Unexpected Lessons in Love - Lucy Dillon

What happens when 'I do' turns into 'I don't know'?

 Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she’s finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan’s gorgeous, he’s a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is.

 But now she’s on her way to the wedding she can’t shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves . . . or is this all happening a bit too fast?

 Jeannie has one last chance to shout, ‘Stop!’ But just as she grabs it, a twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever . . .

Review

This book was as part of the #OWLsreadathon and it met the critea of having a white cover, but also it has been on my netgalley TBR for a while. I have read Lucy Dillon books before and enjoyed them so i was looking forward to getting into this.

My first thoughts were this book would be a cloud full of love, happy endings and romance. What i discovered was it was more than that, it was depth - relationships and about loving not only love but loving yourself first. 

The main character Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, she is the shy and quiet type. she is happy to take the backseat even with her best friend on stage - she always lets her take the lead. This time though she is centre of the story, having embarked on a whirlwind romance when her boyfriend proposes at the most perfect time, of course she was going to say Yes. Her life is suddenly the dream she wanted all along.

However fast forward to the wedding day and Jeannie has nerves, surely everyone has felt nerves like this. She cant breathe though and that isn normal is it? When Jeannies dad starts talking about his marriage and the relationship he has enjoyed for all these years. Jeannie stops the car - she cant do this, leaving a voicemail for Dan she stands waiting for him to phone her. The phone call she gets however - is not the one she was expecting. 

A tragic accident is about to change everything. This for me is where the story stands out. After the accident we start to meet a cast of characters who will impact everyones life. No one knows if Dan will recover, what he will remember and how his recovery will be. Jeannie is having to not only deal with the accident but the guilt that Dan was on the phone and did he know she was calling off the wedding.

What i found with this book, it wasnt what i expected at all. I thought he would recover or not and they would have the fallout to deal with but this wasnt the case at all. It was a lengthy process and a time frame that allowed Jeannie to figure out more about herself, her true feelings and what she actually wanted for the future. As Dan starts to deal with the scenario as well we learn alot more about what was going on with him at the time too.

I really enjoyed this heart filled read, it was honest, raw at times and not what i was expecting. I didnt find it predictable in anyway. I found that i liked the direction it took and it was refreshing for a novel like this to not give the reader maybe what they was after. An alternate to the happy ever after as such.

I was gifted this book as an e-arc to review, this was done willingly and does not impact my review.
If you are interested its now on Amazon here.


About the author

Lucy Dillon was born in Cumbria, worked for a while in publishing in London, and now lives in the Wye Valley with her husband and their Border terrier. She has written eight novels set in the fictional Midlands town of Longhampton, which looks a bit like Hereford, although the inhabitants tend to sound rather more Northern than that.