Tuesday 12 August 2014

Review ~ Somebody to Love by Sheryl Browne

Title: Somebody to Love.
Author: Sheryl Browne.
Publisher: Safkhet.
Genre: Romance.
Release Date: June 24, 2012.
Source: Bought.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Purchase: Amazon UK

Sigh with contentment, scream with frustration. At times you will weep.

After that idiot of a husband ran off with that broomstick of a girl, single-mom Donna thinks there's no sunshine in her future. What she needs now is a hunk of a guy who loves her and her three-legged dog with no complications.

Solution? Call the police.

Mark is a single dad with two big worries – protect and serve, and his autistic son Karl. Desperately he wants someone who'll love him and his son without question and with no complications. He's been hurt before and Karl needs stability – not short dates. So he'll do anything for his kid – even lie to protect him.

Can these two get it together and get together? Is Mark the hunk Donna needs? Is Donna the rock Mark can lean on? If they look hard enough, they'll find Somebody to Love.







Somebody to Love on first judgment (the cover) looks like a light, adorable story and whilst it was a really sweet novel, I was blown away by Sheryl’s beautiful writing. This book is much more than meets the eye – funny at times and at others more touching. Alongside the romance between Donna and Mark, Sheryl’s writing takes us on a journey which shows us, with Sadie, Findus and Starbuck, how pets can impact on our lives and with Karl, Mark’s son, we learn about autism and the effect that has on a life too.

We’re brought the attraction between Mark and Donna very early on and from there, I wasn’t sure which way this book would go. I loved a lot of the dialogue when both characters were talking or thinking about the other one – the wit which Sheryl is so good at writing never got lost in Somebody to Love. Both Donna and Mark were lacking in confidence and so this was never going to be a straightforward romance but I loved seeing how it progressed.

Somebody to Love didn’t just focus on the relationship between Donna and Mark – outside of the romance, my favourite part of the book was definitely the relationship between Mark’s autistic son Karl and his assistance dog Starbuck. This was written stunningly and it was so moving. Sheryl doesn’t force the autism aspect of this book on us and it isn’t about teaching us everything about the condition either. More, she perfectly involves this is the story and shows us the real impact autism can have on Karl and his family’s life. No exaggerations, just beautiful, sensitive writing and seeing Karl’s progression throughout this book was a joy to read.

Another relationship I loved seeing develop in Somebody to Love was the relationship between Donna and her teenage son Matt. Matt was his own person and he wasn’t completely rebellious nor was he completely hanging off Donna’s every word. He just felt like the average teenage boy, one that’s capable and willing to do anything to help when it’s really needed or appreciated. I think I warmed to their relationship because so often in books, teens are portrayed to be fully rebellious and rude all the time whereas in Somebody to Love, everything felt more real.

I’ve come to learn from the books I’ve read by Sheryl Browne so far that I’ll rarely have a bad word to say about them but Somebody to Love felt like something a bit more special. I was surprised by how much I loved it but it had a lot more to it than a typical romance novel and was simply a wonderful read.




Review also posted on Goodreads | Amazon UK

2 comments:

  1. Oh, God, I am literally crying. That is a beautiful review, Sophie. Writers (all writers, I truly believe) try so hard to get it right. My efforts have just been made totally worthwhile. Thank you so very, very much. I love it. :) xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of my absolute favourite books, Sheryl. xx

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