This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Victoria Sutton
Better Together follows the stories
of two women experiencing periods of change in their lives. For both
earth-shattering events have provided the catalyst that neither wanted but now
must be dealt with…
Dublin based Sheridan finds her perfect world falling apart when she loses her job, boyfriend and flatmate in a matter of days. All that she wants is to stay home and play video games all day but a call from her former flatmate with information on a job at a regional paper is to change that.
Nina has run the guesthouse in Ardbawn since her mother’s death. She is a real home bird and it is something she was more than happy to do, at first alone, then with her husband Sean. She had never quite believed that she was good enough for aspiring actor Sean but after over twenty years together she is left devastated when she learns of his affair with a much younger co-star in the soap which gives him his big break. As her relationship hits the headlines she retreats into herself and concentrates on running the guesthouse alone.
At first I struggled to get into this book. Although I loved Nina I didn’t immediately warm to Sheridan, who the book opens with, and I couldn’t see how the world’s of the two women were to combine. But once this became apparent and Sheridan revealed the plan that was to launch her career as an investigative journalist I was hooked. I liked the action moving to the setting of Ardbawn, which is beautifully described and is home to a variety of interesting and likeable characters.
What I loved most about Better Together was the intrigue. From early on we are aware of something unspoken in Nina and Sean’s relationship and as the novel progresses we learn snippets about this. Sheridan’s investigation adds another level to the intrigue. Something that starts out as a vendetta against the man she blames for the loss of her job turns into a mystery she becomes more involved in than she could have ever imagined and leaves her with some difficult decisions to make…
After a slow start I found myself desperate to pick up Better Together at every opportunity. Part romance, part mystery, it was also a tale of friendship and of life in a small town. I grew to love Ardbawn and its inhabitants and I was sad to say goodbye in the end.
7/10