Old Boyfriends by Debbie Macomber
“She didn’t understand how she could lie beside him in bed night after night and dream about another man…”When Susannah Nelson turned eighteen, her parents sent her to school abroad. She said goodbye to her boyfriend, Jake – and never saw him again.Years later, Susannah finds herself regretting the paths not taken. Returning to her parents’ house and her girlhood friends, she also returns to the past – and discovers that things are not always as they once seemed…
This book is another in the Blossom Street series. In this book we are introduced to Susannah of Susannah’s Garden. The book is set before she buys the shop on Blossom Street. Her mission is to get her mother into assisted living accommodation and to go through the house of her parents. She is suffering from depression, which is leading her to regret things that happened in her life, such as losing the love of her life, Jake.
As ever, I enjoyed this book, but I do not think it is Macomber’s best, nor do I think it is the best in the Blossom Street series. I think Macomber deals with some hard issues, such as depression and the need to live in a nursing home, as well as dealing with past regrets and I think the storyline was good. However, there towards the end there was a twist I didn’t see coming, and to be honest, I didn’t believe. And that spoilt the story for me. The return of someone from her past was not believable at all. But because this occurred close to the end of the book I don’t think it ruined the book completely.
Macomber is very good at writing characters who I like and empathise with. I like Susannah. I didn’t always agree with her decisions but I understood where she came from and I felt for her with all the decisions she had to make. I think her mother was written well too – an elderly lady who was starting to suffer from memory loss. I think she sensitive and realistic. My favourite character however was Caroline – Susannah’s old school friend. She was focused and loyal and believable.
This is chick-lit, and for the most part a good read. It was easy to read and easy to get into, I was just disappointed with the ending.
7/10