Derek Balfe proposed to Milly O’Shea at twenty.

She turned him down and left to build a career and a future that didn’t include him. Derek had no idea that it wasn’t purely Milly’s decision to decline but rather the influence of a meddling relative.

Now thirty-eight, Derek is a successful hotelier, divorced, and parenting two teenagers. His father is retiring soon and has asked Derek to take over the family business. He has a lot going on, and to add to it, Milly has moved back into town, more distractingly beautiful, shy and delicate than ever–and with a teenage daughter of her own in tow. Milly is close friends with Derek’s sister, so he can’t avoid running into her–but he is determined to ice her out.

That is, until their daughters meet at school and become inseparable. Derek has to deal with seeing Milly every week, sometimes daily. The more he’s around her, the more he realises that deep down she’s still the same girl he fell for all those years ago, and he begins to suspect that there was more to her rejecting his proposal than he’d always believed.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

What God with a dark sense of humour had decided to curse me now?

My Review:

This tasty tale was laced together with considerable angst, which ordinarily is not my jam, but I didn’t seem to mind as the characters were so well inhabited and endearing that I was willing to hang in there with them. The writing was absorbing, poignant, easy to follow, thoughtfully and perceptively parsed, and well-paced. L.H. Cosway has mad skills.

 

About the Author

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L.H. Cosway lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favourite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books. She thinks that imperfect people are the most interesting kind. They tell the best stories. L.H. is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.