In this touching tale of love, loss and figuring out your
future, we meet Ella Flynn and Blake Hunter who are both
at a
crossroads in their lives. Ella's husband of seven years
has
recently left her for her best friend's sister, leaving
her
distraught and destitute.
Not only has she lost her husband
and her home, but her best friends have disappeared, and
her
job as a sales person for a wedding shop is soul sucking.
Everything is falling apart around her and she doesn't
know
what to do.
Blake Hunter is a hugely successful screenplay writer but
his
last two movies have been a flop and he is under pressure
to
come up with an original story with that extra spark. His
ex-
wife hates him and his daughter wants nothing to do with
him
so his personal life is as messy as his professional life.
Pretending to be writing a tourist book in the small town
of
Watersend, in the hope of finding inspiration, Blake and
Ella
stumble into each others lives. And with the magic of
being
strangers, they both present a version of their lives that
they wish existed. But as their friendship becomes
important,
and their lies begin to unravel around them, will they be
able
to find their way through all of their pain and find the
real
meaning of love?
THE IDEA OF LOVE by Patti Callahan Henry is a thought-
provoking contemporary romance, with interesting
characters
and fascinating dialogue. Ella has lost everything she has
ever wanted - her husband, her home, her dream career as a
designer - but as she is forced to really look at her
life, it
was inspiring to see her being truthful and honest about
what
she truly needs, and she is my favourite character in this
novel. With moments of hilarity and mishaps, and the
loveable
secondary character of Mimi, THE IDEA OF LOVE by Patti
Callahan Henry is an enjoyable read and I look forward to
reading more from this author.
As we like to say in the south,
"Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story."
Ella's life has been completely upended. She's young,
beautiful, and deeply in love--until her husband dies in a
tragic sailing accident while trying save her. Or so
she'll
have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit,
but
crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation
are getting him nowhere. He's on the look-out for a love
story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to.
When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina it
feels like the perfect match, something close to fate. In
Ella, Hunter finds the perfect love story, full of longing
and sacrifice. It's the stuff of epic films. In Hunter,
Ella
finds possibility. It's an opportunity to live out a
fantasy
- the life she wishes she had because hers is too painful.
And more real. Besides. what's a little white lie between
strangers?
But one lie leads to another, and soon Hunter and Ella
find
themselves caught in a web of deceit. As they try to
untangle their lies and reclaim their own lives, they feel
something stronger is keeping them together. And so they
wonder: can two people come together for all the wrong
reasons and still make it right?