My first impression: If 90% of everything is crap, then this definitely falls within the remaining 10%. And in the end, I retained that impression, even though along the way, I had a number of complaints. Yet for all those complaints, I still ended up rating it 5 stars. Yes, I teetered on the edge between 4 and 5, but I finally came down on the higher side, because if the next book I read has all the characteristics of this one, that would make me very happy, because of all the things this story did right. The characters captivated me. I ended up thinking of Claire as an actual person, inconsistencies and all. The story dealt with a real issue, and one close to my heart, the human need to love and be loved. A theme that (whether Sharon intended it or not) strikes more deeply than the title implies: Not just that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That everyone needs some sympathy with others, in order to survive.
(reviewed 39 days after purchase)