3.5 Star
Charley Lambert has put considerable effort into achieving a perfect life. She has The Job. The Wardrobe. And The Flat. Her womanising, junk food-loving housemate Sam lowers the tone a bit but that aside, things are peachy. Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her unrequited love propose to someone else and - worst of all - is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy while she recovers.
Workaholic Charley fears that she will soon go mad. Desperate for something to do, she discovers her talent for helping the lovelorn online. And then William arrives in her inbox. Within hours of his first email, her world starts to change. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with this man and begins to realise that she's not who she thought she was. But will she be brave enough to turn her back on her old life - all for a total stranger?
Kathryn - 3.5 Star
My brain had predicted a somewhat typical heroine who fumbled along looking for Mr. Right and, while I was partially right, I found a lot more in Charley than I was expecting. She’s tough and centred and completely in control of her work life- in fact she’s so in control that she’s micro-managed herself into a schedule that would make any normal person curl up in bed and take a nap. I’m not one of those must-do-it-all people and I am all for “free” time even if that’s reading a book from the mounting pile or doing a puzzle with the kids. I don’t like to sit there staring at the walls but I don’t feel incomplete if I’m not out there “doing”.
Despite not being quite like Charley I really related to her- I think because her need for filling up her time is so genuinely felt across the pages. She’s obviously lonely, and although happy for her friends, she seems to be the only one without someone to share her time with- hence the supreme business of her scheduled life. I thought her friends were perfect- they all fulfilled a purpose and I found each of them realistic. I don’t want to give anything away and once you reach a certain point in this novel you are quite able to predict the outcome- however I have to mention that Charley’s eventual love interest felt perfect. I liked him, I liked them together and they seemed natural. Although not surprising I enjoyed the chemistry Lucy Robinson made clear between them.
A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger was a bit slow in spots but overall I enjoyed the novel and was happy with the originality of Charley’s personality as well as some of the other characters in the book. They weren’t all typical and it made the story a good one.
Thank you to the author for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
Connect with Lucy Robinson:
No comments:
Post a Comment