Trampled Underfoot: the Dirt on Vic and Lia

Trampled Underfoot: the Dirt on Vic and Lia by Elizabeth Good is a follow-up story to Just Another Sunday. I usually don’t like to read books out of order but the story intrigued me and it was advertised as a story to stand on its own. It is the story of Lia Benedict and Vic Somers in the late 1970s New Jersey. The story opens in the spring of 1976, Lia and Vic are newly married and newly pregnant. A hopeless romantic, Lia sets to make the perfect life with her new husband. Until trouble strikes, hang up phone calls, a paternity suit and radical religious beliefs begin to invade her perfect fantasy. Vic’s brother, Greg, returns from Vietnam a broken man. Lia discovers that she is RH negative and need injections but her religious beliefs prohibit such treatment. Vic doesn’t seem to end his philandering ways as Lia’s pregnancy progresses. When she has the baby, Vic suffers a TET spell due to his heart condition and needs several surgeries. Will Vic finally see the light and build his life with Lia and their baby? Or will Lia’s heart be trampled underfoot?

It was difficult to like or care about these characters. Lia eventually becomes a bitch and Vic is a stereotypical male who chases any skirt that flitters his way. I felt it was impossible to be sympathetic to Lia. I felt she was too naïve and she was blind for far too long. This book almost made my Did-Not-Finish list because I found myself turning page after page wondering when it would get better, exciting even. I waited for the final confrontation between Lia and Vic and….nothing! The story jumps years later and the reader is given a rundown of what happened since. Also the book was advertised as a follow-up to Just Another Sunday but could be read on its own. I still felt there were references in the book that I should have had knowledge and didn’t get because I didn’t read the other book. Maybe I'm wrong. However, I didn’t like the any of the characters. I cannot recommend this book.