Review: A book that grew on me
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
I liked this, but it was a book that took some warming up. I can only describe it as a switch being flicked in me and I went from being pretty nonchalant about it, to finding it sweet touching and romantic.Mel Swann has an aversion to sex. She makes no secret that she'd like to be in a relationship but minus the intimacy and is awkward around men, believes many are after one thing and has a mum that feeds her brain with the 'all men are the same' ideology. When her business partner/friend, Alice ends up out of action, her brother Heath arrives to lend a hand. With the nick-name of Ladyslayer, Mel instantly judges, but there is much more to him and he has more than one reason for arriving in Meadowsweet.It was the whole 'I want a man but I don't want sex' attitude that made Mel difficult to warm to. However, Heath is a gent and I quickly found myself falling under his spell, despite it lurking in the background that Mel actually didn't deserve his understanding. Perseverance paid off though and when everything clicked, it became a book I wanted to finish for the right reasons, although I did feel it was wrapped up a little too quickly.If a shortish closed-door romantic read in a descriptively lovely setting is what you're after, then yes, Love for Beginners fits that bill and I'd happily read Betty's story in the future if we are given the opportunity.(The second novella in the Under the Hood series, Love for Beginners could be read as a standalone, however as the first novella (entitled the same as the series) is Alice's and closely related, I would recommend reading first)I received a copy of this courtesy of Entangled Publishing for an honest & unbiased opinion.