Author: Belinda Williams
ISBN: 9781760300906
RRP: $3.99
Over the last year I have read and reviewed the first two City Love books by Belinda Williams and the third book is just about to release.
In The Boyfriend Sessions we meet the formidable friendship foursome of Christa, Cate, Maddy and Scarlett. They are chalk and cheese and the four of them are very different personalities. We have gotten to know the girls quite well over the series and both Christa and Maddy have found their perfect men and are living their happily ever after. In the first two books we have gotten to know all the girls and we know that Scarlett is not in the market for a relationship and she doesn’t do emotions so I was half expecting her book to be the last in the series but that was not the case.
The Pitch introduced us to John Hart, the gorgeous younger architect who has a thing for Scarlett. John is nothing like Scarlett’s usual type and he is a genuinely nice guy. Scarlett doesn’t do emotions or relationships so she is steering well clear because John is not a man with whom her usual arrangement of no strings sex would work.
Scarlett was offered a gallery exhibition in New York due to John’s support late in The Pitch and Modern Heart opens with her still tossing up what to do about it.
We have gotten to know Scarlett, the way she is now; prior to Modern Heart she hasn’t given away much about her past or her childhood and even her friends know very little about her before they met. We don’t need to know about her past to recognise that it has left its scars.
Modern Heart lets us inside Scarlett’s life in a way that we haven’t seen before. We get an inside look at her childhood and an understanding of her emotional unavailability.
Painting is a large part of Scarlett. She is working in advertising but it is her art that is her passion and John recognises this and is trying to encourage and support Scarlett until she is ready to explore it as a career option.
The exhibition in New York is a major turning point for Scarlett in her friendship with Cate. The two are the first to arrive for the exhibition and Scarlett agrees to show her around a bit. They are able to get to know one another on a different wavelength and it changes their friendship, allowing us to learn a little more about both of their pasts.
Scarlett was put in a position where she had to make a tough decision, to risk her advertising job for this chance at her dream career or let the opportunity go. She chose to take the risk and we are left in suspense about whether or not it will payoff.
Scarlett is not the only one with secrets in her past, there is much more to John than meets the eye and it is interesting to watch that storyline play out.
Filled with heart ache and upheaval Modern Heart takes a look at letting go of control and having to trust in what’s to come; it is a huge curve of self discovery for Scarlett and an insightful look at her life and her career choices. Not to mention a peek into the lives of Maddy and Christa.
I look forward to seeing what Williams has in store for the fearsome foursome in the next book and where Cate will find her perfect man.
Modern Heart is book #60 for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2015.
To follow Belinda please check her out at: belindawilliamsbooks.com, Facebook and Twitter.
Modern Heart will be available November 26 through Momentum and via Amazon (Kindle), Amazon AU (Kindle), Amazon UK (Kindle), iBooks Store (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac).
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!