Book Review - Always with You by Andrea Hurst
This book is women's fiction so doesn't fit in with my usual mystery book review. Since I read the book I thought I would include a post on it anyway.
Always with You tells the story of Cathy who owns a health food cafe in northern California. She tries to convince herself she's happy with her life but when an old school friend comes to stay with her husband and daughter, Cathy begins to realize what she is missing.
Her friend Pam isn't a likeable character - by design I would guess in order to make it easier for the reader to accept Cathy and Jamie's attraction. As the two start to fall for each other, we like Pam less and less and the reader is led to believe she really doesn't deserve her happy family.
I try not to give away the plot but I think this one is somewhat predictable. I would liken the work to Nicholas Sparks but the writing is not at that level. The other problem I have with the story in general is that Cathy doesn't seem to work the restaurant, except when it's convenient for the story. As a restaurant owner (and as I restaurant worker myself in the past) I know how many hours are devoted to keeping a business like this going. Often with only one person managing it she wouldn't have stayed in business long. In the real world, it would have been necessary for Cathy to spend hours prepping, cooking, serving and cleaning up after the guests. On top of that she has rooms on the second floor she leases (again convenient to the story).
It wasn't a bad read but it also wasn't a great one. I would give it 3 forks out of 5.
Happy trails,
Leslie
Always with You tells the story of Cathy who owns a health food cafe in northern California. She tries to convince herself she's happy with her life but when an old school friend comes to stay with her husband and daughter, Cathy begins to realize what she is missing.
Her friend Pam isn't a likeable character - by design I would guess in order to make it easier for the reader to accept Cathy and Jamie's attraction. As the two start to fall for each other, we like Pam less and less and the reader is led to believe she really doesn't deserve her happy family.
I try not to give away the plot but I think this one is somewhat predictable. I would liken the work to Nicholas Sparks but the writing is not at that level. The other problem I have with the story in general is that Cathy doesn't seem to work the restaurant, except when it's convenient for the story. As a restaurant owner (and as I restaurant worker myself in the past) I know how many hours are devoted to keeping a business like this going. Often with only one person managing it she wouldn't have stayed in business long. In the real world, it would have been necessary for Cathy to spend hours prepping, cooking, serving and cleaning up after the guests. On top of that she has rooms on the second floor she leases (again convenient to the story).
It wasn't a bad read but it also wasn't a great one. I would give it 3 forks out of 5.
Happy trails,
Leslie
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