Review: Love, Almost by Hayley Doyle
So I am a little bit of a sucker for a good love story. Whether they’re light-hearted or rooted in tragedy, as long as it has an easy-to-root-for romance at its centre, I’m usually bound to fall for it. That’s exactly what I was expecting from Love, Almost.
Chloe had only been with Jack for five months when the unthinkable happened -Jack was hit by a van and died instantly. Now, Chloe feels she must live out the life they’d planned together on her own. But in doing this, she is forced to answer a pivotal question -was what they had really love or did they only almost get there?
One thing that Chloe struggles with is the fact that her relationship with Jack was so brief and she isn’t sure whether she deserves to mourn him like his friends and family are. It seems that she is constantly trying to prove to Jack’s inner circle -who never got the chance to meet her- and also to herself that their romance happened and that their love was real. I guess it puts paid to the school of thought that anyone who comes into your life has the power to change it forever, no matter how little time they spent in it.
Chloe takes a trip back to Thailand, the only holiday that she and Jack managed to take together. She goes to source the story behind a photo that Jack took on their trip but when she’s disappointed with the truth, she meets a Canadian man and fellow solo traveller called Justin. Despite her grief, she ends up having a really wonderful time dotted with lovely moments of happiness and peace. It was at this point in the book where I really started to be certain that Chloe was going to be just fine.
There are even a couple of little bits of wisdom to the phone-obsessed among us. There is something about a grief-centred story that makes both the character and the reader very reflective about life and its fragility. Suddenly nothing that seemed to be so very important matters at all when someone we love dies, especially when it’s unexpected. So much about Chloe and Jack’s romance read so authentically, which upped the emotion whenever Chloe clearly missed him.
One character I didn’t really like was Chloe’s best friend Beth. Although she is there for Chloe, I felt that she came across as self-centred. The above passage is from the beginning of the book where Chloe turns up at Beth and her husband Fergus’ house to tell them about Jack’s death. It takes what seems like forever for Chloe to tell her because Beth goes on and on about mundane, unimportant things even though it’s obvious that Chloe is distressed. This meant that my first meeting with Beth consisted of screaming at her to shut the hell up!
There is also a lot of Scouse dialect in Chloe’s conversations mostly with Beth, her parents and brother. She says ‘me mum’ and ‘meself’ a lot which may confuse anyone not familiar with the Scouse accent. However, it wasn’t really consistent. Sometimes she used ‘my mum’ and ‘myself’ and I didn’t really notice this only being reserved for Southern characters. Perhaps this could have done with a little more editorial attention.
I think Chloe’s mum Sue shares many traits with all of our mums. Their relationship is very relateable -fraught with prickly tension but still full of love. Sue seems to be forever disappointed by her unambitious, single, 30-something daughter and Chloe seems to be forever trying to impress her. It’s an age-old dynamic that most women I know will be able to recognise, so I can only assume it was written from experience!
Love, Almost is a heartfelt story about one woman’s journey from unimaginable grief to acceptance and hope. It has been touted as great for fans of Jojo Moyes but I actually found it a lot more light-hearted than what I’ve read of her books. Chloe doesn’t just embark on a journey out of her grief. She also rediscovers her passion and reason to live. Yes, it revolves around a tragic death but this novel is ultimately about living life to the fullest.
