Review: sweet, gentle small town romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2013
Love Him or Leave Him (A Small Town, Big Dreams Novel) (Entangled Bliss)Sara Daniel.ARC supplied by publisher.Romance, I love it :) and eagerly started on this book. Connor is a lovely man, finally back in the small town he grew up in after some horrific experiences in Afghanistan with the military, and then with the city police. He loves the way it's so secure and has pledged to make it his duty to keep it that way, and wants nothing more than to stay in the town the rest of his life. His schoolgirl sweetheart is there still. They split acrimoniously, and for the two years he's been back have been very carefully avoiding each other. Becca dreamed of travelling but had to sacrifice her dreams to look after a younger brother. Now he's almost eighteen she can't wait to leave and start her travels. Even though the attraction between the two is still shimmering there thoughts on the future are worlds apart - literally.On the face of it I thought it was a perfect set up for romance but... the small town part was just too small for me. The characters irritated me. I grew up - and still live - in a small village, so I'm aware of how gossipy and awkward things can get but this seemed a step too far. The police tracking a lost dog as an emergency? The vandalism possibly resulting in an attempted manslaughter charge? When son no 1's car was broken into a couple of years back it took two days for police to arrive, and their response? "if you hear anything about who the culprit is contact us" I thought that was their job, certainly they'd never take anything as minor as the events that happen here so seriously. Even though its UK versus US and the policing style is different, and that's its fact v fiction its still just too far for me. I need to feel that events could be real and this just didn't work. There were some good moments, I liked the way the people pulled together to help Becca set up her fitness centre, and the gossiping was something universal to all small villages I guess, and can be very funny as an onlooker. I felt for Becca in her quest to get her brother to go onto further education, and felt for him too. He was basically a good lad, but wanted something different out of life than Becca and resented her - as kids do resent parents. I remember the struggle to get my own kids to take education seriously - probably my parents had the same problem. Something else universal to all generations :)Overall I enjoyed the book, but as a one off read only. Its very light, has some humour and very little sex for those who don't like that. As an old fashioned romance it works well, for those who want more sensual, realistic scenes like me its not one for the keeper files, but then we all (thankfully ) like different things which is why I give reasons for what I didn't like. That may be the opposite for someone else and make this a perfect read for them. At 2.36 for 184 pages its good value of this sort of novel appeals.Stars: three from me.