My Journey in Writing

This book was one of those where I knew exactly what was going to happen on page two. While this isn't always a problem when it's a romance (I don't like romances that have the wrong kind of surprises, like the couple not ending up together!) this one was a bit different. The attraction between the couples begins almost immediately, which means the resistance of one or other of the couple also begins immediately. This made it a frustrating read for me, as there was antagonism between the two leads from almost the first page, and it continued with a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing for almost every page of the novel.
I found Trish, the main protagonist, difficult to warm to from the start. I understand her defensive nature, considering what she had been through, but it still grated on me that she never seemed to learn anything at all until the very end of the novel, when suddenly she wondered why she hadn't worked it out earlier. Me too.
I guess that can be the frustrating thing about some romance novels. The author needs to have attraction initially, but conflict to keep them apart until the end, but I felt the conflict was overdone, especially in regards to Trish's bull-headed nature.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Not only that, but some things about the end frustrated me. There's a tornado, but no member of her family thinks to check on how Trish fared when they know she never asks for help? She says she's definitely going to move, then her son runs away and she doesn't talk to him about why he ran away - which I think was quite clearly because of the move, even from her point of view - and the next thing the poor kid knows is he's in the car and moving with her, without being allowed to say goodbye to any of his family? That seemed unrealistic and out of character for Trish, when she had previously been so concerned with his welfare. And the moral of the story was covered so often I felt Trish should have got the message sooner.
So it was a disappointing read for me.