Love Always by Harriet Evans

I have had Love Always by Harriet Evans on my TBR pile for 3 weeks now. The cover of this book is so inviting with a summery chick-lit style look about it. I have left this book till last as by looking at the books I had left to read this looked like the best one and I am always one who has to leave the best until last. With a hefty 491 pages long I knew this was going to be far from a quick read so I saved it for my weekend read when I know I could devote my whole attention to it.

Plot

Natasha Kapoor is going through a tough time. Every part of her life seems to be on a downward slope from her marriage to her business and on top of all of this her Grandmother has died.  Natasha finds herself heading down to Summercove the home in which her family grew up in to attend her Grandmother’s funeral. When the family begin clearing out the family possessions she is given her aunt Cecily’s diary by her grandfather and is told to guard it. Cecily is Natasha’s aunt who dies at the age of 15 and ever since the family seem to have been poisoned and Cecily’s name is never mentioned.  Natasha takes a trip back in time when she reads Cecily’s diary and finds out the secrets from the summer of 1963.

My Opinion.

My opinion about this book is split right down the middle which I have never experienced in a book before. The book has a present time part to it which is about Natasha Kapoor and her life and then the past which is written by 15 year old Cecily in her diary and the events in 1963. I thoroughly enjoyed the part of the book from the diary, I found myself getting lost in the story and felt like I was there with the characters at Summercove. Although Cecily’s character is only brought to us by the writings in her diary I enjoyed her character a lot more than our main character Natasha.

Unfortunately the story starts off with Natasha’s story and I found it very hard to carry on with the story as it didn’t grip me at all. I was pleased when by chapter eleven we get to read Cecily’s diary and then we are taken back to 1963 for me this is where the story is at its best and if the book was just based on this time I would give it a 5 star review. The story goes forward and back in time and it seemed as soon as I was enjoying the storyline it would go back to the present day and I would struggle to read on again.

What I did love about this book was that it was a much more in-depth story line than other chick-lit style books and this may confuse you after seeing the front cover, I know it was not what I was expecting. Also I loved the way the characters interacted with each other which made the storyline feel more believable. The story is full of many family secrets with twists and turns and I am pleased to say that none of these were predictable which I think helped to save this book from its slow start.

I would still recommend this book but I just feel it was a shame that the book included Natasha’s story as the 1963 part of this book clearly is a lot more enjoyable to read than the 2009 part. Pick this book up and give it a try just do not expect a quick and easy read it is more a long rollercoaster of a book.