To Love and Be Loved by Amanda Prowse - Book Review

To Love and Be Loved by Amanda Prowse

Publication Date: 11th Jan 2022
Genre: Women’s Fiction

3 Stars 

One-Liner: Some great side characters, but not enough. 

Merrin was in love and excited to marry her beau, Digby. She could see her entire future with her family and Digby in Port Charles, Cornwall. It was her home, after all. But the day of the wedding leaves her shattered and vulnerable. Merrin leaves her home in the fishing village to rebuild her life. 

Six years have passed, and Merrin has a life of her own away from home. She doesn’t want to go back but has no choice when a tragedy strikes. Merrin realizes what she missed by leaving her community and dear ones and changing into someone she isn’t. Back home, Merrin has to decide who she is and what she wants from life. What does her future hold? Is she willing to move on and be truly happy? 

I’ve had some of the author’s previous books on my TBR list for a while. When this one showed up in the Read Now section on NetGalley, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. 

Plus Points: 

• Ruby (Merrin’s older sister) and Bella (Merrin’s bestie) are two fab characters in the book. Merrin’s mother was just as good. 
• The tension between Ruby and Merrin is a highlight of the book. 
• Women have a larger role to play (as expected) throughout. They are the decision-makers. 
• Beautiful descriptions of Cornwall. Something different from the city/ small town descriptions I usually read. 

Not-so Plus Points: 

• The narration is too slow. I understand slow beginnings, but this one is slow from start to finish. At no point did I want to read fast to know what happened next. The story went its own sweet way. 
• Despite Ruby being painted as the insecure sister, Merrin seemed self-absorbed in many scenes. It was about her most of the time. Even when I understood what she went through, I couldn’t continue feeling sad for her for the rest of the book. 
• Multiple POVs (in the limited third person) but none for Ruby. I wanted to know her more. She seemed more real and vulnerable than many others. 
• No clear indication for time leaps. We won’t know that a few months/ years have passed until we read the first 2-4 paragraphs in a chapter. Makes it a little hard to track the timeline.
• The happy ending was good, but bringing a new love interest in the last chapter somehow didn’t work for me. Given what Merrin repeats throughout the book, it felt surreal. 
• Some weird adverbs (I forgot to note them but I remember wondering why they had to be used). 

To sum up, To Love and Be Loved has its merits but hasn’t been a noteworthy read for me. Pick it up if you want something slow and sedate with bursts of emotions. 

Thank you, NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK, and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

#ToLoveandBeLoved #NetGalley