Friday 4 January 2019

Million Love Songs By Carole Matthews Book Review

I spent a lot of December with my head stuck in a book so expect lots of book reviews over the next few weeks! 2018 was the year I really got back into reading, I've lost count of the amount of books I bought and I fully intend to only read even more in 2019 so let's get started. Million Love Songs by Carole Matthews had been on my list for a few months so when it was on offer in December, I decided to grab it and it was a welcome change after reading many thrillers previously.
Million Love Songs book in front of Christmas tree
Ruby Brown is ready for a change. She's single for the first time in years and she's going to dive into this brave new world with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. The last thing she's looking for is a serious relationship. Mason represents everything Ruby wants right now: he's charming, smooth and perfect for some no-strings-attached fun. Joe on the other hand is kind and attractive, but comes with the sort of baggage Ruby wants to avoid: an annoyingly attractive ex-wife and two teenage children. Ruby thinks she knows what she wants, but is it what she needs to be truly happy? It's about to get emotional in Million Love Songs.

My Review

I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but I wanted to quickly mention how beautiful this one is. It stood out to me amongst loads of other books and I knew it would be one I'd read eventually. After reading lots of different books in 2018, from pretty heartbreaking stories like Five Years From Now to shocking mysteries like Then She Was Gone, I just wanted something a bit more 'normal' if that makes sense. Just a good story that didn't require much thinking or leave me having to stop and think every few chapters! The story does start off quite slow as we meet Ruby and find out her backstory. We discover she's recently divorced and ready for some fun and that's when we get introduced to her two potential love interests - Mason and Joe. Because of this I did find I didn't really get properly gripped by it until I was about halfway through but then it just seemed to hit a point where it got really interesting and found it's flow and from then on I was desperate to see how it would end.

From the beginning I felt Ruby was a really relatable character and I genuinely liked her. Whilst I'm not a 38 year old divorced woman, I understood her struggles with self esteem, not feeling good enough compared to other women and just wanting a bit more than a 9-5 job from life sometimes. I was rooting for her to find herself and to make the right decision when it comes to the men in her life, I wanted the best for her and I loved how Carole has written it in that you really do get so invested in Ruby and what's going to happen. Onto the men, Carole did a brilliant job with showing different sides to them both, meaning it leaves you wondering if either are actually good enough for Ruby. Though you know Mason isn't quite right for her, you do get glimpses of a good guy whereas Joe overall seems perfect but at times he comes across selfish and out for himself and at times I just wanted Ruby to stay single, take on life by herself and know she would be okay which I suppose was probably the point of the book. 

Whilst overall this is a love story, which is always going to be my favourite to read, I loved that it was also focused on friendships too. I adored the relationship between Ruby and her Gary Barlow obsessed friends and I found a lot of the time I was hoping for the best for them too, I genuinely liked each of them. There was so much more to this than just a love triangle and whilst I didn't think it was an instant page turner at first, I soon couldn't put it down. It showed life is for living whether you're alone or not, and just because things don't always work out how you planned, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. If you're all about romance like me then this is definitely worth a read.

Have you read Million Love Songs? Let me know if you have any other recommendations!

Other book reviews - One Day In December by Josie Silver // The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

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