I know I sound like a broken record but I love Amanda Radley's writing. I think Reclaiming Love is my new favorite. I absolutely loved Pippa and Sarah - both as individuals and as a couple. I'm a sucker for both emotionally damaged characters AND pretend-to-real-love stories so this was doubly good for me. Combine that with that trademark Radley humor and it was damn near perfect.

Part of my connection to this novel probably comes from my own fraught relationship with my mother. I really felt for Sarah and she was much more caring and patient than I would have been. And Pippa's loss prompted lots of extra hugs for my wife. I love these characters and I'm going to miss them a lot.

Thanks to BSB and NetGalley for the chance to read this one so quickly. ( )

Sarah Campbell works for a tech company that sends her to Celfare, a Scottish island, to live in a dilapidated old cottage and monitor a top-secret experiment that, if successful, will set off a whirlwind of controversy lead by her eco warrior mother. Sarah is given a generous amount of money to rehab the cottage and she hires a local handywoman, Pippa Kent, a former structural engineer, to get the job done. Disaster strikes when her mother announces she’s coming to Celfare which sends Sarah into a tailspin because she told her mother she was moving to the island to live with her girlfriend, Natalie. Only, Natalie doesn’t exist. When she asks Pippa to pretend to be Natalie, she adamantly refuses – until she meets Sarah’s narcissistic mom.

This is a slow-moving story with both characters denying their attraction to each other while telling themselves they don’t want a relationship. Radley has chosen to focus much of the book on Sarah’s relationship, or lack thereof, with her mother so much so that the book becomes angsty and the issues are often repeated so much so that readers may find themselves scanning the passages that deal with the mother.

Fans of Radley will undoubtedly enjoy this book. If you’re not a fan of a ton of angst and wordy novels, this book is for you. If you prefer that your romance novels have a scarcity of angst and are tightly written, this is probably not the book for you.

My thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an eARC. ( )