Two Is a Pattern
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 252 ratings
Price: 12.24
Last update: 12-16-2024
About this item
A charged lesbian romantic suspense set in the early nineties, with gripping twists, turns, and surprising secrets.
A mission gone wrong leads to rising-star CIA operative Annie Weaver quitting her job and reinventing herself as a college student. But the CIA, desperate for her skills, refuses to let her go without a price.
Annie finds herself juggling classes in criminology and falling for her beautiful landlord, Professor Helen Everton, while dealing with off-the-books secret missions for an increasingly controlling ex-boss.
As the perceptive Helen circles ever closer to the truth, Annie has to figure out how to keep her freedom without putting Helen in danger—and without revealing her own past.
Contains mature themes.
Top reviews from the United States
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn’t put it down
4.0 out of 5 stars I don't understand the title
5.0 out of 5 stars great book..
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely character development and a pleasure to read
4.0 out of 5 stars Debut suspense novel ...
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Captivating Story Grounded in the Intricacies of the Human Condition from this new author!
It's official now. I'm a fan. A back-to-back read for me. Literally, immediately after I finished Waters' extraordinary debut novel, "Honey in the Marrow," I jumped right into her sophomore novel, "Two is a Pattern," because, well, why not? Strike when the iron is still hot, so to speak, eh? I'm so glad I did. Waters hit it out of the park with yet another captivating story grounded in the ever-intriguing intricacies of the human condition. The intersection between love and fear. We've seen it too many times IRL, be it as mere observers or active participants. But does true love, love that withstands even the worst circumstances, ever lose its pure enduring quality? In effect, the passage of time, despite being an illusory, self-fulfilling concept, only ever deepens the emotive terms of endearment between two star-crossed, lovelorn beings. And, whether we like it or not, we can't help who we fall in love with, can we? And THAT's essentially what this story is about....for me, at least.
I have to raise my hat to Waters for crafting these 2 MCs who couldn't be more different from each other, in every aspect of their lives. I actually was surprised about the younger MC being a spook going back to school which my mind immediately went to "21 Jump Street"! Ha! Wow, memory lane, much? And Waters making the older MC a professor only added to the beloved teacher-student age-gap trope intrigue! Oh, the "shenanigans" that ensued between these 2 characters starting from how they "met" and all the roundabout circumstances that inextricably befell them which worked out very well in terms of developing their relationship and its direction, so to speak, to the expected push-pull dynamic which was a such a fun ride to explore as I swiped page after page in sheer thrills until the very end! I must say, what I had in mind about how the story went and its ending, was nowhere near the vicinity of Waters'! It wasn't better than what I expected, but more like, it was different. In a very good way, I might add, because at the end of the day, the way the story went and ended was totally in-line with the MCs' states of mind and their perception/perspective of what the depth of their feelings for each other meant to them in their life journey.
Potential spoilers in the next paragraph! Read at your own peril!
[spoiler]I especially LOVED how Waters ended their story.... nothing feels more positive and hopeful than seeing your MCs riding off into the sunset, leaving their fate/future to your own imagination! And that's everything because when you put your vivid imagination to work, the sky's the limit, with infinite possibilities about how their journey would be as 2 people who, unbeknownst to themselves, had been in love with each other despite being apart for years! If that's not true love that endures the passage of time, if that's not a transcending connection between 2 souls who were meant to be together, what is, really?[/spoiler]
All in all, Waters managed to steer this otherwise highly popular, done-to-death but enduringly beloved trope amongst readers and writers alike, that is the age-gap romance, to a delightfully refreshing plot that I haven't come across (yet), is something to celebrate and I applaud her ingenuity for coming up with it!! Well done, Waters! I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves the age-gap trope but one that comes with some intriguing twists and turns that aren't usually found in this type of romance.
I'm eagerly awaiting what Waters' next story is going to be because I will surely be reading it without a doubt!
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing ending
5.0 out of 5 stars Great blend of romance and intrigue
OK, so I guess there were two things that bugged me. One was that I never really got a sense for what Frank really wanted out of Annie. I mean, clearly he didn’t want to leave her to her own devices, but what was his endgame? Sending her back to Europe? He had to know that wouldn’t work well. Keeping her in the USA? Then why not leave well enough alone?
And the ending…. This was 15 chapters of everything I described above followed by one chapter that felt like a whole different trope. On the one hand, that last chapter brought closure and I can’t say I would have wanted events to play out differently. On the other hand, it was tough the way it went down in practice. I think I might have preferred that this book ended on a cliffhanger without the last chapter, and that the last chapter be blown out into a follow-up book on its own! There’s a whole genre for that, right? So I get it… and I can’t really object to it… but all the same it didn’t quite sit right.
Anyway, these are pretty minor gripes in the grand scheme, because on the whole this was so well done, so readable, such a good mix of suspense and romance with tension on both sides as things played out. I’m definitely looking forward to more from Emily Waters.