Review♥Excerpt♥Giveaway: The Restaurant @ the Mill

Contemporary Romance/Women's Fiction

Title: The Restaurant 

Author: Linn B. Halton

Date to be Published: 8/2/12

Publisher: Sapphire Publishing

Synopsis: 

Age, relationships, and careers – we are all unique. Yet beneath the exterior facade we choose to show to the world at large, what do we have in common? The things we bury deep inside; the worries and fears we are unable to verbalise, and the hand fate takes in our lives is a common thread. Sometimes we fail to recognise in each other that innermost struggle on the path to true love.

Six very different stories, six couples linked by The Restaurant @ The Mill, owned by Hilary

Marks and Ben Adams. As the restaurant thrives the atmosphere is alive with conversation,

snapshots of lives unfolding; each one a personal journey.

Review

First of all, I have to say that I don't think I had ever read something like this book. It dealt with many issues that circulate around us.
This book was different and was very refreshing for me. This book was written in multi POVs (which kind of reminded me of Triggers by Robert J Sawyer and his ability to write with so many characters but having the control to manipulate them all). But this style of writing can get bad if not done well. I mean think about the TV show Heroes, the multi POVs really got bad as the series went on. The characters became disjointed, too spread out that the show fell apart. But I think Linn did a good job writing in the multi POVs. Linn's ability to pull off writing in such different wide ranges of love amazed me. I mean just by reading the synopsis, you could see the different love story at different age group with different situations. I really how Linn could connect lots of these characters. I literally thought that a spider was weaving an intricate web. Unlike Heroes, the characters grew as the story went on but the web didn't weaken. I really like this style, it really allows the readers to get deep within everyone, see and feel what the characters feels. This style really can capture a reader's heart and soul. Linn did a good job but I think Linn could reach aim higher and achieve better. :) I also really enjoyed how this book was about the true struggles of relationships.

I really enjoyed every character. Hilary to me was someone I want to work with. She was kind and patient. Ben I think was like a male version of me; he was reserved, and quiet. Charlotte and Nick, wow. Okay, just by reading the synopsis part of them I knew this situation was difficult. You can truly feel the pain when you lose the thing you treasured. And it would always hurt more to lose something than to have never possessed the thing in the first place. I really felt for the couple (this was especially painful when I thought of Sasuke and Naruto - Stella if you are reading this, please don't judge me). Thomas was an interesting person. I couldn't really pin him down, and I don't think I could even now. Sadie was someone like Orihime. She was the kind gentle heart that always had a positive mind to everything. Like Orihime, she bloomed as the story went on. I don't know if I can say I loved her but I didn't dislike her. Grace and Lawrence's story was almost as touching as Charlotte and Nick's. I mean having the elderly relationship within the story, it really opened up the scoped. Providing the readers with old memories, just deepened the relationship between characters and readers. Isobel, David, and Lionel's story I think I liked the least mainly due to the fact I had read many books dealing with almost love triangle. But above all, I really didn't expect Sarah' story. It was something different, I really enjoyed it.

Overall, the interconnection between each story, each character interlace a wonderful novel.

Excerpt

When your family is affected by a tragedy, you find yourself in the midst of emotions that are so strong it’s almost impossible to keep a grasp on normal life. The tragedy happened to my sister, Mya, who was driving home one dark night in the pouring rain. The car that hit hers swerved to avoid a cyclist whose wheel had struck a pothole, and the effects of that night spread out like ripples on a pond to catch us all.

Sam was my sister’s boyfriend, and during the long months following the accident we were all distraught. My parents had each other for support, but I couldn’t add to their burden, could I? So I shared my feelings with Sam and he, in return, shared his feelings with me. I was nineteen at the time and Sam was twenty-seven. He always talked to me as if I was his equal; he made me feel that my fears and worries mattered, that I mattered.

The day I knew beyond a doubt that I had fallen in love with him was, ironically, the day he made the decision to gently disengage himself from our family. One moment he was a part of everything that was going on and within a few weeks he was no longer there when I looked for him. Mum and Dad accepted it was time for him to move on, grateful for the way he had taken care of me. I knew from that very first day when he appeared late and left early, that it was the start of the end; I also knew that I couldn’t change how I felt about him. I had no idea whether he noticed the difference in me, because either way it could never work. If he felt something for me, how could we pretend that he hadn’t once loved my sister? If he thought of me simply as Mya’s younger sister, that would break my heart.

Linn B Halton lives in the UK, in the small Gloucestershire village of Arlingham, on the banks of the River Severn with her adorable husband and cat with attitude – Mr Tiggs! She writes romantic fiction with a psychic or astrological theme and many of the paranormal events that feature in her books are real life experiences. Linn is also a featured new Author on http://loveahappyending.com/ and Editor of the feature ‘Author & Associate Catch-Ups’ including ‘Reader/Author Team Reports’ on the website’s magazine-style blog.

Website | Publisher Author Page | Love Happy Ending Author Page | Twitter: @LinnBHalton | Facebook 

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