Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas: review.

I follow a lot of authors on twitter. I really enjoy talking with them, and get quite a thrill each time someone famous responds to me, or even better, follows me back. They don’t behave like celebrities, I’m not sure why, but they are pretty normal people. Perhaps it’s because their relationship with us is formed through written words?

This author relationship is a bit different though. I’ve known Rachael, aka Karamina for a very long time. We first met on a homebirth yahoo group before Small was born – given that he’s 10 in May, it will have been over 10 years ago. We lost touch for a while and then reconnected via twitter and blogs and finally met in person at the first cybermummy, which was really rather lovely.

I adore her blog, Tales from the Village, and when I found out she was writing a book, I was fairly sure I’d like that too. There’s a certain level of nervousness though, you know, just in case…

Sealed with a Kiss is lovely. I got in on free download from Amazon this weekend – perfectly timed as yesterday I went down with some nasty bug that saw me retreat early to bed. This was just the kind of gentle but enjoyable story I needed – perfect chick lit, with believable characters, a fun storyline and utterly gorgeous scenery.

Not that I’m a visual reader, but the descriptions are good enough that I could catch glimpses of the scenery, and I would quite like to be able to visit the area in question now. And I want to see the seals!

There’s something about reading a book written by someone you know that’s a little bit different. If I tried while I was reading I could hear Rachael’s voice, making it an even more fun experience. There’s a turn of phrase here and there that summoned her instantly to mind and welcomed me in that little bit further.

That’s not to say that you need to know her to enjoy this story. It stands on its own merits perfectly well. Not a challenging read, but that isn’t the design, this is supposed to the literary equivalent of an evening with a friend and a glass of wine, and it worked very well for me in that regard.

And if you rush to Amazon right now it’s freeOn Kindle daily deal 31 July 2014! Quick, grab yourself a kindle bargain.

disclosure . I got this free for Kindle via Amazon. I have not been compensated for this post, links to Amazon are affiliate links, opinions remain my own.