Foolish Notions [Kindle Edition]

I had to read this when I saw the blurb, as I LOVE romances where former lovers come together, and this one did not disappoint, despite the old 'fading' kind of love scenes that it contained, like in those Mills&Boon of the 70's, when it was a kiss, the stray of a hand, falling backwards...and then the start of a new chapter. Despite my preference being romance novels of the Ellora's Cave/Sahmhain/Aphrodisia variety, the lack of smouldering sex scenes did not spoil this tale at all. At the same time, why we couldn't have had a touch more, as this wasn't a Faith/Christian tale, I'm not sure, given that the leads had been living together before they split. Anyway...

James is a CEO, works a lot, but loves his mum, Marie, who is about to undergo chemo, and whatever he can do for her, he will. He moves her into his home, furnishes her suite with everything to do with roses, which she adores, and even goes as far as to ask his former lover, Samantha, who left him a year ago, to come and nurse her, despite never daring to dream that she would, because of the manner of their parting.

Samantha left James without explanation or warning, and without waiting for, or even asking for an explanation from him, when she saw him kissing a readhead; he came home and she simply wasn't there. For a year, he's missed her, but he's put her out of his mind, as he's a workaholic, but now his mum's ill. So, for the good of Marie, Samantha becomes her live-in nurse.

I loved that Samantha was a good enough nurse and human being to want to help Marie, no strings attached. I also liked that she did not immediately fall back into James's arms and bed, and that she seemed to be the one in a position of power, not that it was anything like a power-game, the way the tale was written. I loved that it was up to James to earn her liking and her trust again, but the latter until the very end, came in the form of her body, not her heart.

Whilst this was not a Faith/Christian novel, the love scenes were of the type that you would normally see in those novels, but they suited the tale perfectly. It could be because he was described, semi-jokingly by his friend, as being old enough to be her father, and she was a recently-qualified nurse, so there might have been a considerable age difference, but that's just supposition; the author never actually tells us their ages.

There were, understandably, a few utterances of 'Dear Lord' and 'Dear God', but these were in a very short part of the tale, although for a few moments, I did wonder if the tale would veer into that territory.

As to the ending, yes, I loved and knew that James would win Samantha back, and they deserved to be together, as each has been hurting for the year that they've been apart, but the denouement was a teensy, weensy touch too convenient and there wasn't enough of a final, loving scene which should have been full of 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' and the likes.

Yes, they deserved their HEA and I was rooting for it, but despite the ending being believable, if a tad convenient, it should have been that little bit more drawn out to make it more satisfying, and IMHO, we should have been given an epilogue, several months, if not longer, down the line, complete with them living their HEA and Marie recovered.

Overall, a very nice tale, loving, but not that romantic in the traditional sense, not that the lack of such spoilt it. I'd have loved some more emotions, some prolonged explanations and what I mentioned above, but I still really enjoyed it.

James' mother Marie is ill. She needs a private nurse. James loves his mother and when she will accept no other nurse than his ex-girlfriend Samantha he agrees to employ her. Will James and Samantha get back together again ??? Will Samantha forgive James for the past ?

The above two sentences comprise the whole plot of this book. With one vague sub-plot to do with industrial espionage as well this is the whole storyline.

As this is a romance novel you can probably work out the ending already. There are no other surprises. This is just a description of an obsessive and bullying man who always gets what he wants and a woman who gives in to him.

No plot developments, no real twists, no sex scenes .....

I got this free for my wife's Kindle. She is reading it at the moment. Being able to download these books, it saves me having to go to the library.