Book Review: The Woman Who Fell in Love for a Week by Fiona Walker

Title: The Woman Who Fell in Love for a Week
Author: Fiona Walker
Publication Date: 8 January 2015 (paperback coming on 4 June 2015)
Publisher: Sphere

Twitter: @fionawalkeruk
Blog/website: www.fionawalker.com

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Synopsis

Dive into a summer of surprises…

Jenny loves to house-sit: looking after a stranger’s perfect home and pretending to be someone else – just for a bit. Her latest booking is a beautiful rambling country house owned by the hugely glamorous Lewis family. Freed of teaching duties for the summer, Jenny plans to do nothing more exhausting than walk the (very naughty) dog and laze by the glorious pool.

Then Jenny discovers skeletons in the Lewis closet that further threaten to disrupt her idyll. That is, until a seductive new friendship offers her a second chance: to open herself up to love again and to finally live life on her own terms.

Laugh-out-loud funny, touching and romantic, this is the new novel from much-loved Fiona Walker.

Review

Thanks to Sphere and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I have been a big fan of Fiona Walker’s novels for many years. Her novels are always hugely entertaining romps, full of humour, laughter and romance – a perfect combination for a successful rom-com. I was therefore hugely excited to read The Woman Who Fell in Love for a Week!

The book tells the story of Jenny, a middle-aged teacher, mother and divorcee, who spends school holidays house-sitting. The summer holidays arrive and she finds herself house-sitting for famous novelist, Geraldine Lewis, and her academic husband Richard. She also find herself in charge of their uncontrollable dog, Gunther.

Being used to easy and uneventful jobs, Jenny find herself somewhat out of her depth coping with the Gunther’s antics, a mishap with a manuscript, troubles in the Lewis’ marriage, the local busybody and hunky artist, Euan.

As the week progresses, under Euan’s influence, we seen Jenny shed her layers of prudish disapproval and self protection, built up after her disastrous marriage, and start to re-find her self-belief and confidence. There are a number of hiccups along the way, some funny moments courtesy of Gunther but also some painful moments in relation to the love triangle between some of the main characters.

The story is realistic and you feel for Jenny as she is forced to leave her carefully crafted comfort zone and face up to her fears. The reader is also shown how love can not only cause great happiness but also intense hurt and pain. However, whilst having some deep and heartfelt moments, The Woman Who Fell in Love for a Week is also a brilliantly funny read, full of laugh-out-loud moments and shenanigans that keep me entertained until the very end.

I also liked that, unlike other rom-coms, I wasn’t entirely sure how the story would pan out. I like being kept guessing until the end.

Buy Links

Amazon UK: Kindle – http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LM9S8DE
Paperback – http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751556130

Amazon US: Kindle – http://amzn.com/B00LM9S8DE
Paperback – http://amzn.com/0751556130

About the Author