Life imitates art or art imitates life ? There is truth in both.
I read for pleasure, connection and inspiration . I cannot say enough about all the good feelings I get whenever I sit down with a physical book and immerse in the writing and the words that fly out from the pages. Fictions may not be about real people but these invented characters possess traits and emotions that are relatable because we have them or people whom we know have them. Romantic love stories definitely happen to real people. My domestic helper has an aunt who was helping a friend write letters to her pen pal and when the pen pal decided to show up in Manila, her aunt was sent by her friend to meet the pen pal. Her friend had been too shy to meet him. As it happened, my helper’s aunt married the friend’s pen pal after spending only two to three weeks with him. My helper’s aunt’s family had reservations and despite her family’s strong objection, she impulsively followed the man back to Malaysia. My help’s aunt and uncle have since been married for almost four decades. If you believe in love and happily ever after, you will take a chance, won’t you?
I do not like to abandon any reads. Sometimes I have a false start and I will resume reading the book at another time, sometimes I succeed at other times I put off till later . I try to read all kinds of fictions but bearing in mind that time is precious, I need to be more mindful of what I pick up to read. Occasionally even if I feel like giving up a read due to the writing style or the story, I still plough through it just because I do not like to abandon a book.
‘Life is too short to read a bad book.’― James Joyce
Recently I read a book that I did not quite enjoy though it is well written and a hilariously fun read. It has to do with the state of mind I was in as I was clearly distracted and bothered about one thing or another amidst some work.
In Story of My life by Lucy Score, Hazel Hart , a best selling romance author is struggling to write again . She has to vacate her Upper East Side apartment in five days and she is also given an ultimatum by her publisher to write another book. She is going through a divorce and finds it hard to write Happily Ever After (HEA) stories again. Her best friend who is also her literary agent, Zoey Moody has been fired from her job. She is supposed to be attending an interview together with one of the agency’s biggest clients, she misses it because she has got the date wrong. Hazel may be good in raising fictional characters from rock bottom but now this is her life, she needs to think creatively like her heroine.
Hazel flips through the papers in her folder and comes across an old news story entitled ‘SMALL TOWN BANDS TOGETHER TO SAVE HOME OF ELDERLY RESIDENT’. It is about how Bishop Brothers Construction has done all the repair work of Heart House, a historic home with no charge in the quiet town of Story Lake in Pennsylvania. When she sees that Campbell Bishop, one of the Bishop brothers is a gorgeous but grumpy hunk , an idea of a story germinates in her mind. She visualises a Big-city girl starting afresh in a small town. Now that scenes begin to pop into her head, she dives for her laptop. She types outline of notes and questions and sees that there is an outline of a story in the making. She decides that she needs real-life inspiration so she is going to move to Story Lake. As if it is meant to be, the subject property in the news article is now available for sale and it comes with a seat in a town council. While Zoey does not like small towns, she is moving there to make sure that her client will finish writing the story that she has started. Off they pack up and relocate to a rural town in Pennsylvania. Both women soon find how vastly different life is in Story Lake. Hazel certainly finds inspiration from Campbell, the hot, grumpy contractor.
The narratives are in two alternative voices between Hazel and Campbell. They both need to work through their emotional baggages respectively. The banters and dialogues between them are witty and humourous. The scenes and the characters are well crafted. It is a slow burn romance that will warm up your heart if you are in the mood for a rom-com in a small town setting.
Story of My life by Lucy Score is a happily ever after story that would make an excellent script for a romantic comedy with its quirky characters from a backwater town. The book is 514 pages long. The author must have had a fun time writing the story. In the author’s note to readers, Score writes that she aspires to build a town for readers and this is the first instalment of Story Lake. She ends her note with ‘Book friends are the best friends!’ Sweet.
Incidentally I will be passing my copy of Story of My Life to a young lady who works in the café that I frequent. I bring a book with me whenever I take a coffee break. One afternoon, the young server told me that she liked the book when I showed her what I was reading. A few days later, she was delighted to see me as she wanted to show me the book she was reading. It is Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. A reader is always happy to meet another reader.
Bookaholic Macchiato 