I managed to finish my book yesterday after all. I also did 2 of the 5 things I was thinking about, but I can't remember what the 5th one was. Maybe I just can't count. "Opal" was written by Lauraine Snelling in 2005. I enjoyed it. Yes, sometimes the story jumps in strange ways, and yes, the age difference between Opal and Mr. Chandler is a little extreme. But in some countries...and back in the old days...it wouldn't have seemed that extreme. My co-worker pointed out that the main character's names - Opal & Mr. Chandler - are also character names used on "All My Children." That is something that I would certainly have never caught on my own. Now if it'd been names from "Days of Our Lives," I might have noticed. Haven't watched that one in many a year. I was a big Sami fan. Even when she went through all those rotten times when she wanted to kill everyone to get some guy. Is she even still on there. Wow, that was a long time ago! Yup, looks like she still is.