4 out of 4 stars
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Your Heart of Gold is a novel by Mike Jordan and is the first book in the Lovequest Series. Classified as Other Fiction, this book could easily fit into the Romance section.
Guy is a successful winery worker and has achieved much in his life. However, he feels like he is missing out in the love department. Whenever he thinks that he has found the one, he sets up a final test to check whether the woman will love him unconditionally for who he really is and not just the image he portrays. So far he has had no luck.
His two friends, Ham and Monique, come up with an elaborate plan to reconnect Guy with his past flames to see if love can be rekindled. Will it finally be possible for Guy to find his girl with the heart of gold? Set in America, the story moves from California, to Nevada and Idaho, as Guy seeks out the women from his past.
Written in third person, this book mainly follows the story of Guy in his journey looking for love. It also includes various chapters reminiscing about the past where the reader is introduced to the different women as he knew them in years gone by. It also follows the story of Anne, one of Guy’s old girlfriends, who has recently had to deal with a lot of hardship and heartache.
As the main character, Guy is realistically portrayed. Although handsome and well-off, he is still awkward and shy at times which helps to make him an easy character to like and empathise with. The secondary characters of Ham and Monique, provide a nice balance to the extreme personalities of the old girlfriends, while Anne and her family provide a good contrast to the life Guy leads and are shown as very down to earth people, just trying to make ends meet.
This book nicely illustrates the passage of time and how it can colour our memories of the past, especially our recollections of people. What was once cute and endearing as a teenager, can now, decades on, be a very different reality.
Even though this book is a fun, easy read, it does touch lightly on several important topics such as drug use, cult culture, homosexuality and physical handicap. I enjoyed how those were integrated with such ease into the story.
This book was written very well and the only criticism I had was that the phrase “heart of gold” was repeated numerous times throughout the book, sometimes multiple times on the same page. The repetition seemed forced and it got to be a little annoying.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars, as although there was the unnecessary repetition of the phrase used in the title, it was an enjoyable, good paced story. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun, easy read, as well as to anyone who enjoys romances. I look forward to reading more books from this author.
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Your Heart of Gold
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