First, I must say I was gifted this book by the author. This book reminded me of Broadcast News. It focused on a love story but expanded beyond that over an epic storyline. The characters were interesting as was the finale. I felt overwhelmed at times by the sheer number of characters. Although they were all interesting, many seemed inconsequential to the main storyline and didn't deserve their own storylines. At times I found following along and remembering who is who rather challenging. I would recommend buying the original edition of this book. I have the updated edition and there were discrepancies like mentioning something currently happening in the Clinton administration and then later taking about 9/11. These timeline mistakes took me out of the story every time. The story is timeless and does not need an update. Overall, I enjoyed this book.