Author: Rosie Walsh
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, General Fiction, Modern Romance
Year of Release: 2022
Release Date: 22nd February 2022
Rating 🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
I have held you every night for ten years and I didn’t even know your name. We have a child together. A dog, a house.
Who are you?
Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she’d do anything for them. But almost everything she’s told them about herself is a lie.
And she might just have got away with it if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer and Emma is a well-known marine biologist, so, when she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best – reading and writing about her life. But as he starts to unravel her past, he discovers the woman he loves doesn’t really exist. Even her name is fictitious.
When the very darkest moments of Emma’s past life finally emerge, she must somehow prove to Leo that she really is the woman he always thought she was . . .
But first, she must tell him about the love of her other life.
Review
Emma is a successful Marine Biologist; Leo is an obituary writer.
Emma and Leo are happily married and have a beautiful toddler Ruby, which they both adore, and things are finally looking up for the couple. Emma has gone into remission from Cancer though not a strong certainty things will remain this way given the Cancer was aggressive, Emma makes a promise that she will focus on her family and Leo and Ruby will have her undivided attention from now on, no more lies but what Leo and Ruby don’t know, what they must never know is that everything she’s ever told them is a lie.
Leo has been secretly writing about Emma’s life should the dark days return, he begins to explore her past he discovers there is something about Emma that doesn’t make sense Emma, his Emma doesn’t exist even her name is false.
Upon Emma’s discovery that her past and present are about to collide Emma decides she must tell Leo about the love of her life, her other life; in the hopes this will prove to Leo as well as Emma that she is still the woman he always thought she was 7 years after they said I Do….
I had seen this book all over the Internet and on social media sites and thought I would give it a go; with the promise of a twist, I was eager to dive into this popular novel.
Ordinarily, I am a fan of the dual perspective technique used in novels but in the case of The Love of My Life I wasn’t sold; I believe the plot would’ve benefited from a third narrator throughout as this would’ve added to the Mystery/Domestic Thriller elements.Â
In the opening chapters of the novel, I was quite taken with both Emma and Leo and was more then happy to witness their individual pathways develop but as the story motions towards the conflict and resolution chapters I found I was not entirely invested in these characters or their lives as perhaps I should’ve been.
 The big plot reveal did nothing to change this reviewer’s opinion that these people were in the slightest bit interesting, they seemed to go from being three-dimensional and by the time the novel finished were at one dimension.
“…it’s only when something’s damaged beyond repair that we realize how beautiful it was. – Rosie Walsh, The Love of My Life.
If you’re looking for a fast- paced read this may not be the book for you, by the time the plot gained some good pace this reader believes the book is almost over, this maybe to aid in unveiling the big plot twist I can even understand it, but it ended up being the reason for my three- star rating. If I’m honest I might have been more sold on the Domestic Thriller elements rather then get swept up in the Romance factor.
I will say as much as I don’t enjoy the characters in the book, I found the story was well constructed at times the writing is razor sharp and the plot-twist had me shocked this wasn’t what I had in mind at all, I thought it made the overall book an interesting read.
“But there was always a negative space, a shadow on the sand. That is the way with loss: you can’t undo it, no matter what you have gained.”
― Rosie Walsh, The Love of my Life
The Love of My Life reminds me a little of Miranda Cowley Heller’s 2021 The Paper Palace and I was expecting the novel to move in that direction.
Some of the tropes in this book included
- Love
- Loss and depression
- Family
- Friendship
- Secrets
- Parenting
- Manipulation
- Deception
- Immortality
I really enjoyed the way in which the Author bought this book to a close and I think it gives the reader a great sense of closure, there was one detail to the story I personally think needed further attention, but I won’t elaborate further here as that would mean spoilers for a future reader.
By the time I finished this book I was glad that I read this book but overall, I was pleased to see these characters find their feet at long last. I recommend this book to a mature audience if you enjoy reading Modern Romance with heart, and in need of a Mystery/Thriller twist this is the book for you.