Alex Taylor is an artist with a specialty for nudes. Think academic style, as seen in anatomy textbooks. Alex is in a serious relationship with a serious man, and all is good and right with the world... or so it seems. Deep down, Alex knows her relationship is getting stale.
And, that has nothing to do with Eric, the cute med student who happens to be Alex's current (nude) model. Before she knows it, though, Alex is wrapped up in a whirlwind relationship with Eric, whose charm and passion bring a new fire to Alex's life. The two vow to be together forever, carving out plans of a luscious wedding and beautiful babies and years of endless joy in the future.
Until Eric learns he is HIV positive.
And Alex's world shatters.
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In a way, this is your typical romance novel.. melodramatic at times, cheesy in places, but overall strangely touching in the end. On the other hand, though, the setback here is serious, redirecting the story from the "girl meets boy, girl loves boy" mantra to the gritty struggle that the couple faces as they learn and deal with the consequences of HIV, and then AIDS.
I enjoyed the book, although it had two flaws that stood out fairly prominently. First, the dialogue feels heavily contrived in places, as if it were made for a Lifetime TV movie. Second, a "secret" revealed in the end took the book temporarily in an overtly cliche direction, but the overall arch of the story really pulls the story through in the end, I think.
Decent, quick read, and a pretty good one at that. Presumably the author has done her research, as well, given that the book jacket states Brewer to have been a Medical Director of an AIDS clinic herself.
If your library has "A Crack in Forever", I think it's definitely worth a try.
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