TEST
This book is a departure from the Sherry Thomas norm. First, it is a contemporary romance and second, it is written in the first person point of view. Well, a good writer is a good writer no matter the genre and I really enjoyed Sherry Thomas’ contemporary debut. I think her historical romance fans will be pleased with her first foray into the contemporary realm. 
Evangeline Canterbury is a female STEM success story. She is an assistant professor of material sciences on track to receive tenure at a New York City university. As successful as she is in her career life, her personal life needs a lot of work. Her mother and father divorced when she was a small child and she never saw her mother again before her mother died when she was 9. Her father remarried an Englishwoman and promptly discovered that she was bipolar. At the age of 23, Evangeline’s father died in a car crash and it has pretty much been her and her stepmother Zelda ever since. Despite Zelda’s depressive disorder, Evangeline loves her with a protective fierceness that has almost made Zelda the center of her universe. At the beginning of the book when Zelda suffers an extreme depressive episode, Evangeline has to call on Bennett Somerset to take over her dog and house sitting duties for a mutual friend so she can take care of her step-mother. Once Zelda’s crisis has passed, Evangeline returns to complete her house sitting duties and runs into surgeon, Dr. Bennett Somerset in person. The chemistry is instant and the two engage in a one-night stand. Or so Evangeline thought.
Bennett Somerset is not just the studly doctor Evangeline imagined. He is that Somerset boy, the one who was supposed to escort Evangeline at her society debut, but was a no-show. That was fourteen years ago when they were both eighteen. Evangeline never knew the reason that Bennett failed to show up, but it seems that Bennett at the age of sixteen fell in love with a much older woman and began an affair. His parents sent him off to Eton to get him away from the beautiful cougar. When he turned eighteen, he took off to be with the love of his life. This affair caused an estrangement with his family that has lasted to this day. With his lover dead, Bennett wants to reconcile with his family. To do this, he needs access to society events where they might also be invited. So, he asks Evangeline to be his pretend girlfriend. Evangeline eventually agrees and the relationship is one that includes sexual benefits. But that is as far as Evangeline is willing to go. She has a fear of intimacy that stems from her childhood and this makes her keep an increasingly enamored Bennett at arm’s length.
This is the second in as many review books that I have read where the story is written in first person point of view. I always state that this is my least favorite point of view as I prefer to be in the head of both main characters, but then again many of my favorite books use first person, so I may have to revise my thinking. I believe that Ms. Thomas chose wisely when she kept the reader out of Bennett’s head. There was more going on with the hero than he presented and the third person perspective would have ruined a somewhat big reveal.
Both Evangeline and Bennett are complex characters with enough baggage to fill a 747. While Bennett realizes he needs to come to terms with his past, Evangeline is not so self-aware. Therein lies my one quibble with this book: with the mountain of baggage Evangeline has suppressed, the resolution is a little too much of a grand epiphany rather than a serious working through her issues. I thought that part required more time and self-reflection than was given in the book. On the other hand, Evangeline and Zelda ARE Tolkien fanatics and any character who can quote verbatim from The Lord of the Rings is a character right after my Middle Earth heart. I had to restrain myself from upping my grade based on the Tolkien references alone. Still, I consider a B+ a very respectable grade and I look forward to reading more contemporary romances from Sherry Thomas.
Grade: B+
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 04/05/15
Publication Date: 2015/04
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I am from Alabama where I live with my husband of over 30 years in our now empty nest. Our three adult children have flown the coop and my husband and I are getting ready to build that retirement house in the next few years when I hope to have even more time for reading. I am a lifelong reader and while I read primarily romance, I enjoy most genres. If an author can tell a good story, I will read it.
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Somehow missed the fact that Thomas had written a contemporary romance all these years ago. What a lovely find! Like the reviewer, I have my own quibbles with some of the details (did Bennett really have to be quite so rich? Wouldn’t it have been sufficient that Bennett inherit enough money to put himself through medical school to become a heart surgeon?). But overall, the review above is spot on. The One in My Heart is quintessentially a Thomas novel: populated by intelligent, flawed, interesting people – and not just the MCs – making their way in the world.