Tuesday 12 August 2014

Review ~ Learning to Love by Sheryl Browne.

Title: Learning to Love.
Author: Sheryl Browne.
Publisher: Safkhet.
Genre: Romance.
Release Date: July 18, 2013.
Source: Bought.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Purchase: Amazon UK

Exploring the Fragility of Love, Life, and Relationships

Widower, Dr David Adams, has recently moved to the village – where no one knows him, ergo there's no fuel for neighbourhood gossip – to start afresh with is ten year old son, if only he can get to a place where his son wants to speak to him. Angry and withdrawn, Jake blames his dad for the death of his mother, and David doesn't know how to reach him.

Andrea Kelly has too many balls in the air. With three children and a "nuts" mother to care for, her fiancé can't fathom why she wants to throw something else into the mix and change her career. Surely she already has too much on her plate? Because her plates are skew-whiff and her balls are dropping off all over the place, Andrea points out. She needs to make changes. Still her fiancé, who has a hidden agenda, is dead-set against it.

When Andrea's house burns mysteriously to the ground and Andrea and her entourage are forced to move in with the enigmatic Dr Adams, however, the village drums soon start beating, fuel aplenty when it turns out someone does know him – the woman carrying his baby.







Sheryl Browne’s great style of writing brings us real characters in believable, moving yet amusing scenarios. Learning to Love is no exception to this and is another brilliant book from such a talented author. Learning to Love mixes just the right amount of humour in with a more serious outlook on life. It’s about family, as beautifully chaotic as they can be, and it’s about overcoming the obstacles life throws your way and finding love in the right place. It’s an addictive, gorgeous read.

Here we meet Andrea and her family – fiancé Jonathan, teenagers Ryan and Sophie, toddler Chloe, mother Dee and dog Dougal. I had a hard time typing that, never mind living with all them on a daily basis. Andrea was an inspiring character – she’s strong and hard-working and frankly when her instantly unlikeable fiancé disappears, I liked her all the more. Just when you think Andrea’s life couldn’t get any more stressful, her house burns down and she finds herself moving in with neighbour David and his son Jake. David on first impressions to me, and to Andrea too, came across as rude and moody but we find there’s a lot more to him than that.

I loved this book for its real sense of community. Seeing your house burn down must make you feel so alone but there are always people who will surprise you, in a good way and try to help you pick the pieces back up. It feels weird to call it uplifting, given the circumstances, but this book just made me smile. I also adored so many of the characters, as I always do in Sheryl’s books. In Learning to Love especially, she explores all generations of a family so well and we get some wonderful characters. My favourite was Dee – she brought so much to this book and was the character that first persuaded me I was going to love this book. Andrea’s teenagers were also standout characters for me but then then I’m forgetting so many fab characters. Reading Learning to Love really makes me appreciate what I have and what’s around me – it’s a gem of a novel.




Review also posted on Goodreads | Amazon UK

5 comments:

  1. Ooooh, Sophie, I could squish you! THANK you soooo much, I wrote this book through so much 'family angst', I just wasn't sure. Thanks to you, and other lovely reviewers, my confidence was restored. Rude and moody, David might appear to be on first meeting, but people really are Learning to Love him!! I cannot thank you enough, Sophie. Really, I can't. You must have worked so hard, hopefully ... well, obviously ... enjoying the reading. But then, you've written all these beautiful reviews. I am indebted and extremely appreciative. BIG HUGE smiles!! :) <3 XX

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    1. I definitely had a lot more love for David as the book went on! You're so welcome, for this and all the other reviews <3 xxx

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  2. An amazing review for an amazing book! I love all of Sheryl's work. x

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    1. Aww, thank you so much, JB! Another wonderful blogger. :) xx

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