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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I hang my head, bringing up the rear like some wayward child as everyone files into the sitting room. It looks like there has been an explosion and most of it is snack related.

 

Where were you when he proposed?

Oh, sitting opposite him in the kitchen watching him chopping garlic.

Did he get down on one knee?

No, but he did stop chopping for a moment.

 

Sometimes a hero doesn’t arrive on a white charger or knock on your door with his arms full of flowers. Often, he makes you laugh when you least expect to – like when you are staring at a photo of you both naked on the internet and your mother comes up behind you.

 

‘That’s easy for you to say as it isn’t your naked rear that keeps popping up on the internet.’ The smile he’d given me was wicked. ‘Yes, but you look good, so don’t knock it… and when you’re eighty years old I bet you’ll get a little thrill when you remember that moment. I know I always will.’

 

It’s officially wine o’clock, and this glass has your name on it.

My Review:

 

This was a slowly developing story written in the first person POV of Brie, a best-selling romance writer who was initially suffering from writer’s block. The vast majority of the narrative consisted of Brie’s inner musings and observations, which were often lushly detailed from floor to ceiling.   Each vista, meal, person, and room was lavishly and colorfully described while bringing each character to life fully formed in my mind’s eye. Brie was a hopeless romantic who was still waiting for “The One” to make his appearance in her life but by age thirty, he continued to remain elusive. She was sent as a last minute replacement to assist with a writers’ retreat to a lovely Italian villa, hosted by Arran, a handsome yet complicated man who primarily did not appear impressed with her romantic ideals and successful backlist, but of course that quickly changed and the sheets were scorched.

The storylines were pleasantly engaging although the writing style was quite verbose and took a slow and somewhat complicated route to arrive at that oh-so-satisfying HEA. And bonus – in addition to amusing entertainment, I actually learned a lot about the process of writing fiction during their interesting and thoughtful lessons and workshop discussions.