There was something appealing about the basic plot, however melodramatic it was. But there were a lot of things that made me cringe too. The frequent descriptions of how Jamie caressed Jean (when Porter was trying to keep us from knowing whether she was a boy or a girl) was weird. The many, many screeds about the evils consequences for women who have sex before marriage were overblown. Yes, it's always wrong, but first, the boys who get them pregnant are even more wrong, second, to condemn the child is evil, and third, there is grace. It just took forever to go anywhere and the most interesting plot line — Jamie's relationship with Molly — took up about three pages.