I love it when publishers go the extra mile when they send out advance reading copies and this fabulous package for Melissa Hill's A Gift To Remember really caught my eye. But you can't judge a book by its cover, or even a pretty bag, so I swiftly turned to the first page to see what I'd think.
The cover art is very clever and I didn't notice all the details until I'd finished the story. You see a couple with a dog strolling along romantically under the falling snowflakes, but if you look a little closer, they're walking on an open book and the silhouettes of the trees and the couple are covered in literary excerpts. Hmm very intriguing !
It all becomes clear as soon as we're introduced to the main character, Darcy, a young lady who works in a bookshop and enjoys losing herself in the fantasy world of her beloved books rather than getting out into the real world and finding herself a man. Then one day, as she is cycling to work, she knocks a rather attractive man off his feet. Literally. She runs into him on a pedestrian crossing and he ends up in hospital.
Feeling guilty, Darcy picks up his dog, abandoned by the ambulancemen, and an expensive-looking gift that he was carrying. She manages to track him down to his hospital bed where she is horrified to learn that he didn't just get a bump to the head - he has lost all memory of who he is.
Determined to make amends, not to mention swept away by the exciting adventure that she has been caught up in, Darcy sets out to uncover his identity. She manages to piece his whole life story together, following the clues as astutely as a fictional detective, but is he really the man that she has put together? And do happy endings really exist in real life or just in the books that Darcy loves so much?
It's a lovely bit of feel-good escapism, not always totally realistic (things tend to fall into place rather too easily and I'm sure there wouldn't be so many interconnections between the characters in a city as large as New York!) but it's perfect for reading snuggled under the duvet, especially in the run up to Christmas.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £12.99
- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (24 Oct 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1471127613
- ISBN-13: 978-1471127618
Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.
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That is one gorgeous cover. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing what's inside too.
Have a great week.
Stopping by from Carole's Books You Loved November Edition. I am in the list as #28. My book entry is below.
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Book Entry