Amazon UK
Title: Love Them and Leave Them
Author: Sue Shepherd
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Publisher supplied review copy
Publisher: Corazon Books
Publication Date: 27th September 2016
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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| Amazon UK |
On his way home, Ed makes a split-second decision that changes the lives of all those who love him.
Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.
But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …
Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.
Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.
Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.
But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …
Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.
Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.
Unlike in real life where once you have made a split-second decision you have to live with the consequences and would never know how things turn out, in fiction you can see how one decision is made and follow both potential outcomes.
Which is what Love Them and Leave Them is all about, showing that the same people may come into your lives not matter what, but the reasoning for them, and what they will mean to you could become radically different. This book shows just what weird ways fate operates.
If you were driving down a road in a rainstorm and saw a non moving rabbit in the road in front of you, would you swerve to avoid it, or just continue forwards and hope it runs out of the way in time? Well this is the decision that Ed has to make right at the start of Love Them and Leave Them, which sets of two completely different chain reactions involving his family and more specifically his daughter Jessica.
The story then picks up six years later, and once you have been introduced to the two different scenarios and outcomes, the book continues by alternating each outcome, so each chapter you alternating seeing the results of the swerve or the possibly rabbiticide!
In one scenario Jessica's life has barely gone anywhere, she is waitressing and has trouble maker for a boyfriend who is generally unreliable. In the other she is a barrister, with a wonderful boyfriend and they are looking at houses.
As the story progresses you will see many similarities between the two halves and although you may expect it to be hard to keep track of both ways of life, I found it relatively simple and I was greatly enjoying elements from both of them.
There is a great mix of action, drama, relationship woes, friendship problems, health scares, and generally a similar selection of characters in both lives. It is really hard to say much more in detail about the plot as it really is more enjoyable to discover it from scratch but rest assured its very enjoyable.
This was the first book I had read by Sue Shepherd and I was really impressed with the concept and execution of the story, as well as the easy to follow writing style. Love Them or Leave Them is a lovely novel that may get you thinking what if... in your own life.
Thank you so much to Ian at Corazon for my copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
About Sue Shepherd
Sue Shepherd writes contemporary romance and enjoys creating novels with heart, laughs and naughtiness. She doesn’t pull any punches when choosing her subjects, but manages to handle her characters’ challenging situations with sensitivity and humour. Her debut novel, Doesn't Everyone Have a Secret? was published by Corazon Books in March 2015. It reached the top 10 UK Kindle chart, and also topped the romantic comedy, contemporary romance and humour charts. It became available in paperback on Amazon in November 2015.
Sue’s second novel, Love Them and Leave Them, was published in September 2016.
Sue lives on the picturesque Isle of Wight with her husband, two sons and a standard poodle. Her passions in life are: her family, writing, the sea-side and all the beautiful purple things her sons have bought her over the years. Ask Sue to plan too far in advance and you'll give her the heebie-jeebies.
Twitter - https://twitter.com/thatsueshepherd
Which is what Love Them and Leave Them is all about, showing that the same people may come into your lives not matter what, but the reasoning for them, and what they will mean to you could become radically different. This book shows just what weird ways fate operates.
If you were driving down a road in a rainstorm and saw a non moving rabbit in the road in front of you, would you swerve to avoid it, or just continue forwards and hope it runs out of the way in time? Well this is the decision that Ed has to make right at the start of Love Them and Leave Them, which sets of two completely different chain reactions involving his family and more specifically his daughter Jessica.
The story then picks up six years later, and once you have been introduced to the two different scenarios and outcomes, the book continues by alternating each outcome, so each chapter you alternating seeing the results of the swerve or the possibly rabbiticide!
In one scenario Jessica's life has barely gone anywhere, she is waitressing and has trouble maker for a boyfriend who is generally unreliable. In the other she is a barrister, with a wonderful boyfriend and they are looking at houses.
As the story progresses you will see many similarities between the two halves and although you may expect it to be hard to keep track of both ways of life, I found it relatively simple and I was greatly enjoying elements from both of them.
There is a great mix of action, drama, relationship woes, friendship problems, health scares, and generally a similar selection of characters in both lives. It is really hard to say much more in detail about the plot as it really is more enjoyable to discover it from scratch but rest assured its very enjoyable.
This was the first book I had read by Sue Shepherd and I was really impressed with the concept and execution of the story, as well as the easy to follow writing style. Love Them or Leave Them is a lovely novel that may get you thinking what if... in your own life.
Thank you so much to Ian at Corazon for my copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
About Sue Shepherd
Sue’s second novel, Love Them and Leave Them, was published in September 2016.
Sue lives on the picturesque Isle of Wight with her husband, two sons and a standard poodle. Her passions in life are: her family, writing, the sea-side and all the beautiful purple things her sons have bought her over the years. Ask Sue to plan too far in advance and you'll give her the heebie-jeebies.
Twitter - https://twitter.com/thatsueshepherd
Thank you Rachel. What a lovely review. I really appreciate it. X
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