“A Poignant and Humorous Journey of Self-discovery, Resilience, and Redemption”
Love, Julie is a forced proximity, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers contemporary romance by Jamie Anderson. With its attractive cover, this novel follows her first book, Someone to Kiss — the story of Julie’s best friend Kate and her brother Ben. Love, Julie can be read as a stand-alone, but Julie is featured in the first novel.
Set in Regina, Saskatchewan, Julie is a 44-year-old alcoholic with low self-esteem. After 7 months of being sober, she had a bit of a slip and fell off the wagon at her brother’s engagement party, completely embarrassing herself. The first time she hit rock bottom and stopped drinking, she did it with the support of her brother and her best friend, without the help of groups and meetings. Now, Kate and Ben are busy exploring their new relationship spending less time with her, so some outside help may be needed to help her stay on track. Julie sits in on an AA meeting seeking support. There she meets a wide-grinning, irritatingly cheerful guy who is there to encourage his friend. This annoying red-bearded, plaid-wearing man introduces himself as Luke. Before the end of the meeting, Julie has a meltdown and storms out. She then promises her best friends that she will find a group that is not so rigid and fits her, unlike the one with the “lumberjack.”
At lunch, Julie listens to her two friends stressing over how busy they are and wondering how they will accomplish the upcoming task of planning their wedding. Julie volunteers to plan and organize it; she has the time, and they don’t. She wants to do this to show them that she has her life together and that she won’t be a mess forever. It would also be something to keep her mind off drinking, a way to prove herself and give her something to focus on — a goal. Her brother states that his Best Man, Hudson, also wants to help with the planning. He is a project manager and would be perfect to help out. She did not want some outsider ruining her chance of proving to Ben an Kate that she had her life on track. But if the only way she could repay her two best friends, who had stuck with her through everything was to plan the wedding with Hudson, so be it. With 10 months to organize the perfect June wedding, she heads out to her friend’s place to meet Hudson who, as luck would have it, turns out to be Luke.
Over the next couple of months of planning, Luke proves himself to be patient and kind, toppling her well-built-up emotional walls. He teaches her to like and forgive herself and helps her to see that she deserves happiness. She starts to open up about her past, revealing past traumas and how she ended up at rock bottom.
This story is not just a romance, but an inspiring novel of self-healing and the power of friendship. People who route for the fun, plaid-wearing single dads — without washboard abs — will love this story. I did appreciate the characters being older than in many romances, closer to my age, and dealing with mature issues. Warning: During the story, readers might find themselves grabbing a sweater when it’s so cold in Regina that the air hurts your face, or stripping it off again when it’s so hot you stick to the car seat.
Jamie Anderson is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. A proud Canadian and Saskatchewanian, she wanted to set her first two novels in the place she was born and raised. She works in content marketing, has a certificate in professional writing and has done a smattering of freelance writing, character development and copyediting over the past several years. She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, and has been reading for longer than that. She lives happily with her mountain of books, her TV and her two plants.
Publisher: TRM Publishing (April 30, 2024)
E-book | 297 pages
E-ISBN: 9781739620622
Sue Slade has a Bachelor of Child Study from Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. After working with children and adults with special needs, she now has her midlife dream job of working with books. Sue manages an independent, locally owned bookstore, Dartmouth Book Exchange. Through her charismatic sharing centred around books and community, Sue has created an engaging cornerstone for authors, customers, and book lovers of all ages. Sue is an avid reader and her reviews cross over many genres.
