Book Review - A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans

Image: My own

From the book cover: Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. Her friends know it, her parents know it - even Laura acknowledges she lives either with her head in the clouds or buried in a romance novel. It's proved harmless enough, even if it hasn't delivered her a real-life dashing hero yet. But when her latest relationship ends in a disaster that costs her friendships, her job, and nearly her sanity, Laura swears off men and hopeless romantic fantasies for good. 

With her life in tatters around her, Laura agrees to go on vacation with her parents. After a few days of visiting craft shops and touring the stately homes of England, Laura is ready to tear her hair out. And then, while visiting grand Chartley Hall, she crosses paths with Nick, the sexy, rugged estate manager. She finds she shares more than a sense of humor with him - in fact, she starts to think she could fall for him. But is Nick all he seems? Or has Laura got it wrong again? Will she open her heart only to have it broken again?

My take: I love thick, fat books. Especially when the story is engrossing and keeps you guessing. But this one that I picked up partly due to the story line and partly because of the gorgeous cover, was a tad lagging. I liked the story, the characters but felt that the book could have been a good hundred pages shorter at the very least. 

The story can be called a modern twist to a fairy tale. Laura, the protagonist keeps getting into wrong relationships one after the other and meets the mysterious stranger, Nick, while on her vacation. 

The storyline as with all romance novels is predictable. I really liked the character of Mary, Laura's grandmother. The spunk and frank ways in which she addresses problems are hilarious. Another thing that I loved was the constant reference to Rebecca (or more precisely Mrs Danvers), one of my all time favorite novels. Go for this one if you are a hopeless romantic like me :) 

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