"Living in a small seaside village can have its perks, but after the death of her husband, Lillie Gilbert finds the people she grew up with turning against her faster than the tide rolls out.As she grieves for the life they planned, the life they’ll never live, she leans on her best friend for support and tries to come to terms with the fact that one day, she may have to open up her heart to a new life and new love.
After losing her childhood sweetheart, can Lillie really learn to love again?"
First of all I want to say a big thank you to Tay at Chicks That Read for organising the blog tour for this wonderful book!
My review
I really, really enjoyed this novel. Ellen Faith is a brilliant writer- it’s an engaging and all-encompassing story that sucks you in to their world.
Learn to Love again is an emotional story that goes through all the different stages of grief. Lillie is grieving after the sudden death of her husband, Nick. She lives in a small seaside town, where everyone knows everyone - including what she is going through. Some even blame her for his death. Her and Nick's best Friend Sam returns to the town from America, to look after her and help her through the grief.
The detail Ellen goes to describe Lillie's heartbreak is intricate and very personal. I really felt for her throughout as you follow her on a journey of loss, grief and acceptance and you can really see how much pain she is in. There are some lovely flashbacks throughout which give you a glimpse into the past and their marriage, and show just how happy they were. It also shows you the history of Nick and Sams friendship, which really explains why he would be so determined to make her feel better and support her through such a difficult time. The story builds you up to really see why the loss of Nick would be so devisating, he is a wonderful character that was a big part of both their lives.
The description of the location throughout Learn to Love Again is fantastic. Straightaway I was transported to the small seaside town and immersed in the small village that is such a big part of Lillie's life.
The description of the location throughout Learn to Love Again is fantastic. Straightaway I was transported to the small seaside town and immersed in the small village that is such a big part of Lillie's life.
There
are a wide range of different characters in the story which keeps it really
interesting. My
favourite characters in the story were Lillie's parents, they are both so different from each
other – her dad is quiet, yet supportive and protective of her and her mum is
slightly overbearing with a constant need to be in charge, which is her way of dealing
with her daughter’s heartbreak and her own grief. They both do all they can to support her through a difficult time and are just a genuinely lovely couple. Sam is also a wonderful character, he genuinely cares for Lillie and is a fantastic beacon of support to her at a moment in need.
The book is quite short and I was surprised when I reached the end so quickly. It isn't rushed at all, but it just seems shorter than your standard novel. It didn't need to be any longer as it’s
a solid, engaging story – I was just sad when
I got to the end! (but I would have been no matter what the page length!)
This is
a great book that I would recommend highly. It explores friendship, loss and grief in an engaging and beautiful way that I really enjoyed. Ellen Faith is now firmly on my
radar, and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us in the future.
About The Author
Ellen lives in the wonderful county of Yorkshire, England where she spends most of her time baking, eating, baking, and eating. Occasionally she does leave the house to go to the cinema or do some food shopping though.
After spending years with an overactive imagination, she decided to put all the magic in her head to some good use and put finger to laptop where The Story of Us was born and became her debut novel. She loves to travel, her favourite destinations so far have all been in America, hence the love of all things, and all people, American. The food rocks pretty hard too, she ate until her jeans begged her to stop whilst she was there. True fact. Aside from daydreaming and eating, Ellen is a sucker for a lolcat, penguins and monkeys - she has never claimed to be normal.
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