Friday 21 August 2015

Review: The Other Half Of My Heart by Stephanie Butland



“It smelled bittersweetly of sourdough, and there was the trace of hot, fresh bread in the air. She took a deep breath and unlocked the door”

Fifteen years ago Bettina May’s life’s veered off course in one disastrous night. Still reeling from the shock of losing everything she thought was hers, Bettina opens a bakery in a village and throws herself into the comfort of bread-making.

She spends her days kneading dough and measuring ingredients. She meets someone. She begins to heal.

Until someone who knows what happens that night walks into Bettina's bakery. In the pause of a heartbeat, fifteen years disappear and Bettina remembers a time she thought was lost for ever . . .


Can she ever go back?


My Thoughts:
I love the smell of freshly bread and only minutes after receiving this book couldn't resist taking a peek. My curiosity having already got the better of me, once opened this book promptly sucked me in and proved to be extremely hard to put down. Cleverly written this is really two interwoven stories of Bettina the baker and Tina her younger self who loved and worked with horses and was in love with Roddy.

It is immediately obvious that something bad happened, and as the stories progress the clues begin to emerge.

Only the authors second novel. it is extremely well written and well paced with interesting and three dimensional characters. The two novels are loosely connected because this book makes a few references to events in the first and features some of the same characters. I enjoyed this one without having read her previous title. It was a good book, good enough to cause me to put another which I was enjoying on hold.

At first I assumed the theme of the book was "new beginnings" only later to realise it was actually about "running away and hiding".

It doesn't matter how far you run and hide, you cannot hide from yourself......

This is a really moving book with a really great and original story. To classify this as a romance would be to sell it short.

Finally a big thank you to the publisher and NetGalley provided me with a pre-release copy in exchange for an honest review.

Highly recommended.

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • Publisher: Transworld Digital (22 Oct. 2015)

  • Buy Links
AmazonUK | Amazon | B&N

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