UNFORGETTABLE YOU by Marci Boudreaux is an emotional contemporary romance in the spirit of the movie Notting Hill that provides a lovely afternoon escape into the lives of an innkeeper and a movie star. I give it three stars.
In the novel, Carrie Gable is attempting to save her mother-in-law Doreen's ancestral homestead by opening it up to a group of actors who are filming a movie in her Iowa town. While dealing with the large group, Doreen's Alzheimer's gets worse, and handsome actor Will Walker becomes the shoulder for Carrie to lean on. When the movie wraps, Carrie and Will have to figure out how to make a long distance relationship work. But real life is never easy, and unexpected events conspire to keep them apart.
I enjoyed UNFORGETTABLE YOU. The plot was a simple and modern but loose interpretation of the Cinderella story --the servant falls in love with Prince Charming. There were several aspects of the novel that could have been expanded to enrich the story, but that is more of a personal preference. The ending was satisfying, even if a bit foreseeable.
The characters were well illustrated and believable, giving the novel some strong emotional muscle. Sensitive readers will definitely need tissues. The dialogue was witty, and readers can clearly see the friendship deepening. I could have used a bit more expansion of Carrie's turn around in the end, though; it seemed a bit abrupt.
There was a funny near-reference to The Princess Bride's ROUS's (Rodents of Unusual Size); the comment about 50-pound rats might have been a bit funnier if that connection were expressly made. The depiction of life with Alzheimer's was accurate, but that aspect of the novel is not the focal point. And the romance was definitely realistic, but graphic enough to be appropriate for adults only.
There were some technical issues that were distracting and occasionally confusing. In the very beginning, there was not enough narration to give context to the dialogue. Occasionally, wording was awkward or incorrect (e.g., ravage v. ravish), or revisions were incomplete, leaving behind extraneous words.
Overall though, the novel is a nice weekend read, and if you like contemporary romance, you'll want to put this on your reading list.
**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=13673.
