Welcome back all, this is the first week in the coming weeks where I will be reading a Karen Botha novel. And I gota say I’m impressed and am now looking forward to the next book of her’s I’ll be reading! I’m also already looking forward to the second instalment of this series.
We start off this book with Daisy, our main character, rushing to a business meeting in the pouring rain in London. She is instantly attracted to him in a way she can’t understand to the point where she misses some crucial info he gives her. When we swap to his side of things (it does swap between these two every 1-3 chapters with the occasional other character involved as well) I started to feel a bit wary. Why did he have answers to potential questions “prepared”? There was something about this phrasing that kept nagging at me until I got my answer right near the end of the book!
Needless to say I was intrigued. Especially when she played him by having him come to a fundraiser just so she could figure out what details she missed. And she got them alright! She even got them with a side sex with her hot new business partner! only problem is, she’s fairly certain he set her up the next morning when her house got broken into leaving her with a smashed face, smashed house and missing money. At this stage I felt like there had to be more to the story than we were getting, because otherwise, why write a book including this at what felt like a pivotal moment?
I can’t write too much about what happens in the book without ruining the main plot for you which is what I really connected to. After trying to figure who’s robbed her Daisy gets sucked into a murder mystery where she’s the prime suspect. How is she going to get out of this and back to her life as she knows it? Well it involves reuniting two friends that are in love, testing the limits of her resolve and it ends up giving her what her heart wants but she’s been too afraid to pursue. All while on a rollercoaster ride with Errol.
The one theme that kept playing over and over through this book was that our choices, not our morals and values, are what shape the person we become. And I agree with this whole heartedly. I also agree that in the pursuit of fame and/or fortune many people forget what their morals and values are. So seeing this play out where Daisy is essentially not true to her morals and values is an extreme example of what can happen.
I also realised about halfway through the book that I’m fairly certain this book is the first book I’ve read where the main character is a black woman. How is it possible that out of ALL the books I’ve read, I’ve never come across one where the main character is a black woman? Have I been living a sheltered reading life? Or are there really that few books that use black woman as their main characters? I’m pretty sure I’ve had almost every other nationality appear as main characters, but not that. It really made me take a moment on my bus ride to work to absorb, recognise and wonder at that.
But the thing that made it amazing for me was that Karen hasn’t written it in a way where it’s screaming “I’ve included a minority! Look at me! I’m amazing and support them!” It’s written in a way that it’s like it’s a common day occurance and shouldn’t be a surprise. And in reality that’s true. Minorities should be respected equally as much as larger demographics. And this book felt like it had the perfect balance to me.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review, next week I will be reviewing another book by Karen Botha, “Naked Truths”. Continue down to read a bit more about Karen.
Author Bio
Karen Botha was born in Lincolnshire, England where her father was in the Royal Air Force. As a young girl she always had a passion for reading and writing, studying English Language before University.
Working most of her adult life in digital marketing didn’t leave her much time to pursue her passion for stories. But, at the age of 36 she retrained as a reflexologist and started working for herself. This helped her free up more than enough time to enjoy a re-found passion; writing.
Her first novel was inspired by the true lift experiences of her clients. But don’t believe everything you read, she has more than enough imagination to catch you out with twist and turns galore.
She enjoys romance, travelling and motor sport, which also provide her inspiration for her books.
She currently lives in London with her husband and rescue dog, Shadow.
