Review: A Different Kind of Lovely: A Novel by Petra March

Synopsis

“A man with a damaged soul fell in love with a ballerina with a broken body.”


When Neal Medwin glimpses Mina Automne for the first time, he's a man whose soul is darkened with memories of a painful past, whereas Mina is a vibrant, strong, young woman. She's a determined ballerina who's carefully planning and painting her life.
Neal steps into her existence and threatens to shatter Mina's plans with an impossible request.
Mina can't help the fragile man who's invading her home, even though their parents used to be close friends and she knows of Neal's hurtful background. She allows him to linger within her lovely and artistic world, however, hoping he might find some peace and solace.
Slowly, their conflict turns into friendship, and eventually into love, until a terrible discovery ruins Mina's projects and forces her to let go of all her dreams, and of her sweet, damaged man.
Neal is unable to fight for Mina and for the unripe love they share, because he's not ready to leave his past behind. He's not strong enough – not yet.
(Ages 18+)
Publisher's Note: This stand-alone Novel is a spinoff of Petra March's award winning series, A Touch of Cinnamon.

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Review

It's a beautiful, tragic story. I always enjoy Petra March's unique writing style. It's happy, and sad both at the same time. Story itself is both happy and sad as well. It's written in a very nostalgic way. Author describes everything, characters, places, feelings, in  such a detailed manner that it will bring the story alive for you. All I can say is that this story made me fall in love with the places I've never even visited, and admire the characters which aren't even real. Although they feel as real as can be.

Mina is a dancer. Her grandmother left her a cottage. She wants to make it her dream to live there and may be someday turn it into a dance school just like her grandmother wished it to be. She wants to live her dream. But some dreams are just not meant to be. She soon finds out that dancing is not in her future and now she must comes to term with her broken body.

Neal is living a nightmare. since his younger brother died his life has not been the same. Once he was an actor, an artist, and now he is trying his best to keep his family and himself from breaking down. So here he is trying to buy the cottage in which his brother stayed before his accident. But Mina, the beautiful owner, does not wish to sell. At least she lets him stay there with her. For now that will have to suffice. Soon the two of them start liking each other. They are such a perfect fit. Mina soothes Neal's demons and he gives her strength to fight hers. But will they be able to overcome the tragedies in their lives? If they want to move forward they must dream another dream, a new story, something they didn't think were possible... but may be, just may be, it will be...

Did I mention how much I love this book? It's truly an amazing read. I enjoyed it a  lot and will recommend it to all my reader friends.

About the Author

Petra March is the Award Winning Author of the A Touch of Cinnamon Series and of the stand-alone novel, A Different Kind of Lovely.
Her book, All the Skies I will not See, is a Library Journal SELF-e Selection. The book won the 2016 Pacific Book Awards for Best Short Story, and was a Gold Medal Winner (Fiction - Short Story) in the 2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. In 2015, the book was a Finalist in the 2015 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards, won the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for Best Novella, earned the Literary Classics Seal of Approval, and received a 5-Star Review Seal from Readers' Favorite. The literary magazine Shelf Unbound listed All the Skies I will not See amid the 2015 Top 100 Notable Books.
The multi-award winning All the Skies I will not See features characters from Petra March's other works: A Veil of Glass and Rain(Special Edition), A Dream of Lilies: A Novella, and A Different Kind of Lovely: A Novel.
A Veil of Glass and Rain(Special Edition) was a Finalist in the 2016 I Heart Indie Contest (New Adult), organized by the Las Vegas Romance Writers of America, and was featured in the June 2015 issue of the literary publication InD'tale Magazine.
Petra March graduated summa cum laude in Theater and Cinema Studies at the University of Rome 3, and earned a MA degree from the Catholic University of Milan. She studied Screenwriting and History of American Cinema at UCLA and NYU, and worked as screenwriter in Italy and France, where she also taught Creative Writing in elementary schools and junior high schools.
Presently, she keeps traveling and dreaming through her novels and stories; just like Petra, her characters are deeply in love with Europe and the USA.

Website: authorpetramarch.weebly.com
Facebook: @AuthorPetraMarch