Back of the book :
When Eve Petworth writes to Jackson Cooper to praise a scene in one of his books, they discover a mutual love of cookery and food. As their letters criss-cross the ocean that lies between them, friendship and then romance blossoms – despite Jackson’s colourful love-life and Eve’s tense relationship with her soon-to-married daughter.
Little by little, Eve and Jack begin to believe that they may have a chance to change their lives and possibly a second chance at happiness. They just need to actually meet …
What I think :
The book has two main characters ;
Eve Petworth – She lives in a picture box house in the country here in England. She has one daughter, Izzy, who is getting married soon to Ollie. Eve has a very strained relationship with her daughter.
Eve’s mother Virginia, lived with her as she was ill and Eve was looking after her. Virginia has died a year earlier and she feels that she’s just getting her life back. Izzy unlike Eve had a very good relationship with her grandmother, but Eve, and everyone else, it seems, thought Virginia was a truly awful person.
Eve had a very short marriage to Simon, who left her for another woman when Izzy was just a tiny baby. Simon has now reappeared in their lives and Eve is having a lot of trouble coping with this fact. She has started having panic attacks and is seeing a therapist.
The book starts as Eve has sent her first email to Jackson Cooper – ‘Jack’.
Jackson Cooper – Jack is a novelist who lives by the sea in America. His wife has just left him for another woman ! He has become a bit of a ladies man since the break up of his marriage. luckily he has a best friend, Dex who is an up and coming actor to keep him on the straight and narrow.
Jack is currently dating Adrienne, who is a vegetarian which doesn’t sit well with Jack, as he’s a lover of all food. Since Jack’s wife left he has been experiencing ‘writers block’
Jack really enjoys writing to Eve because she share’s his love of cooking. He has invited Eve to Paris for a couple of days for his birthday. Will Eve be able to leave her family and woes behind long enough to do something for herself ? ….
When I first started to read this book I found it difficult to get in to it. However as I continued to read I really did begin to like it. I must admit though, I really didn’t warm to Jack to start with, I found him quite shallow and arrogant. As the book progressed however, I did start to like him. he turned out to be quite sweet really. I found Eve a lovely character who I could really relate to and identify with her problems, I did feel quite sorry for her when her awful daughter kept on going on about missing ‘gin gin’ the dead Grandmother, without a thought about what her mother was feeling.
After my initial problems with getting into this book I found it quite a pleasing read.
I give this sweet book about love and life 8/10.
Published on 15th January 2015 by Orion Books.
A very Big Thank you to Lucy Richardson at Orion for the Copy of the book to read and review.
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I have been rather intrigued by this book as I love the idea that it doesn’t appear to be all ” picture perfect “. Also highly impressed with your honesty in saying that it took you a while to get into it.
Happy Reading.