Book review - Sweet and Twenty (Joan Smith) is not so sweet

I do not know what made me choose the book Sweet and Twenty by Joan Smith to read, but I do know that I have deeply regret the time I spent on it.

In the book, pretty, but dumb Sara is in need of a husband. Sara and her widowed mother, Melanie, are not smart enough to manage their own estate. Her aunt, Martha comes to "help" Sara by looking for a husband. She brought along Sarah's cousin, Lillian, who is not as pretty, but much smarter and brighter. Lillian (our main heroine character) has so far turned away most suitors, which frustrated her aunt Martha to no end. Martha and Melanie decides to set their cap on a local bachelor Tony Fellows. Tony is also running a local political race against Alastair with the help of his campaign manager, Matthew Hudson (our main hero character). The love of Lillian and Matthew grows as the political race heats up.

When I first began reading the book, I found the story interesting and the dialogue refreshing. Then, the political race heated up. I found myself slowly but surely losing interest. Politics, which involves backstabbing and lying is what the whole story is about. A lot of pages are devoted to the race or how Matt goes about helping Tony win. Of course, Tony is not very smart and does not know his party's view half of the time. This sounds suspiciously like our own politicians.

Half the time, I find myself seething with frustration and the other half of the time, I wondered to myself, when is this story going to end! Maybe, it is that this book is too close to real life. Perhaps there is too much politics involved that tainted the love story. Perhaps, it is simply that I don't like politicians. This is simply one of the most frustrating books I have ever read.