Review: The Echoes of Love by Hannah Fielding

Title: The Echoes of Love
Author: Hannah Fielding
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Adult
Publisher: London Wall Publishing
Publication Date: December 6th 2013
Pages: 416 (paperback)
Source: received from the author








Seduction, passion and the chance for new love. A terrible truth will change two lives forever. 

Venetia Aston-Mantagu has escaped to Italy's most captivating city to work in her godmother's architectural practice, putting a lost love behind her. For the past ten years she has built a fortress around her heart, only to find the walls tumbling down one night of the carnival when she is rescued from a masked assailant by an enigmatic stranger, Paolo Barone.

Drawn to the powerful seductive Paolo, despite warning of his Don Juan reputation and rumours that he keeps a mistress, Venetia can't help being caught up in the smoldering passion that ignites between them. 

When she finds herself assigned to a project at his magnificent home deep in the Tuscan countryside, Venetia must not only contend herself with a beautiful young rival, but also come face to face with the dark shadows of Paolo's past that threaten to come between them. 

Can Venetia trust that love will triumph, even over her own demons? Or will Paolo's carefully guarded devastating secret tear them apart forever?

Goodreads

The Echoes of Love is the third book that I have read by Hannah Fielding so far. And what surprises me every time is how detailed her books are. This book is set in Venice, and while I have never been in that part of Italy I can just imagine how everything is by the descriptions Fielding gives. She goes into detail when she describes culture, food, architecture and sites without it getting boring. And that is really an art because it is tricky to give just enough information to create a picture in the readers head but also leave somethings open to the reader’s imagination.

But this book is a romance novel so gets more into that. Venetia grew up in England but she never got along too well with her family. So as soon as she had the opportunity she moved to Venice to work as an architect for her godmother. Here she meets the charismatic Italian Paolo. From the moment they meet they can’t forget about one another. But both of them have a difficult past, so they have to decide if the other is worth the risk.

I really liked reading form Venetia’s point of view. I really liked her personality and from the very first pages I could understand her feelings and could emotionally connect with her. I really felt all her emotions, when she talked about her lost love with Judd and the baby. Or how her parents treated her when she was growing up. Venetia is a strong woman and sometimes a bit stubborn. This is great since she has her own will and will not succumb to the first handsome guy that crosses her path. She always tries to see the both sides of a situation and then tries to come to a conclusion. I really like how strong minded she was; it’s not every day you come across strong minded young women in romance novels.

Paolo was another great character to read about. His background was even more complicated than Venetia’s and most of it you do not find out until the end of the novel. But I loved him because he was the first person in years that was able to break down the walls Venetia had built up around herself years ago. And Paolo was also just a really swoon worthy guy, he recites poems and always has some beautiful quotes on hand. So I do get why Venetia gives in at the end, who wouldn’t?

But I also had some issues with this book. I really do not get how can you feel such a strong connection to a person that you have only shared a couple of words with? And how can you love someone when you do not know them at all? Another aspect is that there is a lot of going back and forth. One minute they want each other, the next they are not sure and back again. To me that is so weird, you either want someone or you don’t. There is simply no in between. But those were the two only things that bothered me. Other than that I really enjoyed reading the book.

Overall I really enjoyed reading The Echoes of Love, it was a nice romance novel set in a beautiful and mesmerizing city. The descriptions were on point again and Venetia was a very likeable character. I cannot wait to read the other books by Hannah Fielding that I have not read yet as well.

Elien