Cold Relationship?

[Kaitlyn Canedy]

Yeah, I honestly thought that Sharon and Steve had a better relationship than Tom and Kelly did. I get that they were stressed out with the events, but even the beginning of the book seems strange for newlyweds.

[María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda]

Their relationship seems under-developed and overshadowed by the rest of the story. The author can write se romance, as we've seen with Sharon and Steve, though not a lot of time seems invested by the author to do the same for Tom and Kelly.

I agree. I don't think it's intentionally written as a cold or conflicting relationship; I think it's underdeveloped. Unfortunately, I've found this in other novels by Dorothy May Mercer. Sometimes she rushes the plot and we end up with a poor execution of some aspects.

[DonnaKay]

I totally agree. I can't understand how newly weds are moving on independently on their honeymoon. It sounds so cold.

[Saraion]

I couldn't figure out the real honeymoon between them, the relationship was very cold. A great honeymoon shouldn't have that.

[M_fritz]

No Definitely not a cold relationship. I got the impression tom and Kelly were a little older, and had been together for an extended period. I think their relationship is actually very healthy. They know each others likes and dislikes. Neither of them tries to force the other to do what they don't like, and they. Don't seem to need to be together all the time. Which is healthy! I am married and when I travel with him we discuss doing our own things separate from each other. We have different interests and different needs when traveling. I have to take an extended break after hiking. Hubby wants to go through a park or museum immediately after. I eventually say hon I could use some me time why don't we meet up later and do separate activities.

[Cwaganagwa Dorothy]

That is one fact about this story I find surprising, but there is a sentence which said that Kelly had to wait for unspecified period of time to land Tom as a her husband. It may also be that Tom is as agile as a monkey. I also wondered why when Tom arrived back at their cottage, Kelly did not inform her husband about her ordeal.

[Hannalore]

It definitely sounds strangely cold for newly wed on honeymoon. I wonder what the author's intention was when potraying this kind of a relationship.

[silvafaerie]

I agree with you. I found it strange that all this was going on and they did not seem the least bit worried about their
honeymoon. I felt like there was more chemistry between Steve and Sharon then Tom and Kelly. I would think that Tom would be a little more worried about Kelly considering she is not trained to hack into terrorist computers.

[Aditi Sapate]

I do feel that the marriage was portrayed as a bit cold. Having fun independently is fine for later maybe, but it is going to rouse suspicion when on their honeymoon. Maybe the author wanted to put it that way.

[Jyockel08]

It reminded me more of a married couple that had been together for years. I liked them, but as more characters were introduced, their storyline took a back burner.

[Crazycutie]

I do understand your point, they are definitely not acting like my husband and I did on our honeymoon, however we were very young and we were both virgins. I think Kelly and Tom are both in their 30's and have had plenty of time in the bedroom, likely with other partners as well, and they have probably been dating for a while, possibly even been living together. So while they don't act like typical newlyweds, maybe they have just been acting married for so long that they no longer as like newlyweds.

[Jyockel08]

They just weren’t well developed characters. They never really seemed to be the central focus, even though they were title characters. I didn’t mind all the other characters, I just didn’t expect other relationships to be more interesting.

[T_stone]

It really depends on how this is looked at. They seem not to act like new couples will which means they've been together for a while and have understood eachother. But on the other hand, honeymoon package comes once in a lifetime. They should at least be together and not minding eachother's business.

[Faithmwangi]

For a newly wedded couple, the expectation is that the excitement of marriage is still fresh and they simply can't pull away from each other. However, this is not what we see between Tom and Kelly.

[Jocelyn Eastman]

I definitely think there is something up with their relationship but not because of doing this separately. Some couples just like different things and that’s their dynamic.

No, what really got me thinking was the inferences to Kelly being overworked and/or in pain from having sex with Tom. We only get this inferred, and it seems to effect Kelly negatively. That’s what really threw up a red flag for me.