27. Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patteson

I recognized quite quickly that I had read this book previously.  So maybe that is why I enjoyed it less than the other Patterson romances that I read or listened to earlier this year.  It seems my rating have gotten lower with each book.  Perhaps Patterson romances should be read much more sparingly.  I might not read another one.  Even so, I did finish this one because the story was interesting enough to stick with it. 

Jennifer is widowed, living with her two cats, and writing a newspaper column from her apartment.  After the death of her husband and her miscarriage, she has retreated from life.  Until she receives a phone call that her beloved grandmother, Sam, is in a coma.  Jennifer quickly travels to Wisconsin, staying in the family cabin on a gorgeous lake and visiting the hospital daily.  She finds a stack of letters that Sam has written to her with instructions to read just a few at a time.  So the book actually presents the story of Jennifer who meets handsome, divorced Brendan  living next door, and the story of Sam and her less-than-perfect marriage to Jennifer's grandfather.  So Sam, Jennifer, and Brendan are all incredibly good-looking, nice, and appealing people; and the story is just too sweet and very predictable.  In fact, some of the dialog between Brendan and Jennifer is down right silly.   I found myself rolling my eyes several times.  Still there was the beautiful lake; Jennifer's love for her grandmother, Sam's wisdom in the letters and a cute romance.  Enough to make the story just okay for me; but not enough for me to want to read any more of Patterson's romances.  I'll just stick with his Alex Cross series.  Come to think of it, how does a man write these slightly insipid romances and the highly charged and violent Alex Cross thrillers? 
Rating:  3