Is being content with your life enough?

Synopsis

When Seren’s brother Andrew signs her up to Yorkshire Dating, only for them to recommend that she ‘gets a life’ before they find her a match, Seren has to admit that they may have a point.  

She loves her job cooking at an elder day centre and her little flat, but it’s fair to say her life is a little short of hobbies and friends. Since she was young Seren has felt safer close to home, but now she’s a thirty-something divorcee, it’s time for a change.

Change arrives in the shape of alarmingly clever collie Kez, who Seren offers to take in ‘temporarily’, and kind but mysterious new colleague Ned. But as Ned and Kez tempt Seren out of her shell, it means facing her fears. And when Andrew finally reveals the secrets of their childhood, Seren’s need for safety suddenly makes sense.

A problem shared is a problem halved, and with friends by her side, Seren might be able to get a life that she loves at last.

My review

Seren is fed  up with her brother Andrew wanting her to date. She is absolutely fine with her life just how it is. So who cares if she doesn’t have really a hobby? Or that she is living in her little flat, above the elder day centre where she works cooking for the visitors?
But when a dating app even suggests her to make her profile a little more interesting, she has to admit that perhaps they may have a point…
However, how to change that safe life Seren is so accustomed to? Seren reluctantly agrees in joining her brother and his husband on a Game night, and even agrees n helping out a dog training session. A session that ends with her taking a collie, Kez, temporarily at her place.
With Kez, she has no option by getting more outside. And even new colleague Ned, despite his mysterious air around him, is tempting Seren to get out of her shell.
But fears don’t disappear overnight, how much Seren wants them to. And the reason of her fears may be closer to home than Seren thought, and she may need all the support she can get to have even a chance to find her happiness. 

Jane Lovering has the most amazing talent of writing books that warm your heart and yet also break them at the same time. Yet you cannot not love each book she writes. And this book was again proof of her talent! 

The story starts with Seren being annoyed by her brother Andrew’s interference. And oh dear, did I comprehend her! Being happily single myself, I could understand Seren’s frustration. What’s wrong with being on your own? Why do we need a partner to make us feel happy?
But I could also understand that Andrew was doing it out of concern, but perhaps addressing it in the wrong way. 

Yet it’s clear that his worries are not only about Seren being on her own, it’s the fact that Seren just doesn’t do anything. She doesn’t do anything adventurous, even going to a place she hasn’t been before is terrifying her.
So even if she doesn’t see it herself, there must have been something that caused her fear. And it saddened me reading how she doesn’t see how that fear has a tight grip on her life. 

Of course Seren isn’t a total tragic character. Because she loves her job cooking at the elder day care, and she truly cares about the people coming in every day, with all their shenanigans. And if we truly need to see more, just look at the lengths she goes for the latest addition in the group, Mimi. 

We see also that Seren is the kind of person who agrees on doing things she rather doesn’t want to do, just to please please.
She doesn’t care about Dungeons and Dragons, she doesn’t want to help a dog training session, yet she does them anyway.
Even keeping Kez in her flat, she truly doesn’t want to do that, yet there Kez is, in her flat… 

But with Kez in her life, slowly things start to take a turn for Seren. They always say that dogs are great at seeing people’s true character, and Kez sees Seren and absolutely adores her. As if we needed more proof… 

Kez forces Seren to get more outside, literally. And we see how Kez has an absolute positive impact on Seren… 

Another person with a great impact is Ned. I have to admit, I had a few laughs with Seren’s suspiciousness and even fantasy. She thinks the strangest things of Ned, and yes, even if he has a few secrets, Seren’s mind is going a bit over the top! 

But we can see the gentleness in Ned, that he doesn’t only do his job because it’s the expected thing, but we see also how much he cares about the people (Seren included) and Kez. 

We see Seren getting more outside, and more out of her shell. And with Ned by her side, she slowly starts to understand that while she is content with her life, she is letting her fears holding back.
But acknowledge your fears, and understand them is a total different thing. And I understood Ned why he wanted Seren to discover the truth. But I also understood Seren as she believed there was nothing there to discover. 

Of course, there was…
And it truly broke my heart to read what had caused Seren’s fears, and even more. With her talking to Andrew, so many things made totally sense while before they just didn’t… I can only try to understand how difficult it can be to face that past that you have put away in your mind. But with understanding comes also the ability to do something about it, by taking baby steps of course. 

I found this somehow an inspiring story. It shows us that being content with our lives is okay, but why settle down with just being content, if with stopping our fears, we could find true happiness? But it also shows that happiness doesn’t come instantly, it takes some take to get there. It is just like Mimi, we need to take our time to finally get that click. And it may be hard work, but once it’s there, you’ll get the greatest reward! 

And as a person who loves to bake, I absolutely LOVED having those recipes in the book! There are several ones I will try out for sure, making me find my own little happiness with creating (and obviously eating! 😊) something delicious!