Hi ladies
I just read WML and there were parts that were so painful to read. I hated them being separated for any reason and hated it when Clayton went out with Vanessa, like why??? Didn’t he love her enough to just wait. Anyway was happy to see them being happy in Until You. Can you please tell me what the difference is in the old book and extended version. Does the ending change? I don’t even know what version I read. I read the part where he acts like her servant.
Whitney my love
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Jessica
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Re: Whitney my love
Ahhhh, that painful, excruciating angst is what I LOVE about this book!!!
You asked why Clayton didn't wait.... You know, I think Whitney's words to him at the reception effectively killed any hope he had remaining. It didn't hit me, until a recent reread, just how vicious those words really were.... He'd come to humble himself--which was earth-shattering in itself considering Clayton was unaccustomed to humbling himself to ANYONE. But he did it anyway, because he loved her, and he was willing to risk rejection in order to discover if there was ANY chance whatsoever she would welcome an approach from him. I honestly don't think, even as he stood there in that church silently asking for her forgiveness, that he thought he deserved it--much less expected her to grant it. But to his profound relief (and mine), she DID. We aren't privy to his POV in the time between seeing her leave with Emily and when he arrived at the reception, but from the boyish smile of gratitude he gave Emily, you KNOW he must have been feeling a rush of relief and happiness unlike anything he'd ever experienced, along with a humbling gratitude to God for somehow seeing fit to give him another opportunity with the woman he adored.
But then, at the reception, when he tells her he loves her, words he'd never spoken to ANY other woman, she throws it back in his face. And she doesn't just throw it back in his face, she mocks him for a fool, all but laughing as she remarks that all she'd had to do was smile, and he'd come crawling back, just like he always did. Those words and the sentiments behind it...were just...vicious. To say that to any man, at any time, is hurtful enough, but to twist the knife like that when the man in question had already fallen on his sword, pushed aside his pride, and offered his heart without reservation is.... brutal. Brutal enough to scar a man for life.
To Clayton, who'd (correctly) interpreted her melting look in the church as a sign that she was open to forgiving him, it must have seemed as if she'd DELIBERATELY lured him into admitting he loved her, solely so she could mock him for it and make her contempt and hatred eloquently clear. Though he doubtless felt he'd earned both, her methods of communicating them had a cruel, deadly finality that thoroughly murdered all hope--and doubtless made him feel foolish for ever thinking there had been any hope in the first place. He'd wanted to find out if there was a chance of reconciliation--and he had his answer, delivered with a jaunty yet poisonous spite designed to cut him to shreds.
After that, I don't think he would have approached her again at the point of a gun. Ever. The only option was to cut her out of his heart and move on. :'( I imagine he knew he'd never again experience emotion of the sort he'd felt for Whitney--and after the way she'd cut him, he doubtless had no desire to feel that depth of emotion again, even if he could. Given that, I'm not really surprised he chose to move forward with Vanessa, whom many people (including Vanessa herself) had expected him to marry eventually anyway.
The scenes that ensue--where Whitney sees him out, first at the theatre where Vanessa makes him LAUGH (and OMG how that kills me inside....), and then again as Whitney and Nicki are entering the party that Clayton and Vanessa are leaving and Clayton looks right through her--are, without question, the best angst I've ever read in my life.... up to and including the scene where Whitney goes to Claymore to win him back, and is forced to endure that painfully awkward dinner where Vanessa announces their betrothal...Gah, it SLAYS me. However, I am one of those readers who doesn't enjoy a book unless I suffer copious internal bleeding, so all of this pain and suffering is undoubtedly what makes Whitney, My Love my favorite book of all time. It's ALSO what makes the scene in the library, where Whitney succeeds in winning him back, my absolute favorite scene....EVER. I still remember reading that scene for the very first time. I literally had to put the book face down and wait until my heart stopped pounding, lest I die of heart failure right there, from the exertion of doing nothing more than sitting absolutely still and experiencing all that emotion in one great, agonizing rush. Then I re-read the aforementioned scenes just to experience it all again before continuing the book. LOL... So while it IS excruciatingly painful, I thank the stars above that JM wrote it this way because it provided the greatest reading experience of my life. I *adore* every single word. *sigh*
It sounds like you read the original version--which, maybe because I like to bleed inside, is still my favorite for all its raw emotion and sharp edges. The expanded version edited a few of the scenes, made them more palatable to the modern readers who raise an outcry and start a movement over such things. It picks up from that final scene, and includes seven additional chapters, ending three days after the birth of Clayton and Whitney's son. No more heart-rending angsty break-ups, mind you.
It's definitely worth reading if you haven't already, as it provides a lead-in to Until You, and scenes that reveal how Stephen became the Earl of Langford--and how he went from the happy-go-lucky brother in WML to the cynical hero in UY. <3
xoxoxoxo
You asked why Clayton didn't wait.... You know, I think Whitney's words to him at the reception effectively killed any hope he had remaining. It didn't hit me, until a recent reread, just how vicious those words really were.... He'd come to humble himself--which was earth-shattering in itself considering Clayton was unaccustomed to humbling himself to ANYONE. But he did it anyway, because he loved her, and he was willing to risk rejection in order to discover if there was ANY chance whatsoever she would welcome an approach from him. I honestly don't think, even as he stood there in that church silently asking for her forgiveness, that he thought he deserved it--much less expected her to grant it. But to his profound relief (and mine), she DID. We aren't privy to his POV in the time between seeing her leave with Emily and when he arrived at the reception, but from the boyish smile of gratitude he gave Emily, you KNOW he must have been feeling a rush of relief and happiness unlike anything he'd ever experienced, along with a humbling gratitude to God for somehow seeing fit to give him another opportunity with the woman he adored.
But then, at the reception, when he tells her he loves her, words he'd never spoken to ANY other woman, she throws it back in his face. And she doesn't just throw it back in his face, she mocks him for a fool, all but laughing as she remarks that all she'd had to do was smile, and he'd come crawling back, just like he always did. Those words and the sentiments behind it...were just...vicious. To say that to any man, at any time, is hurtful enough, but to twist the knife like that when the man in question had already fallen on his sword, pushed aside his pride, and offered his heart without reservation is.... brutal. Brutal enough to scar a man for life.
To Clayton, who'd (correctly) interpreted her melting look in the church as a sign that she was open to forgiving him, it must have seemed as if she'd DELIBERATELY lured him into admitting he loved her, solely so she could mock him for it and make her contempt and hatred eloquently clear. Though he doubtless felt he'd earned both, her methods of communicating them had a cruel, deadly finality that thoroughly murdered all hope--and doubtless made him feel foolish for ever thinking there had been any hope in the first place. He'd wanted to find out if there was a chance of reconciliation--and he had his answer, delivered with a jaunty yet poisonous spite designed to cut him to shreds.
After that, I don't think he would have approached her again at the point of a gun. Ever. The only option was to cut her out of his heart and move on. :'( I imagine he knew he'd never again experience emotion of the sort he'd felt for Whitney--and after the way she'd cut him, he doubtless had no desire to feel that depth of emotion again, even if he could. Given that, I'm not really surprised he chose to move forward with Vanessa, whom many people (including Vanessa herself) had expected him to marry eventually anyway.
The scenes that ensue--where Whitney sees him out, first at the theatre where Vanessa makes him LAUGH (and OMG how that kills me inside....), and then again as Whitney and Nicki are entering the party that Clayton and Vanessa are leaving and Clayton looks right through her--are, without question, the best angst I've ever read in my life.... up to and including the scene where Whitney goes to Claymore to win him back, and is forced to endure that painfully awkward dinner where Vanessa announces their betrothal...Gah, it SLAYS me. However, I am one of those readers who doesn't enjoy a book unless I suffer copious internal bleeding, so all of this pain and suffering is undoubtedly what makes Whitney, My Love my favorite book of all time. It's ALSO what makes the scene in the library, where Whitney succeeds in winning him back, my absolute favorite scene....EVER. I still remember reading that scene for the very first time. I literally had to put the book face down and wait until my heart stopped pounding, lest I die of heart failure right there, from the exertion of doing nothing more than sitting absolutely still and experiencing all that emotion in one great, agonizing rush. Then I re-read the aforementioned scenes just to experience it all again before continuing the book. LOL... So while it IS excruciatingly painful, I thank the stars above that JM wrote it this way because it provided the greatest reading experience of my life. I *adore* every single word. *sigh*
It sounds like you read the original version--which, maybe because I like to bleed inside, is still my favorite for all its raw emotion and sharp edges. The expanded version edited a few of the scenes, made them more palatable to the modern readers who raise an outcry and start a movement over such things. It picks up from that final scene, and includes seven additional chapters, ending three days after the birth of Clayton and Whitney's son. No more heart-rending angsty break-ups, mind you.
It's definitely worth reading if you haven't already, as it provides a lead-in to Until You, and scenes that reveal how Stephen became the Earl of Langford--and how he went from the happy-go-lucky brother in WML to the cynical hero in UY. <3 xoxoxoxo
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