Review: Love Returns, But Should It?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 2, 2014
Jo Iles has written a chick lit novel about lost love that finds its way back, but can it really be true and rekindled, or should it be let go?  This is at the heart of some classic women’s literature, including Jane Austen’s Persuasion, but here, Iles’ contemporary romance goes less for the grand theme than the day to day indignities of modern relationships, and the fairly dickish behavior that women often put up with in order to be with men.  In Love Redesigned, Holly is raising her five year old son, Harry, alone after leaving her newish husband while pregnant – turns out he didn’t want kids and certainly didn’t want the one she was carrying.  So… Holly takes off, reestablishes herself as a mother and in her career, and is succeeding in every direction when… Daniel reappears on her doorstep. Regardless of her qualms, sex ensues pretty immediately, complicating everything.  Daniel seems to want to be part of his son’s life, and he also seems interested in Holly again, but… he’s actually engaged to someone else. He’s appeared because he wants a divorce in order to remarry.  Of course what follows is a tangle of emotions, logistics, awkward attempts at fatherhood, and inappropriate sex with Holly… and it even turns out Daniel has been making buck off one of Holly’s designs… why would she want to be with this guy?  Oh yes… he’s her husband after all.  Holly is a lot more forgiving than she perhaps should be, but the romantic quandary and the depiction of motherhood and Harry, the kid whose life is suddenly turned upside down, are interesting and well written.  All in all, it’s a great read and an above average romance novel.