Review: The Other Side by Zee Monodee #romance

Blurb:

Divorce paints a scarlet letter on her back when she returns to the culture-driven society of Mauritius. This same spotlight shines as a beacon of hope for the man who never stopped loving her. Can the second time around be the right one for these former teenage sweethearts?

Indian-origin Lara Reddy left London after her husband dumps her for a more accommodating uterus—at least, that’s what his desertion feels like. Bumping into him and his pregnant new missus doesn’t help matters any, and she thus jumps on a prestigious job offer. The kicker? The job is in Mauritius, the homeland of her parents, and a society she ran away from over a decade earlier.

But once there, Lara has no escape. Not from the gossip, the contempt, the harassing matchmaking...and certainly not from the man she hoped never to meet again. The boy she’d loved and lost—white Mauritian native, Eric Marivaux.

Back when they were teens, Eric left her, and Lara vowed she’d never let herself be hurt again. Today, they are both adults, and facing the same crossroads they’d stood at so many years earlier.

Lara now stands on the other side of Mauritian society. Will this be the impetus she needs to take a chance on Eric and love again?

My Review

 

Ms. Monodee certainly knows how to make the reader step into the character's shoes. After one scene I actually desired a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke, so if you have recently quite smoking you may want to skip that scene.  I learned a great French swear word which I will not share with you here, but it begins with M.

It's only recently that I learned about the island of Mauritius, and through this novel I feel as if I’ve been there and experienced it. Both the glorious beauty of the land and the peculiar behaviours of some of the people and culture as a whole. Some of the things that were said really surprised me. I don’t do spoilers so I won’t mention them but the story had me thinking, which tells a lot about the intensity of the book.

At the heart of the tale is true love. A love that cannot be separated by culture, family, time, marriage, or self preservation. Lara is an interesting character. Not as strong as I like heroines to be, but she grows in strength as the book moves along and this made me really like her. Eric was so patient, understanding, and hot that I loved him from beginning to end. The deep passion they shared made me wonder how things in life can go so badly that they missed out on so much.

A fantastic romance that I highly recommend. I can’t wait for book two which is coming out this month. 

I give this book five out five king size chocolate bars.

I purchased this novel from Amazon.