Meet Me in London: A Novel

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This book opens with Oliver Russell sitting in a bar, alone, trying to placate his mother via text. She wants nothing more than for her only child to find the right woman and settle down. Oliver is much too busy managing the family retail empire to get involved in a relationship. He spots a lovely woman, Victoria, working at the bar. He overhears her conversation with a co-worker about her underprivileged design students. He’s smitten by her warm heart and her good looks. Before last call, he proposes to her. She turns him down, but that’s just the beginning for them.

The blurb makes it seem like a heartwarming romcom, but that’s not really what you get. It promises a fake engagement trope, although it’s anything but lighthearted. Victoria is traumatized by a serious car accident that left her with more than emotional damage and she’s afraid no man will accept her. Likewise, Oliver’s father is in rapidly declining health. His parents had him late in life and he felt like they didn’t appreciate him disrupting their lifestyle.

The plot moves very slowly, with lots of time spent in both characters’ heads as they ruminate on how much they want the other. There’s not much of an explanation as to why they can’t… most of all from Oliver. As a result, their angst is frustrating to the reader, rather than compelling. Unfortunately, these characters were hard to connect with and their relationship wasn’t very interesting. It was not the wintry romance I was hoping for.


Reviewed By:

Author Georgia Toffolo
Star Count 2/5
Format Trade
Page Count 336 pages
Publisher HQN
Publish Date 28-Sep-2021
ISBN 9781335459978
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue January 2022
Category Romance
Share

Description

This book opens with Oliver Russell sitting in a bar, alone, trying to placate his mother via text. She wants nothing more than for her only child to find the right woman and settle down. Oliver is much too busy managing the family retail empire to get involved in a relationship. He spots a lovely woman, Victoria, working at the bar. He overhears her conversation with a co-worker about her underprivileged design students. He’s smitten by her warm heart and her good looks. Before last call, he proposes to her. She turns him down, but that’s just the beginning for them.

The blurb makes it seem like a heartwarming romcom, but that’s not really what you get. It promises a fake engagement trope, although it’s anything but lighthearted. Victoria is traumatized by a serious car accident that left her with more than emotional damage and she’s afraid no man will accept her. Likewise, Oliver’s father is in rapidly declining health. His parents had him late in life and he felt like they didn’t appreciate him disrupting their lifestyle.

The plot moves very slowly, with lots of time spent in both characters’ heads as they ruminate on how much they want the other. There’s not much of an explanation as to why they can’t… most of all from Oliver. As a result, their angst is frustrating to the reader, rather than compelling. Unfortunately, these characters were hard to connect with and their relationship wasn’t very interesting. It was not the wintry romance I was hoping for.

Additional information

Author Georgia Toffolo
Star Count 2/5
Format Trade
Page Count 336 pages
Publish Date HQN
ISBN 9781335459978
Amazon Buy this Book
Issue January 2022
Category Romance
Share