Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft

Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft
Buy Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Fairhead
Summary: Thought-provoking women's fiction, with themes of love, trust and friendship.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 318	Date: November 2013
Publisher: Choc Lit
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781781890554
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Sue Moorcroft is not a typical ‘chick lit’ writer, despite the pink and purple cover of this novel, and the fact that her publisher is ‘Choc Lit’. Certainly there’s a romantic element to the book, but there’s a great deal more besides. Love, in the title, does not simply refer to romance and adult relationships, but also includes strong family ties.

Tamara is in a comfortable relationship with Max, her childhood sweetheart. They haven’t moved in together but it’s on the cards, and he’s been checking out some local houses. Tamara has a place of her own, but spends a great deal of time with her family - a somewhat stressed mother, a father who likes a peaceful life, and a sister who has never grown up. Not that Lyddie was born that way; as a teenager, she was lively and energetic. Then she was hit by a car, and seriously brain damaged. Now in her thirties, she is like a somewhat hyperactive nine-year-old, keen on particular TV shows and computer games, passionate about animals, and with very little sense of responsibility.

Tamara has built up a small business teaching yoga in the community and things seem to be going well, until two bombshells are dropped. Her boyfriend has been offered a job elsewhere, and wants her to move away from the village with him. Whatever decision she makes, someone is going to get hurt. In addition, Jed, who was Lyddie’s boyfriend before her accident, appears on their doorstep with a shocking revelation, which Tamara’s mother simply can’t deal with…

There’s another plotline too, involving a wealthy young woman with a leg injury who employs Tamara as a private yoga instructor. The author has done her research well and tells a good story. She blends the various subject matters together, gently educating me about yoga, in a low-key kind of way, and also giving a very sympathetic portrait of Lyddie, whom I started to like very much indeed. Sue Moorcroft has a great style of writing with believable conversation and just enough detail to help me see places and people in my mind’s eye.

Oh, and the hero was really very likeable indeed. Choc Lit heroes are supposed to be as irresistible as chocolate, and that was certainly the case in this book.

It was an ideal book for dipping into at bedtime while staying with various relatives. It was very readable with characters I could relate to, but not particularly gripping…

Or so I thought, until events developed in unexpected ways, and minor mysteries unfolded. I started wondering just who could be trusted, and who was going to get hurt.

So the book became quite difficult to put down, and there were some surprises before the somewhat predictable (but entirely satisfactory) conclusion. But - sigh - I have to remove a star from my rating for a couple of all-too-explicit bedroom scenes, which - unfortunately - seem to be compulsory with this kind of publisher. Yes, I realise that modern fictional couples are going to get each other into bed after just a few dates, but I really don’t want any detail about what they get up to. When I like a book, I want to be able to recommend it to all my friends, including those with conservative tastes and young teenagers; alas, I can’t do so when there are ‘adult’ scenes.

Still, other than that, I thought this a very enjoyable light read that was thought-provoking, and also quite memorable. Highly recommended if you’re keen on women’s fiction of this kind.

Many thanks to the publisher for sending this book to The Bookbag.

If you like this kind of book, I would highly recommend others by the same author, such as Uphill All the Way or Starting Over

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You can read more book reviews or buy Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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