Blog Tour: Delayed Flight by John J. Smith

Veronica, a widow from an abusive marriage, is looking forward to having a wonderful visit with her daughter, Jeri. It had been a year since Jeri moved away to college andVeronica cannot think of anywhere else she would rather be than spend a peaceful Christmas with Jeri.
Jared thought his day had already gone badly when his hiring proposal for consultants was put on hold. Now he finds himself stranded in a blizzard and discovers his rental car has a flat.To add insult upon injury, the keys are locked in the trunk!
When Veronica sees Jared walk into the airport terminal and takes a seat across from her, she can feel her emotions run amok bouncing somewhere between loathing and love. He was the man, whom she had loved and yet he had walked out on her. Jared on the other hand wants to do everything in his power to heal her wounds. In the deepest region of his heart, he wants to start over.
On icy roads, and deep in thought, Jeri’s is suddenly involved in a serious accident, and as Veronica rushes through the halls of the hospital, in search to find answers, she stumbles upon Jared. It is then Veronica realizes at that their present has brought them together shrouded in the events of their past while the doctors feverishly work to save her daughter’s life.

The book’s premise had lots of potential; the idea of two exes meeting again after twenty years at an airport sounded very promising. Unfortunately, it was a bit heavy-handed in its execution.

What bugged me the most were the female characters. They are portrayed as borderline psychotic, with mood swings that left me baffled and wondering if I’d missed a page. Veronica in particular was able to cry at the drop of a hat, then switch over to seething anger a second later, with nothing more than a word or two to explain the change. Jared, the male protagonist, does not fare much better. From the first chapter, where everything seems to be going badly enough to belong in a sitcom, he is a whiny, self-pitying man who I, for one, could not even begin to like.

The writing itself is not groundbreaking, and it could have used another good editing session, but the main problem I saw were the characters. It’s impossible to “bond” with any of them, making the novel fizzle out before it even begins. If you are very forgiving with character development, then you might want to give it a try, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it.