What I'm Reading Wednesday: The Nature of Fragile Things

I featured this book last Wednesday on my Instagram, but I didn't get around to writing a blog post for it, so... here ya go!:  The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner 

Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops a deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.

Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.  

The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear. (Description courtesy GoodReads)

This was a good story. Well written. Set against an interesting historical event.  I know that so many people really love this book.  And while I enjoyed it, overall it fell a little flat for me.  My problem is that I can't quite put my finger on why exactly that is the case. With the exception of Sophie, none of the other characters ever really came to life in my imagination, feeling more like bland stereotypical background characters.  Perhaps it's because I was hoping for more from the scenes involving the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and it's aftermath.  Maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace to fully enjoy the novel.  (shrug)

Please, don't get me wrong... It's a very good novel.  A nice distraction. And I don't regret reading it.  But, it just fell a little short of expectations for me.