"An altogether pleasant surprise, poignant & refreshingly unpredictable"

• ASIN: ‎ B0BSV5WCJM
• Publisher: ‎ Barwell Press; 0 edition (22 Jan. 2023)
• Language: ‎ English
• Print length: ‎ 265 pages
• Genre: Romance Literary Fiction

The BookViral Review:

A superb second release in James’ Barwell Trilogy Let’s Escape dares readers to look closely at the remarkable sight of burgeoning romance in our later years.

James has come up with an irresistible story about a spinster hungering for something new as she emerges from her mother’s shadow and an eclectic group of ‘new’ friends who are the catalysts for change in her life. On this level Let’s Escape is an altogether pleasant surprise: a poignant and refreshingly unpredictable take on English suburbia, buoyed by an effervescent cast of wonderfully eclectic characters.

A mainstream drama that frankly and intelligently addresses the issues Hilary faces, in the aftermath of her mother’s death, Let’s Escape could easily have disintegrated into a forced march through formulaic relationships but James doesn’t let this happen.

She’s managed to invest kitchen-sink realism, with soul, into Hilary’s story to give us a lively narrative which combined with delightfully nuanced dialogue and astute social observation is utterly charming. Her plot has a strong sense of fun and having established key characters in ‘Rude Awakening’ she knows just where she wants to take them.

As Hilary and Tobiasz lurch toward intimacy we can imagine them melting into disarming smiles and tenderness as they breech boundaries neither had expected to find themselves doing. But the principal pleasure in reading Let’s Escape is in the ensemble ‘gossip’ of its supporting characters as they come in and out of Hilary’s orbit. The moments work. With the male characters kept more functional, James makes a shameless bid for your heart, aiming to have you smiling one moment, sniffling the next and nodding knowingly as events unfold.

A novel that leaves its readers with the agreeable fragrance of life and possibility Let’s Escape is highly recommended!