Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught

This book was truly something wonderful. Believe it or not, this was only the 2nd book by McNaught that I have ever read. The first was Once and Always, and I loved it as much as this one. This is clichéd romance at its finest. Her hero is a wounded, jaded soul, and her heroine is (albeit a bit too) naïve, innocent fresh girl who sees the good in the world, but who also has a deep, educated, "old" soul.

Once I got past Alex falling in love with Jordan at basically first sight, I was as enchanted as Jordan. It was beautifully written, watching his barriers crumble, one by one. Of course, there is a great tragedy that befalls them, and Alex must grow up, and Jordan becomes very distrustful. As Alex becomes disillusioned with Jordan and her memories of him, I wanted to cry right along with her - McNaught writes it that well. When Jordan misinterprets Alex's transformation, I wanted to smack him - I was that invested.

We see Jordan get pulled nder Alex's spell almost unwittingly, unable to help himself from buying into her pollyanna vision of life. As she matures, and tries to take on his more cynical and rakish characteristics, we watch him mourn the loss of that which he thought he didn't want, need or even like. His attempt to win her back brings out the best in them both.

McNaught's writing paints beautiful pictures, and seeing Jordan and his autocratic, cynical grandmother both melt under Alex's wide-eyed excitement for life made me remember why I started reading romance lo those many years ago. It looks like many of McNaught's books are being re-released, and I'm going to go looking for more.