Starting Over

By: Sue Moorcroft

Narrated by: Julie Teal

Giving up her fiancé and her old life, Tess has moved to the country to start afresh. When she crashes her car into Miles' breakdown truck, they find that they're nearly neighbours yet worlds apart. Despite a suddenly attentive ex- fiancé, she discovers the joys of village life and begins to form a friendship with Miles. Then, just as their relationship deepens, an old flame comes looking for him....

©2009 Sue Moorcroft (P)2010 WF Howes Ltd

Eh, it was okay

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book to my friends who love romantic books. I liked it but the story was just too....standard romance novel. Their in love, their not in love, and it flip flops the entire book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Sue Moorcroft? Why or why not?

I may.

What does Julie Teal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The book was read beautifully and the narrator was very expressive.

Starting Over

Excellent story line, keep the listener encapsulated wanting more, I was very sorry when it finished, although there could be another......

I did not like the sources of conflict

and the narrator’s voice was unpleasant.

I liked the character definitions and story during the first half. But the last third felt like it was getting worse and worse - a sinking down. It was not a good story. I felt Tess did not deserve to be happy with Miles at the end.

I much preferred two of the author’s other books: Want to Know a Secret and All That Mullarkey.

Things I did not like:

CAUTION SPOILER:
Tess and Miles start having sex, she is using contraception. Almost immediately she becomes pregnant. Then they are both soooo happy and overjoyed to be having a baby. It did not fit. If they were so happy about it, why use contraception? The author made them too happy for me.

Miles hears bad news and says something without thinking. Tess is so enraged, she runs away and is gone “for months.” No one knows where she is - not her parents, friends, or Miles. Then all of a sudden she comes back and wants to pick up where they left off. I was angry with her. I found her inconsiderate, selfish, and a coward. She didn’t deserve him.

Earlier, Tess was taking too long to become intimate with Miles. When he kissed her, she made a joke about him being a frog, and it looked like she was ready for intimacy. Then moments later, Miles’ ex girlfriend Franca arrives and Miles runs over and starts passionately kissing Franca and touching her bottom - in front of Tess. This had been prearranged to make Tess jealous. Then Miles avoids Tess (for weeks I believe) because he is dating Franca. Later he tells Tess all this was to make Tess jealous. This was not a fun plot choice. It might have been ok if Miles dated Franca - without the kissing and fondling immediately after kissing Tess.
END SPOILER.

NARRATOR:
I did not like the narrator Julie Teal. At first I didn’t mind her, but by the end of the book I couldn’t wait to get away from her voice. It was irritating, grating, too brusk, too harsh. Some of her character voices were worse than others. I prefer narrators with a softer and more pleasant sound.

Genre: contemporary romance