Review: A Woman Starting Over
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2013
Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to author Madeleine Beckett.)25-year-old Myra is having a difficult time of things. Her grandfather just died leaving her with no blood relations at all, and her boyfriend dumped her for another woman, who to make matters worse is now pregnant, and a total b*tch.Deciding that the best way to deal with all of this is to move back home to her grandfather's house, Myra quits her job, and moves away, intending to use her time to write a novel.Her grandfather's house is falling to pieces though, and she needs to hire someone to fix it. Between the leaking roof, no running water, blocked toilets, and faulty electrics, it's going to take a lot of work.When her neighbour suggests she hire a man called Dylan who worked on his house, Myra checks him out before hiring him, but unfortunately she can't check his temperament, and is shocked that he is so distant, moody, and angry all the time.Myra has other thing to worry about though when her next door neighbour dies, and her ex turns up at her house uninvited.Why is Dylan so angry all the time? Will Myra be able to make a life for herself in the town where she grew up? Will her ex ever leave her alone? And will Myra and her hunky contractor ever hit it off?I enjoyed this book. I was a little sceptical at first as it was written in the third person, which I have not read much of lately, but as I got into the story it became compulsive reading!Myra is a likeable character, and I felt really sorry for her the way her ex - Trent treated her. It can't be easy to find out that the man you love is cheating on you with another woman, especially when you work at the same company! I was glad that Myra had her friend Susie to support her as she had no family left, but I wasn't 100% sure that running away from her problems was a good idea or not. While I thought she could do with the closure, I worried that she was running away rather than facing her problems.Susie - Myra's best friend was a larger-than-life character. I honestly have not met anyone like her ever before, and some of the stuff that she came out with was just crazy! I have quite honestly never heard of a condom being called a `custard catcher' before, and some of her other lines were pretty funny too, one of my personal favourites being - `Did you get a taste of Dylan's footlong yet?'.Susie was a fab character, and she was such a supportive friend to Myra, which was just what she needed.Dylan was a very angry man. He swore constantly, kept everyone at arm's length, and was generally quite a gruff character. He was obviously hiding something, or had something in his past that made him this way, but his general demeanour was not good. I could understand how he would have women throwing themselves at him because he was a hunk, but that anger should really have sent them running for the hills!I liked the storyline, and I liked how it took a long time for Myra and Dylan to warm up to each other. There wasn't a lot of romance in this book, the story was more focused on Myra and how she was trying to move on with her life after Trent. We were treated to a bit of action at the end though.Otherwise the end of this book wasn't really an end. I'm afraid we got a total cliff-hanger!! I'm guessing that you have to read the next book in the series to really find out what becomes of Myra and Dylan now.Overall; a story about a woman starting over, with a touch of romance and humour.7 out of 10.