Author: Jenny Hale.
Publisher: Bookouture.
Genre: Contemporary Romance.
Release Date: May 23, 2014.
Source: Review copy.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Purchase: Amazon UK
Sometimes you find perfect where you least expect it...
Libby Potter has just lost the perfect job, the perfect apartment and the perfect boyfriend. Moving back to the same home town that she couldn’t wait to escape when she was younger was definitely not on her to-do list. Especially as it means running into the man whose heart she broke when she left.
Pete Bennett can still walk into a room and make Libby’s world stop with just the sound of his voice – even ten years on. Only now, she is the last person in the world that he wants to see.
As everyone else welcomes Libby home with open arms, she realizes she’s missed that special closeness that comes from lifelong friendship. And, as Libby tries to make amends with Pete, she begins to wonder whether she made the right choice in leaving all those years ago.
When an amazing career opportunity gives her the chance to leave again, Libby will have to decide what her version of perfect is… and where she really belongs.
Before I start, let’s just admire that gorgeous cover for a second… Love Me for Me is billed as a feel-good book but I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get that. Maybe I’m just an emotional wreck but I sobbed the whole way through it. It was definitely heart-warming but I didn’t really get the feel-good vibe, or at least not until I finished the book and thought about what a beautiful story it was.
Libby has moved back home after her dream life in New York has fallen apart. Her engagement broken off and her job lost, she’s back to face the world she left behind all those years ago. As Libby confronts her relationships with her mother, with her ex-boyfriend Pete and a lot of other names from her past, we learn more about why she left and the people she’d left too. At first, I found Libby a little difficult to like because she seemed a bit stuck up but I did warm to her around the time she saw Hugh again and seemed more emotional and regretful.
Love Me for Me seemed to combine two touching stories into one. We see Libby, trying to find herself and discover how she can be truly happy. Pete and her mum and friends like Jeanie each had their own feelings on the matter but it was moving seeing Libby’s journey throughout this book. It felt real and believable too because you can be young and think you want something so badly but then end up with doubts because things change and people learn to appreciate things differently.
The other story in Love Me for Me was the one which got to me so much – Hugh’s dementia. Jenny Hale wrote this in such a sensitive and moving way – it was written incredibly. I know how dementia can affect a family and so I know how right Jenny got this. Seeing Hugh’s good and bad days, the way Pete coped with looking after him, the way Hugh felt, it was all done so perfectly. This just sums up Love Me for Me. It’s a gorgeous novel with wonderful characters and such a meaningful plot, one which I think everyone can learn from.
Sometimes our friends can see the things that we can't. Whilst she didn't start straight away, that comment sowed a seed and several years, two children and hundreds of thousands of words later, Jenny finished her first novel.
Coming Home for Christmas went on to be a Kindle hit on both sides of the Atlantic - reaching the top 20 in the UK.
Love Me for Me is Jenny's second novel and you can visit her at: www.itsjennyhale.com
This book is on my wishlist and after reading your review I'm going to buy it for sure!
ReplyDeleteFab! I hope you enjoy it. It's such a stunning book.
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