The Idea of Love by Patti Callahan Henry

The Idea of Love by Patti Callahan Henry

Expected Publication: June 23, 2015

Format: via NetGalley

Challenges: 2015 NetGalley/Edelweiss

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Ella's life has been completely upended. She's young, beautiful, and deeply in love—until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, but crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation are getting him nowhere. He's on the look-out for a love story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to.

When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina it feels like the perfect match, something close to fate. In Ella, Hunter finds the perfect love story, full of longing and sacrifice. It's the stuff of epic films. In Hunter, Ella finds possibility. It's an opportunity to live out a fantasy – the life she wishes she had because hers is too painful. And more real. Besides. What’s a little white lie between strangers? But one lie leads to another, and soon Hunter and Ella find themselves caught in a web of deceit. As they try to untangle their lies and reclaim their own lives, they feel something stronger is keeping them together. And so they wonder: can two people come together for all the wrong reasons and still make it right?

My Thoughts

The Idea of Love is a fun look at love through two people who initially lie about who they are. Ella is trying to recover from the shocking truth that her husband is having an affair with her best friend’s sister. She feels betrayed by her husband and friend and is heartbroken that no one told her the truth. Then she meets Hunter who isn’t very truthful either when it comes to who he really is and what he is really doing there in town.

Hunter isn’t really a tourist in town but in fact a screenwriter and is in search of a new movie idea. He meets Ella and thinks her story of being a widow and how her husband died is a tragic love story, just what he is looking for to make it to the big screen. Little does he know her "story" isn't what it seems. However the lies are soon exposed and feelings are hurt but can love real love and feelings be stronger than all the lies? Can they make it past everything and start something real once the truth is revealed? Can love really conquer all? Overall I really enjoyed this read it was funny and I loved the characters, even though both lied about who they were I felt both never did it to be mean or hurtful. In my opinion I felt they were just putting up walls, protecting themselves from getting hurt again.

This is a quick love story that is a bit unconventional but one that delivers all the romance that one would expect from a great read. This makes a great summer read, it’s the perfect escape on a hot summer day.