I am a sucker for a good, easy love story and Meant To Be, the new novel by Louisa Leaman is just that. Yes, books in this genre are often predictable, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, sometimes predictability is just what is needed. Yeah, its a bit cliché and cheesy but secretly we’re all fans of cliché and cheese. For me Meant To Be was a warm and comforting tonic of a read.
Yet to call Meant To Be just a love story is a severe injustice to this novel. This is a novel that focuses on the history of the art nouveau period, more specifically art nouveau jewellery. Although I’ve never thought about it before, I’ve always liked art nouveau, but reading this novel I learnt a lot about the period. I found this truly fascinating.
As well as being an author, Louisa Leaman writes content for the V&A Museum. From reading the novel, it is clear that Louisa’s fiction is inspired by the V&A. In fact the V&A jewellery galleries in London feature beautifully in the story, which I loved as I am big fan of these galleries.
Meant To Be is also about connecting to family history through jewellery. This beautiful theme ran throughout the whole novel and I relished in it as I am fascinated and so sentimental about family history (ever since I can remember I have always been so intrigued about my own family history).
Ultimately Meant To Be is a novel about finding your authentic self when you have been lost – something I’m sure we can all relate to.
Meant To Be is the story of Jess who is desperate to find a family heirloom that has been lost. Although her boyfriend Tim can’t quite understand this need in Jess, believing she should take a secure teaching job rather than waste time on her jewellery ‘hobby business‘, Jess can’t forget the art nouveau necklace that she used to play with as a child. She also needs to find the necklace for Nancy, her frail grandmother before it is too late.
Jess is close to retrieving the necklace but Guy, the charming ‘treasure hunter‘ stands in her way. He has already bought it but gives Jess the chance of to getting it back for Nancy – as long as she goes on a date with him.
Taking its readers on a charming journey through family history from London, to Wales, to Hollywood, Meant To Be is a romance that is compelling and relatable. I read it over a chilled weekend and it really made my weekend. Thank you for that Louisa Leaman.
Meant To Be will be released as an Ebook on 17th December 2020 and will be published in paperback on 1st April 2021.
Thank you also Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to read and review Meant To Be as part of the blog tour. To read the reviews from my fellow book bloggers also on the blog tour, please see below.
My rating:
Thanks so much for the blog tour support x