Life isn’t a romance book…

Synopsis

Andi Glover loves nothing more than a good book.

Any book in fact because when you’re raised by unconventional parents who think school’s for squares, alongside a deeply conventional sister who escapes home as soon as she can, fiction is eminently preferable to reality.

The only problem is that fiction isn’t the best way to learn about the real world. When Andi starts her new live-in job at Templewood Hall for the eccentric Lady Dawe and her enigmatic son Hugo, it’s tempting to think she’s fallen into the pages of one of her favourite gothic novels.

But the plot twists at Templewood Hall are stranger than fiction and it’s not long before Andi questions if she’s living in a romance novel or a whodunnit. Bumps in the night, a missing heir, ghostly apparitions and secrets that have been kept for generations – the mysteries mount up. Then there’s the inscrutable gardener who seems to appear when needed – is Andi right to hope for a happily-ever-after end to her story?

My review

To say that Andi has had an unconventional childhood is an understatement. With her parents homeschooling her, and always on the road and a sister that couldn’t get away as fast as possible, Andi found her solace in books. But now Andi is paying the price for her upbringing, as finding a job without a degree and no experience isn’t easy at all. Yet when she lands on the job at Templewood Hall, she not only founds herself luckily, but she also is tempted to believe that she has landed in one of her favourite gothic novels. However, Andi quickly realizes that real life is nothing like life in the books she loves so much. Because not only is her job not exactly what she expected it to be, but also Lady Dawe is for excentric. And then we are not talking about the ghosts residing at the mansion, Lady Dowe’s son Hugo and that stranger cat called The Master…

I have read several books written by this author, and I have loved them all. Of course there are books that steal a bigger piece of your heart than others. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy reading the latter. And I have to admit, that while I loved reading this book, perhaps it had some bits that were a bit pleasantly strange.

From the start, I have to admit that I felt sorry for Andi. While she may be an adult, it is clear that she isn’t ready for adulthood. And while in many stories it’s often that the main character is perhaps a spoilt brat, this for sure isn’t applicable for Andi. Because her upbringing for sure was peculiar, and her parents, to say it brutally, failed her.

And while in other occasions, it would bring siblings together. Unfortunately that isn’t the case with Andi and her sister. On the contrary, their upbringing caused a rift between them, as Andi’s managed to escape and Andi didn’t…

I don’t know if I would or could do the job Andi gets hired for. But I understood that beggars cannot be choosers, and without a degree or work experience, Andi does not really have another choice. On the other hand, as she loves books, getting to spend all her time surrounded by books, well, she could be having worse jobs too, right?

For a first real job, for sure many strange things are happening to and around Andi. Not only is there talk about ghosts haunting the mansion, but also the people living in and around the mansion aren’t acting like the most normal people. And let’s not forget that Lady Dawe has given Andi a secret mission.

At first I thought that Andi would be the strangest person in the book, as she hasn’t been hit by reality yet. But I quickly realized that Andi is perhaps one of the sanest people of the whole book. Because let me assure you that many characters will surprise, and not always on a good way, but let’s just say in a special way…

It was great to read how each chapter of this book has a link with one of the amazing classic gothic novels. And just like it entails, also the characters in this book go through a huge amount of growth. Andi starts as perhaps a gullible young woman, but with this live – in job she has, she starts to understand the real world and starts to have the understanding that she lacked at the start of this book.

But not only her, also the other characters evolve in this book. And secrets come out too. Secrets that may sound weird perhaps, yet also in these cases, Andi shows a matureness when she gets to know them.

I have to mention for a moment The Master. My first impression of him wasn’t a positive one, but slowly he started to grow on me, and he for  sure has his moments, even getting Andi out of some tricky situations.

Jane Lovering wrote once again a great, even funny story. Because let me assure you, there are moments that I was laughing out loud. But I enjoyed the most reading the growth each character goes through. Characters that initially may seem odd, but are just humans like you and me.

And there are moments that for sure made me remember those famous classis gothic stories,  but this wonderful author added a twist to them, creating a whole new genre that for sure entertained me a lot!