Review to follow

Becca is counting down the days until her brother graduates so she will finally be free to travel the world rather than staying in the small town of Kortville, Ilinois. Connor, the town sheriff never wants to leave Kortville. The two were high school sweethearts until Connor broke Becca’s heart. Now he is battling his own demons from Afghanistan to try and win Becca’s love once again, despite the fact that they both are looking for very different things. Love Him or Leave Him is the second in the ‘Small Town, Big Dreams’ series.

At first I didn’t find Love Him or Leave Him to be that enjoyable. The opening jumped straight into heated emotions and lustful thoughts which seemed to come out of nowhere (even after reading more into the story the beginning still didn’t make much sense and was far too contrived in my opinion). The characters felt half-formed with a few situational issues carefully placed in their way. However, about halfway through the novel suddenly became much more readable with the story becoming character-led – it’s just unfortunate that it didn’t start that way.

The story does deal with a few serious issues, in particular PTSD and vandalism, with the usual trust issues that always appear in romance novels. These issues were explained enough to show how they affect the characters within the town, but definitely didn’t eclipse the light-hearted romance.

Love Him or Leave Him would be a wonderful summer read, leaving you with appreciation of wherever you are. Despite the faltering start, I look forward to reading more books by Sara Daniel, with the hope that they will offer more endings that leave me wishing for more.

[I received an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

This review has been cross-posted on Captivated by Books

Celia, a Princeton scholarship student and aspiring writer, feels that she hasn’t had enough ‘life experience’ to have anything worthwhile to write about. So when she has to get a new job, she takes a chance on a newspaper advert for an egg donor.

Elise, a freelance editor, is determined to have a child and refuses to accept that her body won’t naturally create one. Elise is impressed with Celia’s written application and selects her, however Elise is determined to get to know Celia in the process.

Peter, Elise’s husband, is a Princeton Grad student, struggling to complete his dissertation. Between the stress of starting a family and Elise quitting her job, Peter finds it increasingly difficult to find his focus.

When I started reading, I wasn’t sure whether it would be something I would enjoy. However, that soon left my mind as I became enchanted with Rachel Newcomb’s words. There were so many times I had to stop and just drink in the beauty of the language used, which is something I rarely find in a book. This, surprisingly, didn’t detract in any way from the story. The main reason for this, in my opinion, is the strong and real characters Rachel has created; the fact that the story is told through a mix of the three main character’s perspectives only strengthened this.

I felt I could really relate to Celia. She is a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer, but once at College/University Celia starts to become aware of how sheltered her upbringing in South Carolina was and begins to worry that without exciting adventures, she won’t have anything to write about. While I related most with Celia, I could empathise with all the characters, feeling that I knew them as if they were friends.

Despite the controversial topics raised in this novel, I feel that The Gift is a novel about three people finding themselves and not simply constructed in an attempt to share the author’s opinions. There was enough information for me to understand what was going on in the sense of the egg donation, but that wasn’t the focus of the story. The novel completely revolves around the characters and I was sorry that it had to end. Though the beginning was a little slow, the only main issue I had with this novel is the title. The book felt so unique that I wished it had a title that not only encapsulated that, but one that won’t be easily confused with other novels (such as The Gift by Cecelia Ahern).

I would recommend The Gift to anyone who appreciates the beauty of language, as well as those looking for an interesting contemporary read which doesn’t allow the subject to create a heavy cast over it. I am definitely planning to read more novels by Rachel Newcomb.

[Disclaimer: I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]