Rosalie Warren writes from inside her main character’s head. We experience all Abbie’s doubts, fears and depression as she enrols with an internet dating site after being dumped by Keith, her ex-husband.

‘You need to sell yourself, that’s all. Make yourself sound exciting’, her friend Kate urges as Abbie struggles to outline her profile on the site. Worried that if she were truthful about her depression and the fact she has twin daughters aged eleven it would put prospective partners off, Abbie struggles with the first steps. There is the possibility of danger she realises, perhaps a man met through the internet could be a stalker, or worse…

            An email correspondence between Abbie and Bill develops and keeps pages turning as the reader is swept through the difficulties of balancing a possible new relationship against the tug of existing family ties. Fiona, the new and far more interesting (to Abbie’s mind) partner of Keith, lurks in the background, apparently an innocuous figure. But why does one of the twins suddenly not want to go and stay with her and Keith?  

Kate does everything possible to encourage Abbie in the relationship with Bill, but does she understand the problems?  Kate has no children of her own and appears to lead a carefree life.

Rosalie grips the reader’s interest on every page with this story of a conundrum of our times, and tells it clearly and sympathetically. Each snatched meeting with Bill is marred by a problem with the twins and Abbie is torn between duty to her girls and the possibility of a new life with Bill. As the story unfolds the reader is wondering how on earth the situation could be resolved. But it is, and in a series of dramatic and unexpected events which bring this cracking book to a exciting close.

Pam Eaves