Title: A Midwinter Match
Author: Jane Lovering
Genre: Women’s Fiction
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis
A brilliant counsellor at work in York, she is however floundering in her own life. Her romantic track record is woeful, her finances are in a pickle, and she’s back in a house-share after splitting up with her useless ex.
But one thing Ruby is brilliant at, is helping other people find a way through their problems, and she excels at the job she loves, doing just that.
Happy-go-lucky, Mr Positivity, Zac Drewe also loves his job – the trouble is, it’s the same as Ruby’s, and the management have decided to ‘rationalise’ their department. There’s only room for one of them.
As the snow and winter close in on York, Ruby and is still recovering from a nd Zac have everything to lose, and Ruby starts to wonder if the happy face Zac shows the world, might be disguising a sadder secret.
Set against one another, they are unlikely friends. But perhaps, if they could take the time to understand each other, they might discover that rather than rivals, they could be the best thing that ever happened to one another…
My Review of A Midwinter Match
It had to happen sometime didn’t it? The first winter themed book of the year for me to review! We are introduced to the main character of Ruby immediately the story begins, as Ruby discovers her job as a counsellor is under threat due to a company merger and she has to compete against another colleague, Zac, who is also a counsellor. Forced to work together as a team, Ruby and Zac start seeing each other in a different way. There is less of the competitive side of their relationship, as they become a lot more friendly with each other.
Ruby has experienced a lot of heartache and is still recovering from a relationship break down and the fact that she has lost her home. As the reader, we get to witness Ruby’s struggles with her mental health, which makes you really feel for everything that she is going through. We also discover that although Zac appears confident and outgoing, he is also experiencing some difficult personal circumstances.
To the backdrop of the beautifully described backdrop of York, we watch Ruby and Zac’s relationship change from competing work colleagues to . . . well, you will just have to read the book to find out, won’t you!? A Midwinter Match is a beautifully written story packed full of everything you could want from a winter read – love, laughter, fun and most importantly, for me, characters who are so real and so relatable. Characters who experience anxiety and mental health concerns, like all of us do at some point in life – this for me just makes the characters in this story so much more believable.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for providing the materials for this post and organising the Blog tour. Be sure to check out the other blogs who participated in this Blog Tour.
