Read in 2014 - 41: Champagne and Lemon Drops

"Champagne and Lemon Drops" by Jean Oram (first time I've heard her name) is what usually gets classified as “Contemporary Romance” (in fact, the subtitle reads "A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance"), and it fulfills this class very well: Young woman is torn between two guys; which one will she choose? 

The setting is a small town – small enough for everyone to know each other –, where Beth is busy making plans for her upcoming wedding to the man she has loved for years before he realized she was not just his little sister’s best friend. 

So immersed is she in her plans and dreams of a “happily ever after” in the lap of a big, reassuring family, that it takes her a while to see that something is bothering her fiancé. 

Finally, he admits to be unsure about who he is, who he wants to be and where he stands in life, and the wedding is cancelled, much to Beth’s devastation. The small-town gossip surrounding her wherever she goes, from her workplace at a nursing home to groceries shopping or the garage, does not make things easier.

But then a new doctor arrives at the clinic attached to the home where Beth works, and he seems to have everything her ex-fiancé lacks. She still loves her ex, but… the doctor seems to be offering so much more in terms of romance, lifestyle and education, apart from being entirely sure of his abilities and plans for the future.

From the moment this doctor first appears in the book, the reader knows what is going to happen. For a while, though, what decision Beth will take in the end is not so obvious; the story could go either way. But at a certain point a little more than halfway through the book I knew what was going to happen, and merely kept reading on because I wanted to confirm that I was right.

Beth, both as a character as well as in her general behavior, was not really my cup of tea; I could relate to few of the things she did and wanted, but I am sure that type of woman does exist. I much more sympathized with her ex-fiancé as well as with her new guy, the doctor; with her sister, with her best friend, and even with her gran.

While this was certainly a pleasant enough read for the exhausted evenings after long working days at the trade fair, with no challenge for my brain, I won’t start looking for the author’s other books. This one was – of course! – a free ebook on Amazon’s kindle store, so no harm done :-)

If you would like to know more about the author, click here for her website.