Remember When

Author:

Judith McNaught

Published:

Pocket Books, December 1996 ; 392 pages

Subgenre:

Contemporary romance

Setting:

United States -- Houston, Dallas TX, Las Vegas NV, 1990s

Main characters:

Cole Harrison and Diana Foster

Sexual explicitness:

Explicit

Keywords:

Modern issues ; business tycoons, family responsibilities, horses, marriages of convenience, publishing

Reader rating:

Reader comments:

I am really confused as to why so many people disliked this book. I loved it. It was sweet, funny and romantic. True, her new family was a little too good to be true, but I prefer that to having a family with a lot of animosity. It was different from Judith's other books, but change can be good. Maybe for those of you who didn't like it should reread it. Perhaps waiting for it's release made your expectations so high that nothing could have measured up. You may like it more the second time around. It's one of my favorites. (S.B., 4-4-98) I've just read many negative comments about the book based on comparisons to previous stories written by Judith McNaught. If you want to read the same story with the same development between the characters each time, reread a book you know you like! This story branched out and didn't follow the same old plot. I enjoyed it because it was different. (C.H., 4-4-98) I guess I'm one of the few people who liked 'Remember When'. It was a nice change from her other books. I enjoy all Judith's books including this one. Sometimes the love/hate relationship between the main characters gets too drawn out. This one cuts to the chase. I read it twice. (S.B., 3-23-98) Utterly SUCKED!!!!! will check her next book out of the library before paying for it. (C.C., 3-19-98) Utterly SUCKED!!!!! will check her next book out of the library before paying for it. (C.C., 3-19-98) The book was no less than terrible. It was indescribably, skull crashinly boring ! I expected so much. But it's okay, JM. has given me enough joy through her work than any other author, cut her some clack. (N.G.A., 6-4-97) Let's not be too hard on J McN. Yes, the book was terrible, and certainly not up to her standards set in her historicals, and PARADISE, and PERFECT, BUT didn't I hear she was going through a divorce at the time of the writing? Also my "bookstore lady" told me that Judith's editor kept sending the manustript back with instructions to "tone down the sex angle". If even part of this is true, then maybe we can hope for better things in the future, and this was indeed just a "bad book day" for McNaught. (L.W., 5-10-97) AWFUL! It was missing the tenderness that is usually the magnet to your books. I didn't like Cole and I hated Diana and I ahted the plot. It was boring and very unlike your ususal books. (A.S., 4-14-97) There was so much potential with this story that wasn't developed. Ms. McNaught usually delves deeper and comes up with and emotionally packed wonderfully written book. Cole and Diana deserved a longer, more in-depth telling of their story. They deserved the kind of writing from Judith McNaught that we die-hard fans have come to know and love, not the Readers Digest version we got. (K.W., 4-4-97) This book made me cry---with disappointment! I can't believe that Judith McNaught will write such trash. There's really nothing to read here. It pleased me NAUGHT! (W.M., 3-26-97) Too long in coming. Took too long to get lovebirds together. Not enough time spent developing main character's love affair in present. Early life narration of main characters is what Ms. McNaught does best and what I enjoy best. However, not so with with these characters. Could not bring myself to really care for them. (L.A., 4-1-97) It just didn't go into how they really fell in love with each other. I felt the hero's character never really developed and there wasn't any real drama. I was also confused because I had something about the plot having to do with twins. All in all her others where much better. I look forward to the next one though. I'm hoping this was just a "bad book day". (A.H., 3-31-97) I really love Judith McNaughts books. They always take me away from lifes ups and downs and throw me into someone elses life where we all know for sure that there will be a happy ending. When I open her books I always live the joy and the pain of her characters and I feel as if I really do know them. Everyone is really putting down this book and I must agree that it was not one of her best, but if people would just think before they type then they would realize that this book was still a heck of alot better than your average romance novel. Mrs. McNaught is a wonderful and talented writer and always with every book brings joy and happiness into my life. (C.M., 3-29-97) Too quick. (B.T., 3-24-97) This book was too long in coming. Only to find out that I was also disappointed with the result. Other than a few "typical" McNaught scenes -- I also missed the usual banter & love/hate scenarios that occur to separate & reunite the hero/heroine. This book was complete substandard compared to her previous publications. Judith..."WHAT HAPPENED?" (L.S., 3-23-97) I was SOOOO disappointed in this book. At one point I looked at how far into the book I was and realized that I read read 1/3 of it and the characters weren't even together yet. How could they have fallen in love when they hadn't spent any time together? This one was a big disappointment. McNaughts characters are usually much more developed. I won't be buying the next one in hard back!!! (M.S., 3-17-97) Okay, well, I don't have enough money to buy every book I wanna read when it's in hard cover, so when I heard about her newest book, I basically haunted the library for a week until I got it. Too bad all that work was for nothing! WHAT HAPPENED? The woman who wrote Until You could not have written this brainless book. These characters fell in love so fast, we didn't have time to fall in love with them. I'm kinda hurt that Judith Mcnaught expected her fans to enjoy this. (J.W., 3-15-97) This book did not live up to my expectation towards Judith McNaught. I was very disappointed. I really had no idea what happened. I mean as to how Cole fell in love with Diana. It just all of the sudden happened. And how could he have loved her, they were only together for about two whole days. It just didn't fit. It's true, you actually learn more about the business than Cole and Diana. I hope her next novel is not such a disappointment. And I LOVED "UNTIL YOU" SHERIDAN AND STEPHEN WERE ENCHANTING. (M.L., 3-13-97) I've read all her books but I just get more and more disappointed with each successive book that comes out. But this one had to be the worst. It seemed like practically no time before the hero and heroine were engaged. Too much time in the past and not enough in the present. The worst thing was the lack of development.:( (M.J.J., 3-12-97) DID I READ THE SAME BOOK AS EVERYONE ELSE??? I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS GREAT!! I HAVE LOVED ALL OF HER BOOKS I HAVE READ!! (C.C., 3-4-97) I was truly disappointed in REMEMBER WHEN. Like many others I had waited a long time to read it and was disappointed when I finally had the chance. I was hoping it would be about the twins. I saw that as a good story premise. But I'll still read her, just don't let me down again! I love her books too much! (L.W., 3-1-97) Yuck. I waited with baited breath to read this book, had my name on the library waiting list for months, and then felt like crying when i realizedwhat a dissapointment it was. It had all the elements that make Judith McNaught so great (great characters, good situation), but she just didn't put it all together. So much was missing. I haven't lost faith, though. Maybe the next one?! (C.D., 2-19-97) Shallow, status obsessed, vapid, tired plot. I began reading her books with WHITNEY MY LOVE (AT 14) and its been downhill since. She has too tight a grip on characters she can ill define. (The hero's character traits always seen from the heroine's pov...and vice versa... yet we cannot see what they see... the brave, glorious, shining glory of ubermodel femininity seen by the hero is not really there for us to see, a terrible weakness of the author's which is demonstrated again and again in each new book)She is obsessed with financial and social status, and her books are so sadly hollow at heart. I believe the time has come for me to grow up and stop reading her books. I'm sure I'll think twice about paying for any of her books again. DISILLUSIONING. (S.N., 2-13-97) I was also very disappointed with this book:especially after waiting so long for it to come out. It was too similar to PERFECT and Meredith and Matt's story. I also agree that her last two books have not been "up to Snuff" (D.D., 2-2-97) This, is one of Judith's worst books. I felt that there was too much focus of the past in it and too little of the present : Diana and Cole. In other books, the hero and the heroine had to 'go through thick and thin' together before their love really blossomed but in this book, it was n't so. Very disappointing. I hardly read every page and skipped most of it. Judith's last book, Until You was also not up to expectations. (D.L., 1-25-97) This book is terrible!!!! I wonder what happened to Judith! I cannot believe that she wrote this trash. It was so disappointing to read this after waiting for months for this book. I agree with someone's comment that it's partly Pocket Books and her editor's fault. I'm quite irritated with many bestselling authors at this point because more books by them I read, I get this vague feeling that they are more interested in making $$$$$$$$ than writing good stories! (T.M., 1-19-97) I have read every book Judith has written. This was not one of her better novels. (W.J., 1-14-97) I really like Judith McNaught, but I was extremely disappointed. I had waited MONTHS! for this book to come out, only to find that it was NOT a story about twins, but a very drawn out short story about Diana and Cole. I was extremely disappointed, but am looking forward to reading further books, which I trust will improve. (T.G., 1-11-97) Gosh, I spent my whole week's money on that book and it was so disappointing ! I skipped a lot of pages and didn't even finish the book...Really hope that Judith McNaught will write better books in the future ...Oh,I waited for AGES for this book and it turned out to be like this! (E.K., 1-10-97) This book was very disappointing. I really like the rest of the books Judith has written. What happened???? (B.D., 1-8-97) This book was a total disappointment--weak one dimensional characters, plot, characters, conflict. Fame and success seem to have gone to McNaught's head and distracted her from what she did best. She has left behind the trademarks which made her books truly wonderful. If she doesn't wake up, she'll follow in Woodiwiss' footsteps. I did not even like the characters by the time I finished. Part of the blame should rest on Pocket Books and especially her editor for accepting and publishing this substandard fare. Wake up, McNaught--this is strike two! (M.Y., 1-7-97) McNaught's attempt to utilize a standard historical scenario (marriage of convenience) in a contemporary setting might have been interesting if she'd spent some time writing this book, but clearly she did not (even though it took FOREVER to come out). In fact, the opening section re heroine's adolescence is so bad that it's hard to believe McNaught wrote them. Childhood sections can be revealing, witty, moving--think of JANE EYRE, OLIVER TWIST, or the satirically summarized childhood of the hero in Loretta Chase's LORD OF SCOUNDRELS--but here they are awful. The heroine's newly acquired family seems too good to be true-- largely because writing is totally vapid, instead of charming, as it should be. Once the heroine's adulthood and the main plot get going, the book improves--until you get to the consummation scene, which alludes to ROSEMARY'S BABY and does indeed seem quite a bit like it--not because the hero is diabolical but because the heroine has had too much to drink. Has success spoiled Judith McNaught? Too bad, because the Christmas shoppers who buy this hardcover for almost 25 bucks--i.e., those who haven't read McNaught before--will never try her again. (E.P., 1-2-97)

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