3.5 I guess? 
 The Good: 
 Has the emotional quality and feel of a Bronte novel, which I love. 
 Focuses on a woman who bravely takes her child and leaves her abusive spouse in order to attain a better and safer life for them both. 
 Heroine is good at staying true to her beliefs in the face of many people telling her differently, whether they be a ne'er-do-well spouse or an nosy opinionated neighbor, and will speak her dissent openly to them. 
 The Not-So-Good 
 Nearly the entire second half of the book is told via a diary. It is a little too long and too much information. I didn't care for the use of relating the information via chapters of diary writing. The fact that this was all backstory regarding the meeting of her husband (a man that from the beginning the average person will be thinking 'WTF why do you like this man?' ) and their subsequently terrible marriage makes it one long experiment in frustration. I really had to push through this portion of the book. 
 Romantic interest #2 is 'meh' at best and does a couple things in the novel I thought were terrible.