LibriAmoriMiei: Review & Giveaway: To Fall in Love Again by David Burnett

mercoledì 11 marzo 2015

Review & Giveaway: To Fall in Love Again by David Burnett

Drew Nelson did not plan to fall in love that morning!

He did not plan to talk with anyone. He did not plan to make a new friend. He resisted all of Amy’s attempts to draw him out− at the hotel, at the airport, on the airplane− giving hurried responses and burying his face in a pile of papers.

But when the flight attendant offered coffee, and a muscle in Amy’s back twitched as she reached for it, and the cup tipped, and the hot liquid puddled in Drew’s lap, then they began to talk!

Earlier in the year, each had lost a spouse of over thirty years. Drew’s wife had died of a brain tumor, Amy’s husband when his small airplane nose-dived to earth, the engine at full throttle − an accident, it was ruled. They live in the same city. Both have grandchildren. They are about the same age. Consciously, or not, they both are looking to love again.

But relationships do not exist in vacuums. Drew is wealthy, and Amy is middle class. Amy is “new” in town – she and her husband moved to Charleston twenty-five years ago – while Drew’s family has lived there for three centuries. Drew lives below Broad, a code word for high society, old families, power, and money. Amy’s home is across the river.

Class warfare may be less violent than it was in the past, but when Drew invites Amy to the St Cecelia Ball, battle lines are drawn.

In a city in which ancestry is important, the ball’s membership is passed from father to son, and only those from the oldest families are members.

Family, friends, co-workers all weigh in on their relationship and choose sides. Allies are found in unexpected places. Opposition comes from among those who were thought to be friends. Though they are gone, even their spouses − through things they have done and things they have said − wield influence in the conflict that follows.

Is Drew is one of them, the rich snobs who despise Amy? Does he truly love her?

Does Amy care for Drew? Can she trust him, or is he simply using her?

As each questions the other’s motives, their feelings for each other are tested.

Do Drew and Amy truly want to fall in love again?

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"To Fall In Love Again is a beautiful and gentle love story that just has to be read."

- review from Amazon

"The story was heart-warming and touching and showed that differences don’t always have to be that important." - review from Amazon

"It's a breath of fresh air to have a romance that doesn't follow the usual format, the fact that the characters were older and everything didn't just fall into place was very realistic."

- review from Goodreads

My Review

The protagonist of this book is the real, mature, true love: the main characters are both over fifty, at this age you fall in love deeply, tenderly.

Drew and Amy are both recently widowed and have no desire to fall in love again. Di, Drew's wife, shortly before her death, made him promise to remarry but he believes it's impossible to love another woman. Amy has loved all her life Jack, her husband only to discover that he for years had an affair with a colleague. Both have sons, grandchildren, their love is all they need. But fate decided otherwise. Amy and Drew live in the same city but have never met, perhaps because they belong to two different social classes. Amy has been to visit her sister and is returning home. Drew is going around to take pictures that are one of his passions. Staying at the same hotel, they meet in the elevator then take the same two planes and in both are sitting next to each other. Amy tries to engage Drew in a conversation, but the man is busy reading the last book wrote by his wife: the story of her illness. Amy accidentally throws coffee on him thus attracting his attention and begin to talk and get to know. But they lose sight of when they arrive at the airport .... Then fate intervenes again: Amy's youngest daughter must make the thesis and will help just by Drew .... They start dating but soon collide with their social differences and their sons's concerns to their relationship, especially Amy's eldest daughter. Will they build a new family? Will their love overcome their social differences?

The story is narrated by alternating the point of view of Drew and Amy, so we can live better their feelings, their concerns, their desires. It's well-written, compelling pace and never boring. The characters are all well characterized and amazing. Drew is the perfect gentleman, sweet, polite, tries to make Amy feel at ease even in environments that she has never attended and where she can hear a fish out of water. Amy is a woman insecure, are influenced by what people may think of her relationship with a man very much richer than she, especially by her colleague, the perfidious Barb. The various grandchildren are adorable, especially Lucas, the troublemaker. I also really loved Cathy, Amy's daughter eho acted as cupid.

One other thing I love about this book is Charleston and its society and history, I can not wait to visit it.

I recommend it to those who love romance.

About the author

David Burnett lives in Columbia South Carolina, with his wife and their blue-eyed cat, Bonnie. The Reunion, his first novel, is set in nearby Charleston.

David enjoys traveling, photography, baking bread, and the Carolina beaches. He has photographed subjects as varied as prehistoric ruins on the islands of Scotland, star trails, sea gulls, a Native American powwow, and his grandson, Jack. David and his wife have traveled widely in the United States and the United Kingdom. During one trip to Scotland, they visited Crathes Castle, the ancestral home of the Burnett family near Aberdeen. In The Reunion, Michael's journey through England and Scotland allows him to sketch many places they have visited.

David has graduate degrees in psychology and education and previously was Director of Research for the South Carolina Department of Education. He and his wife have two daughters.

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