‘The Bridesmaid’s Brother’ – written by Olivia Lockhart #BookReview @livvieharts @rararesources

When love is the last thing on your mind

Synopsis

For Penny Archer, dating after forty has proved to be less ‘silver foxes and romantic dinners’, and more ‘last chance bargain bin’. She’s met every liar and cheater in the dating pool, and after one heartbreak too many, she is officially sworn off men.

A strong, single mum, she doesn’t need a partner, and besides, the family planner is crammed with work commitments, school meetings, puppy classes, chores for her ageing parents and, of course, her beloved book club. Although a cuddle now and then wouldn’t go amiss…

Penny jumps at the chance to let her hair down at a friend’s wedding, blissfully unaware that she’s about to crash into a stranger’s life in the most mortifying manner.

Can something that begins in disaster ever end in happiness, or is it all too good to be true? Will Penny ever turn the pages of her own book towards that happy ever after?

My review

After discovering that her boyfriend made her ‘the other woman’, Penny Archer has had enough of men. As a single mum, in her forties, her main focus will be now solemnly on her daughter, their puppy, her book club and work commitments.
At the wedding of one of her friends, she decides to let her hair down, only to end up awkwardly on her own at the ‘tossing the bouquet’ bit. Little does Penny know that this will make her path cross wit Ryan. Ryan, who has loved and lost and is absolutely not looking for love anymore.
But Penny and Ryan have an undeniable connection… however will this connection be enough to hold on to as what started disaster seemingly only causes a domino – effect with more disasters lurking around the corner?

Reading a book from an author you don’t know, is always a risky business. Will you like the book? Or is the blurb the only thing that you enjoyed reading?
Will it be a success or will you finish (if you finish the book that is…) with an unsatisfied feeling? So many questions, and the only way to get an answer, is to start reading. And that is what I did…

Even if there is not one thing I have in common with Penny, somehow I connected with her. I could understand her feelings, her doubts and her resolutions.
Being a single mother cannot be easy, and discovering that your boyfriend is in fact still married, turning you into ‘the other woman’, well, I can only try to imagine the shock!
So yes, I completely understood why she would now focus on anything else but finding love again.

Of course, as a single friend attending a wedding, the bouquet – tossing bit is an awkward situation, and one I found myself in. Penny’s reluctance made sense, especially seeing afterwards how it all ended.

Yet that one disaster gave also the starting shot of something new… because that is where Penny meets Ryan…

I have to say, the whole story was a rather sweet one, as Penny and Ryan after that one night start to see each other more and more. We know Penny’s situation, but getting to know Ryan and his backstory, well, I liked Ryan, but my heart also broke for him!

Penny is not looking for love, and Ryan is not ready for love, yet the connection they have is too strong to ignore. Seeing these two people still looking for each other, finding each other, opening up to each other, was truly wonderful.

But I “liked” it also seeing reality in it. Because wanting something and being ready for something are two completely different things. And we see Ryan struggling with the desire to move on, yet also not wanting to let go of his past.
And we see Penny struggling with giving her heart after it has been broken once too often…
There is an obvious but also frustrating pulling and pushing away, where both Penny and Ryan have to face their fears and decide if they will allow those fears to stop living.

There was a point in the book where I thought that perhaps the story was taking a bit too long to reach its end. But those last difficult bits were also kind of needed. because what happened to Penny there, and her feeling of failure and shame, is something many of us are unfortunately facing in their lives too.
And in that optic, the author needed Penny and Ryan to go through perhaps the roughest patch, to show us as a reader or whoever finds himself/herself in that same situation, that the fault is not in our hands. What happened before, was done out of love, and it takes a despicable character to use that to his own advantage.

On a much lighter note, I absolutely fell in love with Rocket! We see here for sure that an animal’s love is the purest and kindest, and the most unconditional one!

I was glad that I gave this author a chance, as she rewarded me with a lovely, sweet story about two people not looking for love, but find each other. But the author shows us that love doesn’t always come easy. It’s up to us to believe that even unexpected love is worth sticking together during difficult moments. And to never give up on it and finding the strength to fight the fear of opening up again, as the right person perhaps will not completely understand what you have been/ are going through, but they will show their support and love no matter what…