Set in a small town in Australia, this romance leaves much to be desired.
Gem Tillings was a baker in Melbourne with a shop specializing in vegan offerings. The business failed leaving Gem in debt and owing money to her parents and the bank. A friend gets her an office job in a school in Tyndall, a place that is a little more than a village. Miscommunication by the estate agent finds Gem without a place to lie when she arrives. As a solution, she is offered 9and she accepts) the only other property available – a shop which also has a tiny bedroom and bathroom attached.
Marnie is the overworked local vet who is also the landlord of the shop Gem’s renting. Marnie is a loner and considered slightly weird by the local for her keeping-to-herself ways.
The attraction between the two runs into the wall of Marnie’s extreme introversion which is at complete odds with Gem’s outgoing personality.
Gem and Marnie are developed in detail. But the pull between them is completely lacking. Marnie is the more difficult character between the two, blowing hot blowing cold, jumping to conclusions and seemingly unable to get over herself. She is just way too much work and effort. If the intensity of burn and heat between the two was more, we could probably have rooted for them but as it is written, we felt zero involvement in the goings-on and the relationship. And therein lies the problem with the book – it doesn’t get us involved, though there is ample opportunity for it to have been and immersive read.
Also, it begins very well. the introductory scenes of both the women and their first meeting were very well done. But that set an expectation of something written in a faster, breezier way. The sudden change of approach made the whole experience of the book nosedive.
This one just didn’t grab us.
⭐⭐
