The way a first love can be always on your mind

Synopsis

BRAND NEW from bestselling author Julie Houston comes a powerful story of first love, long-hidden secrets and second chances. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

First love, long-hidden secrets and second chances.

Anna Piasecki thought she had left her university heartbreak behind. After spending decades building a successful life, she arrives at sixty with everything as she wants it – a glittering career, a devoted partner and brightest star of all, her brilliant son Noah, the apple of her eye.

Theo Mandeville is trapped. Bound by aristocratic duty to his sprawling Yorkshire estate, he has spent decades living the life that was expected of him while regretting the star-crossed romance he walked away from.

When their children meet at college, Anna and Theo suddenly find their carefully constructed lives colliding. With a devastating forty-year-old secret hanging over them, can their families survive the truth and do they dare to trust that fate has other plans for them?

Spanning decades, The Way We Are Now is a sweeping, heartwarming and life-affirming tale of first love, friendship and second chances perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

My review

While Anna Piasecki is at university in the ‘80’s, she never expects how the events of her time then will affect the rest of her life. Like the matter of her best friend Fliss, or Anna’s first yet impossible love, with Theo Mandeville. But Theo is not like Anna, as Anna’s family is working as miners, and Theo’s family has estates, and even are aristocrats. And it is only a matter of time when the differences between Anna and Theo will break them up. Now at her being sixty, Anna has built a successful life, a satisfying career, a devoted partner and a son she adores. But when her son Noah meets Theo’s daughter Immi, Anna’s and Theo’s lives are colliding and with a secret over forty years old still hanging over them, what else can the future be possible have again in store for them?

When you are young, don’t you think how your future will be? The people you meet then, will they still be in your life decades later? And will the person you love then, still be your loved one? What about the personal growth you go through and what will shape you into the person you will become?

And in this book, we see the complete journey Anna is going through, from university as a young woman to a woman with wisdom at sixty. And let me tell you this, a lot happens in just one lifespan!

At the start of the book, as we meet a young Anna, I felt an instant like towards her. She is full of joy, spirit, fire and sees a bright future ahead. I also liked it how she is sharing her temporarily home with other young women. Perhaps Anna doesn’t get along with every one of them the same, as Fliss is for sure her best friend at university. But there is a bond between all the young women.

With Anna and Fliss we see how a friendship can form your future self and how a friendship can still affect you after many years. But we also see with this friendship that how good do you truly know someone? No matter how close you are with someone, we see how secrets are kept, lies being told, to only end in a terrible way…

We also see how there has been and still is a difference in society. Anna is a woman who has been raised in a family of miners. And then there is Theo, who even comes with a title and has a rather privileged life. Despite the differences and the awkward first meeting between the pair, we see how sparks always find a way, somehow.

Life never goes as excepted or hoped, as we see that the love between Anna and Theo is not strong (enough) or that just life gets in the way, or that events push you apart.

Life never goes as expected, as events can decide for you or help you decide which direction your life goes.

As in this book we go over decades in Anna’s life, we read how she encounters new people, how she grows and matures, and how she becomes a strong independent woman. Yet while her life moves on, we also see how there are also a few regrets from het past.

I found it intriguing in a way, reading how Anna’s life was going. How she goes from a young woman perhaps a little bit gullible, to this woman fighting for the right cause, with a family. And I was of course also curious how her life would get entwined with Theo’s life again. And how it would affect the both of them.

This is a book about life and how quickly everything can change. But it is also about how the past can still have a hold on you. It is also about how no matter how young you are, how big an impact love can have. It is also about following your heart, yet also making mistakes. It is about everyone can or are able to keep secrets, or lie.

But it is also about that somehow, somewhere, someday, the pieces will fall into place. You may not know how, but it will..

This is a realistic book, and perhaps it will be a difficult start – like it was for me – but you will find yourself drawn into Anna’s life and realize that some wisdoms in it are for sure applicable in your own life too!