Written by Chloe James
Thank you to the publishers, Harper Collins for a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I had seen this book a lot on “bookstagram” and Twitter and was so intrigued by it, especially since I love a love story!
Set at the beginning of the pandemic this book is written as diary entries from our two main characters who take a chapter each.
Sophia is a primary school teacher who is working in the key worker hub (she doesn’t seem to provide any online learning for her other kids which is interesting…. we had to do both but not every school is the same I assume….) so is “lucky” in that she is able to go out each day to work and have some kind of normality and routine to her days. However, like everyone she is still struggling to get her head around this new normal.
Jack on the other hand is shielding due to his medical condition, something he has lived with his whole life but never let it stop him before. Stuck inside his little flat Jack is beginning to go mad, calling and facetiming just isn’t the same and he hasn’t had an opportunity to meet his neighbours before. One evening though, during the clap for carers this changes as he hears a woman crying and feels he has to check that she is okay.
On the surface this is a really lovely book which captures the essence of community spirit and ‘coming together in adversity’ that the news loves reporting! I really liked the characters in themselves and the substance to them. However some bits just didn’t fit for me, it was all too lovely dovey, easy… Also I found some of the storyline around Jack confusing and couldn’t quite work out the timeline for his previous life events.
All in all though it is a cute, love story read, my cynic side could be due to the on going lockdowns and restrictions!
Highland Book Fairy 