My Oxford Year: A Novel

When I first started this book, I thought I was going to love it. I was ready to include this to my list of favourites. What I wanted was a light read. Something fluffy would have been a bonus, and this book seem to have ticked all the boxes. The blurb did promise that. Protagonists starting off on the wrong foot, then gradually learning to love each other? Now that's a kind of romance that I would look forward to immerse myself in. So what went wrong?

We find ourselves beginning the story with Eleanor 'Ella' Durran on her journey to England. She's going to Oxford. What's more, to learn about English Literature! This book contains a lot of beautiful phrases and pieces of poetry that anyone who delights in reading them would appreciate. It adds a very nice touch to the overall mood of the book without it being too pretentious. But on her very first day there, she finds herself nearly knocked over by a car. Later, the very same man who was behind the wheel ruins her shirt with condiments at a restaurant. Then, out of all the stars, the one that fell has to bring the both of them together (again) as lecturer and student. The chemistry between them is undeniable. Ella later finds that he is not as bad as he seems to be. What was a friends-with-benefits relationship turns into something more.

I loved everything about it up until this point. The gradual build-up of their feelings, the author's consideration of not making this seem like an erotica, together with all the friends Ella has made and the ambience that is unique to England... all of these make the book a rather enjoyable read. As a 24-year-old woman, Ella has found out what she really wants to be. She's smart, but isn't arrogant. Mature in her own right. Knows to fight for her goals and make good use of the opportunities given to her... until she is faced with a crossroad in her path. The growth in her is written amazingly well, and the obstacles she has faced in this Once In A Lifetime Experience has helped her become more her. Jamie is the perfect man to be with her throughout it all.

But then, I got angry. Oh, yes, I got so angry when Jamie's secret got revealed because the blurb should have warned me. Mentioning Jojo Moyes and Nicholas Sparks is not enough, for goodness' sake! The guy has cancer! A terminal illness! I dislike reading books with terminal illness being the centre of the plot, and I was not happy being surprised like that. But despite this, I still considered continuing.

(Only if the ending is to my liking, so yeah, I did read the last chapter and the epilogue. Heh.)

Plus, they got together a little too fast? So that's two points down for this one. AND STILL I CONTINUED. Because I really liked Ella and Jamie. They are just so wonderful and so right for one another I just couldn't stop. There were several missing elements though, like how Ella's coping with her studies even with this setback and all, and what her mother's reaction is when she finds out the choices she has made, that are not addressed.

Overall, it's a pretty meaningful read. The characters are all likeable. It's a book filled with multiple literature pieces that one cannot help but appreciate. It is pretty thought-provoking as well, and I really liked that about this book. However, it tricks readers into reading it as something that is not. Instead of a light and fluffy read, this book revolves around the topic of cancer (yeah, I'm not going to put a spoiler alert on that. Not sorry.)

By A Floret's Breath

This gutted me. Spoiler Alert: Not an HEA but not entirely sad although there is sadness and you may cry. Still loved it and still would recommend it. I had already read Thank You for Listening and enjoyed that but I loved this one more even with the sadness. Top 10 of my 150 books I read this year.

Big fan of Whelan as a narrator, so was pleasantly surprised to see that she wrote too!! I expected this book to follow the traditional story arc of most romance novels (enemies to lovers that spend most of their time in a sexually tense quarrel that eventually leads them together for the first time, with everything going well until it isnt (typically around the 1-2 hours out from end mark) only to come back together again with some tearful declarations of “I love you”) so I wasn’t expecting when the plot and pace took other turns! One thing I liked about this book was the expansion of characters outside of our two romantic leads. Maggie, Tom, and Charlie reminded me a bit of Bridget Jones’ friends in BJD. But unfortunately, like most romance novels, the friends feel more like caricatures than real people. Particularly Charlie, who has the somewhat dreadful typecast as the upperclass gay who’s sole main plot line outside of support to the MC is chasing down a presumably straight boy in hopes of turning him gay (belgh!)

As for the plot, I’m still unsure of how I feel about the whole cancer plot line. I feel like the book morphed into something totally different than it started with. Though there was repeated emphasis that Jamie did not expect or want Ella to stay simply because of his diagnosis, cancer plotlines themselves can feel emotionally manipulative! Like I feel like there could be other reasons to have kept Ella in Oxford with Jamie outside of her having fallen in love with someone who was bound with an explicit timer on their existence. Like I almost wish it went the “miracle cure” route so we could see Ella choosing her new life in the UK out of true, unemotionally guilt-trippy want.

Also, not that MC’s have to be perfect, but Ella was sometimes really rude and annoying. Thankfully it wasn’t to a point where I couldn’t finish the book, but it’s shocking how the way she treated people had little consequence. In particularly Connor who was introduced and then disappeared for a great chunk of the book until Ella and him reunite over horrible Thanksgiving outing. Like it’s genuinely shocking when he texts her at the end even if its just a congratulations, if I were him I would have blocked her number immediately after the return from London LOL. Also, I just felt like it could have literally been anyone else other than Connor to have texted her the congratulations like why bring his name up again.

Also Ella’s mom?? Why bother including her. I don’t think Ella needed to reconcile anything with her mother as we know parental relationships can be #tricky buuut why include those texts and calls if they weren’t going to build to some other sort of breakthrough. I think it would have been enough to have simply mentioned the relationship between mother and daughter wasn’t great and left it at that.

Originally I rated this 4 stars but as I’ve continued to think critically I think this is a 3. BUT also if you stop thinking critically and just enjoy it, it’s still an enjoyable book!!! So i would recommend

Great easy read