The Sun in Her Eyes by Paige Toon

I have been a big fan of Paige Toon and I was so disappointed when I received an invite to her launch of her new book The Sun in her Eyes which I couldn't attend due to work commitments. Imagine my excitement when I then found out she was going to be at Bluewater Waterstones for a book signing I made sure to book the time out of work so I wouldn't miss this chance to meet her.

Blinding sunshine... A bend in the road... What became of the little girl with the sun in her eyes?

Amber was three when a car crash stole her mother's life. She doesn't remember the accident, but a stranger at the scene has been unable to forget. 

Now, almost thirty years later, she's trying to track Amber down. Amber, meanwhile, is married to Ned and living on the other side of the world in London. When her father has a stroke, she flies straight home to Australia to be with him. Away from her husband, Amber finds comfort in her oldest friends, but her feelings for Ethan, the gorgeous, green-eyed man she once fell for, have never been platonic. As Ethan and Amber grow closer, married life in London feels far away. Then Amber receives a letter that changes everything.

 'Before your mother died, she asked me to tell you something...'

I have read all of Paige Toon’s books and eagerly await the release of her new book each year. As soon as The Sun in Her Eyes landed on my door mat I had to stop my current read and start reading it straight away!

Amber has just been made redundant but she doesn’t have time to sit and wallow as she receives a phone call to say her father who lives in Australia has had a stroke so she has to fly over to help him but her husband Ned has work commitments and can not join her.

Back in her childhood home town she soon meets her old best friend Ethan who she has always secretly loved and as she sets eyes on him again she soon realises she still feels the same way but is the past always best left in the past or is it time to follow her heart.

I read this book in one sitting, the storyline seemed lighter than Paige’s previous books but this was perfect for a lazy day reading in the sun. I warmed to Amber quite quickly which I have always done with all of the author previous main characters and although as the storyline progresses she makes some very bad decisions I still really liked her as a character as she wasn’t a malicious character she just seemed to follow her heart at times rather than her head.

I was surprised mostly by my thoughts on the two male love interests in this book, Ned who is Amber’s husband and Ethan who was her childhood crush, I instantly took a dislike to Ned but when we meet Ethan I was charmed by him but by the time we are over half way through the book my opinion of both of these men took a complete turn and I found myself willing Amber to make the right decision.

I loved the detail the author went into surrounding the winery and she also set the scene beautifully in Australia it was easy to visualise the setting. The author builds up a great deal of suspense in this book about a message that was left for Amber as a child just before her mother died, I had so many ideas in my head as to what this could be but I was completely over thinking things and didn’t guess the message!

This was another great book by Paige Toon although it wasn’t a favourite of mine, Baby Be Mine and The Longest Holiday was always going to be hard to beat in my eyes, I would still recommend this book and Paige Toon fans will not be disappointed. 

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