To Love and Be Loved

Product Information

Amanda Prowse's books are like a comforting mug of hot chocolate. Having read several now, she never fails to stir the emotions and challenge perceptions.

Amanda Prowse is one of my favourite authors, so when I saw this new book release, I couldn't say no to reading it! I just love all Amanda's books so when her latest one came out I had to find a quiet spot in my house and open my kindle! All housework etc goes out of the window......Take away leaflets come out of their drawers! I am not cooking!!! When Merrin has to return to the village for the wedding of her beloved sister, she takes the very handsome Miguel with her, and tried to put the ghosts of the past behind her. They live near the sea in Port Charles in Cornwall, England. Who wouldn’t want to live right on the beach. This is family property and the Kellow’s have been a part of the community for years. The description of the area will take your breath away. I want to live there! It sounds like perfection. At least perfection for a small town. As you know, in a small town everybody knows your business. Due to the writing style you can feel yourself being immersed in the Cornwall scenery and the fishing village in which it is set, the story appears very slow at times and you find yourself lost at times within the timeline and how much time has passed, whereas the addition of a new love interest for Merry right at the end feels very rushed.This is my second book by the author which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I took my own sweet time because I wasn't ready to let go of the characters and their memories too soon. Not able to face the humiliation, Merrin takes a job away from her beloved home and family. Merrin knows she is hurting her parents, sister, and best friend being away, but she just needs time to heal. Years go by, and Merrin meets Miguel, a perfectly kind and handsome man, but Merrin’s still not ready or able to love or be loved. It takes the loss of someone very dear to Merrin, to make her open up to love once again. There are a couple of characters in here that I truly despised. Even after I read what they had to say I was not happy with them. Some things should not ever be tampered with. But that would have made this book different so it's really done to perfection in my humble opinion. The would be mother in law did finally grow on me a tad. Not a lot, but a bit. As much as I didn't want to like her, she had some good points. I felt for her a little. Until now. It's been six years, and she did start a new chapter of her life after all - one far away from the sleepy seaside village of her past away from her family and friends, away from the reminders of everything bad that had happened to her. She has a stable job, she hasn't gotten her heart broken in years, and things are fine. But when she receives tragic news, she has to finally return to the place she once knew as home and face it once more time. The Mortimer family are aloof, in particular the matriarch Loretta, who Merrin blames for what happened, although it is really Digby who is to blame because of his immaturity. Loretta sees this but Merrin does not until much later.

There possibly could not have been a better name for this one. We may, at times, take for granted the love we are surrounded with without realising that … "It is surely the best gift you can bestow upon one another: to love and be loved." The story had heartbreaking moments and it’s not a fast-paced novel, it does alternate with what’s happened in the past and present. Reading Amanda Prowse’s books always leaves me better than when I started. It leaves me with a sense of hope, and just a little more loved. This is how I felt reading TO LOVE AND BE LOVED. I struggled to take a liking to the centre character Merry she can across as very self centred and self absorbed who was more worried about what others thought about her than anything else. The characters around her including her parents, sister Ruby and friends Jarv and Bella and their relationships were fantastically written and definitely added to the unfolding story and kept me reading till the end.

We jump between multiple point of views, learning more about the past and the people M In this life-affirming tale from bestselling author Amanda Prowse, one woman built a new life to escape her humiliation. Now, can she put the shame behind her and finally find happiness?