Review of Old Love by Nancy J. Hedin
I thought this was okay but it wasn’t really my kind of book. While I’m a cozy mystery fan, this book had this quirky edge that never really fit right for me. I think the book had some good ideas, but the execution just kept feeling a bit off and it never all came together for me.
I like to read books about characters of all ages. I don’t think there are enough older characters in WLW fiction so I’m always happy to pick up a book that has them. Unfortunately, I have to say that I think this book would have worked better if the characters were younger and not around 60. For one, this is a second chance romance and it was hard to believe some of the actions that happened since it has been over 30 years since the two characters were together. Had it been 10 or 15 years, it would have felt more believable. There was also a storyline about Andrew that again didn’t feel as believable because so many years had gone by. The point is while I appreciate reading about all differently aged characters, it just didn’t work so well here.
The mystery is a lighter, cozy mystery and if you follow it along you could pick up a clue to who the murderer was. It was a bit of an oddball mystery to begin with but it was alright and it became the main thing that kept me reading until the end. This is a shorter book which I was glad about as I don’t think my attention would have made it all the way through otherwise.
The main character and most of the secondary characters were just not developed deeply enough for my tastes. I only really knew that our main is a recovering alcoholic and a penny-pincher, except that she gives out money like crazy in this book so I didn’t understand that part. Again, like most of the book, I felt like the main was okay, but there was nothing about her for me to really connect with.
While this is labeled a romance, and I myself called it a second-chance romance, the romance is very low-key. It’s one fight, some biphobia, and it’s like 30 years have not even passed? I didn’t feel the connection between them and I was even less interested in the love interest than I was the main character.
In the end, this book was fine but it was not for me. Even being a cozy mystery fan, I just need more especially when it comes to the characters. Hedin’s writing style made the book feel a bit quirky and that is not a word that always works for me in books. There were some good ideas here, but the story didn’t come together for my personal tastes. 2.75 Stars.
A copy was given to me for a review.
