but none of those aspects were present in Bygones. Granted, this story was about a divorced couple who were reconnecting w/ one another. But, there was never any kind of explanation as to why the got together in the first place. The couple barely had any real interaction w/ one another before hoping in the sack again.I can normally finish one of her books in about 3 days, with my normal reading pattern. It took me almost a month to finish this book. I went days without reading it at all because I just didn't care. I just was not into it at all. But, I'd already started it so I kept plugging along, hoping, knowing that it would get better. It didn't. I didn't care about these characters, I didn't care about their lives, I didn't really care whether Bess & Michael even ended up together. I just kept wondering when the book would be done.As I said, in comparison to other books I've read, some of which have been real duds, anything by Miss Spencer is fabulous. But Bygones is, far and away, the worst book by this particular author that I have ever read. It cannot even compare to classics like The Hellion, The Gamble, Separate Beds, Hummingbird, November of the Heart, Morning Glory, Vows, and Spring Fancy. Therefore, that's why this book only gets one star from me.

I loved this book. The way the husband and wife came back together was wonderful and felt real. I would highly recommend this book.

I had read this book years ago and liked it so much I decided to keep on my bookshelf. This purchase was made as a replacement for the one I used to have and had loaned out and never received it back. I am currently reading it again and enjoying it just as much as I did originally.

Good read

All her books are splendid! I don't usually like an American book because I don't always understand some of the terms but I'm getting used to them.

I enjoyed it. A great read👍