Earlier this month I read Victoria Walters’ novella, The Summer I Met You, and absolutely loved it so I was eager to read her full-length debut novel which had a lot to live up to. It has to be said that not only did The Second Love of My Life live up to my expectations but it completely exceeded them. It was simply perfect in every way and has seen Victoria Walters go on my very special list of authors whose books I will automatically buy when they are published.
In The Second Love of My Life we are reunited with the characters who are introduced to us in The Summer I Met You, but this time the story is told from the perspective of Rose. Rose was a character who had everything she could have ever wished for, having married the love of her life at a young age and an incredible talent for painting pictures that everyone wants to buy. However, one day Rose’s world is completely shattered and her ability to paint is snatched away from her when her husband, Lucas, is killed in a terrible car crash. With the support of her best friends, Rose is just starting to rebuild her life when someone who wants to buy her paintings turns up on the scene and eventually causes Rose to question whether she can ever bring herself to truly love someone else again.
Returning to the Cornish town of Talting in The Second Love of My Life was something that I really enjoyed and as the book progressed I fell more and more in love with the place. Talting was a place that sounded so picturesque and had a great sense of community spirit, with everyone knowing eachother’s business but always being happy to help eachother out. It was also really great to be reunited with Rose and Emma again, two characters who are more like sisters than best friends and who I really enjoyed being introduced to in Victoria’s novella. Rose, in particular, was an incredible character who was so strong and admirable through the most difficult of times.
I have to say that there really wasn’t any part of this beautiful book that I didn’t adore and I thought that it was an absolute pleasure to immerse myself in Victoria Walters’ wonderful writing style once more. It’s very clear that Victoria Walters writes from the heart and has created a novel that is both emotional and uplifting and one that is filled with some very wise advice that I think everyone can learn something from. It’s one of those books that can very easily be read in a day but that you’ll never want to end.
Whilst I read the novella before reading the full-length novel, I should say that The Second Love of My Life does work very well as a standalone book as Victoria has really gone to town with the description. However, I really do recommend reading the novella before as not only is it brilliant but I also found that I understood the characters and their backgrounds a lot more.
I cannot believe that this is a debut novel and can only say that this is most definitely the beginning of an incredible and successful writing career for Victoria. The Second Love of My Life is simply one of the best books I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to read plenty more written by Victoria in the future.
