Review: Love Life

Love Life by Nancy Peach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tess Carter is a trainee doctor, currently on rotation in a hospice caring for the terminally ill. She suffers from low self-esteem, occasional bulimia, and has recently found her boyfriend in bed with another man. When a new patient is checked into the hospice with terminal cancer Tess is astonished to see that the patient's son Edward Russell is no other than the young man Eddie she met at a party years ago and made an instant connection. Back then she had a boyfriend and never did anything more than kiss Eddie, but oh how she wished she had. Sadly, finding a lawyer called Eddie (last name unknown) in London is quite difficult.

Unfortunately, the charming, sweet, clever, funny Eddie Tess met back then has turned into a cold, judgmental man, who clearly does not remember Tess at all and challenges her every professional decision, probably because he is in denial about his mother's prognosis. However, as time goes on Tess and Edward find some middle ground and when a personal crisis occurs it is Eddie who comes to the rescue.

Part romance, part women's fiction (think Katie Fforde with edge, or maybe Susie Tate) this would have been a four star read if it hadn't been for the author's decision to give Tess two voices in her head: one a car-crash TV chat show host (think Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer); and the other Jane Austen. The chat show host likes to belittle Tess and make her sound like trailer trash, while Jane Austen tries to bolster her ego. I hated both of them and their interactions were very irritating.

Otherwise, the characters were engaging with real life problems ad the story was well-written, if a little predictable.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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