Trigger warning: Rape

Dealing with some repairs at my home since Monday so since Sunday evening I have gone on a Cathy Lamb reading binge. I am also almost done with the two Clare Mackintosh books I have right now as well. I should have just kept up to date with reviews, but honestly hit a wall of not wanting to post any of my reviews. So today I am sucking it up and getting caught up.

First up, "My Very Best Friend." So I read Cathy Lamb years ago. I got annoyed by one of her books so badly though "If You Could See What I See" that I just stopped insta-buying her like I have before. So here's the thing about Lamb, her books are mostly comfort romance reads. Usually the heroine will have a dark past, she will fall for a very tall guy with broad shoulders, they will have hot sex (that won't really be described), someone will die, and then they will still (heroine and hero) have a happy ever after. I am always puzzled by Lamb being considered chick lit though, her subject matters are often not breezy enough to be chick lit.

On another note, I do love it best when her books all tie together though. So in some of her books will be references to the characters in her other books. This one though, I believe stands alone. The main reason why I didn't give this 5 stars though is the book gets quite repetitive towards the last 100 pages when the heroine's very best friend returns.

"My Very Best Friend" takes place in 1990. The main character, Charlotte Mackintosh is about to return to her childhood home in Scotland. Charlotte and her mother left Scotland after the death of Charlotte's father when she was just 15 and she has stayed in touch with her best friend Bridget through letters. Now that a tenant that was renting her family's cottage has died, and Charlotte's mother is off in South Africa, Charlotte is the only one left to return and see about assessing the cottage and getting it ready for sale. Charlotte is also thinking it's a good time to return to Scotland since she hasn't heard from Bridget in a long time and is worried about her. Charlotte though when she returns finds that the home is in bad shape, she's dealing with an awful case of writer's block, and she is starting to think romantic thoughts about Bridget's brother Toran.

So "My Very Best Friend" deals with some heavy issues. We have Charlotte still affected by her father's death and her wallowing at times in happier memories of her family and her three best friends, Bridget, Toran, and other childhood friend. The four kids often spent every day together. Charlotte we find out is a scientist, but also secretly writes time travel romance novels and is quite successful. Charlotte has been hit with a case of writer's block though and starts to wonder what is next for her. Charlotte is quite logical and I thought Lamb did a great job of slowly revealing Charlotte's first marriage and the supposed visions from her paternal grandmother about her life.

Lamb typically includes a group of women that get together in her books and this one is no exception. Charlotte is invited to a group that meets weekly and for the most part everyone is great, except for a narrow minded nasty woman.

The romance between Charlotte and Toran was a nice slow burn. I thought Lamb did a great job of showing off Toran more than she usually does with the heroes in her book. We get to find out about him via Charlotte's remembrances and also what he tells her. We find out that Toran and Bridget had a excessively religious father who beat them and berated his wife. Toran also provides insight into Bridget who is not in Scotland and that they are both looking for.

Lamb via letters though is where she shows the heart of most of the characters. We have Charlotte's letters to Bridget through the years and Bridget's letters back. We also after a time get to see letters that Bridget wrote to Charlotte and never sent. Those were heart breaking. We find out what drove Bridget from the family home years ago and we find out why Toran is so desperate to find her. I am not going to lie, the last part of this book had me in tears Sunday night. I went through a lot of tissues.

I thought the flow of the book was pretty good up until we get towards the last 100 pages. I think Lamb got too repetitive (which is always a problem) with going over the same ground via the towns people and how Bridget was her best friend and her very best friend.

The setting of this book is not typical for Lamb. Usually her books take place in Oregon so it was fun to see her move things from Washington state to Scotland. I was intrigued about Scotland, but didn't see enough things to have me feel it was Scotland except for some dialogue here and there. And also in the attitudes of the village towards the end of the book.

The ending was bittersweet and I really enjoyed it. ( )

Could not force myself to keep reading this book. Didn't care for it at all. I have read several other Lamb books and enjoyed them. This one was just weird and didn't make any sense to me. ( )

My Very Best Friend is the first book that I've read by Cathy Lamb but it won't be the last. After reading this book, I have ordered three of her previous books and plan to read all of her books in the next several months. This book is about Charlotte, a 35 year old romance writer with no romance in her life. The best word to describe Charlotte is she is quirky - she is a cat woman and a virtual recluse. She returns to Scotland, where she grew up, to fix up her parents cottage to sell and while she is there, she finds many of her old friends. Her best friend, Bridget - who she has corresponded with in letters since she left Scotland as a teenager, has disappeared and Charlotte knows that something is very wrong with Bridget but doesn't know what. This is the story of that friendship I laughed out loud in parts of this book and I cried in others. It's a beautiful well written book and I highly recommend it. ( )

From Cathy Lamb, comes another poignant, funny and winsome novel, titled My Very Best Friend.

After a twenty year absence, reclusive bestselling romance writer, Charlotte Mackintosh is returning home to Scotland to arrange the sale of her family’s cottage. She is also hoping to reconnect with her childhood best friend, Bridget, who has stopped replying to her letters. She is shocked to discover the cottage in a state of bad disrepair, and to learn that Bridget, who has been living a lie, is missing.

My Very Best Friend is a story about friendship, about love, about childhood and coming home. It features a decidedly odd but endearing heroine, a handsome Scotsman, a broken woman and a community of quirky characters.

It deals with serious issues including sexual abuse, domestic violence, drug addiction, grief, and the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. There are some unbearably tragic moments in the novel that had tears welling in my eyes, others that had me gritting teeth at the injustice.

But what Lamb does best is to remind us that life, for all its sorrows, can be utterly glorious. Charlotte and Toran’s reconnection will have you sighing and swooning, the ladies of the St Ambrose Garden Club (aka The Gabbing and Gobbling Gardeners) will have you screaming with laughter as they lead rowdy drunken sing-along’s in the town square and ride bikes in their lingerie at midnight, and a surprise reunion will have you smiling so hard your cheeks will hurt.

It has a few flaws, including a somewhat slow moving, muddled start and a little repetition, but I’m willing to forgive all because Lamb redeems herself with such fantastic characters and heartfelt commitment to the story.

Witty, wise and wonderful, My Very Best Friend is another winner for me. ( )

I’ve said many times that Cathy Lamb is my favorite author, and there’s a reason. It’s because she seems to get people. She gets women and their relationships with each other and with the men in their lives. Her novels always include strong women and quirky friendships; and even stronger men who aren’t afraid to let the women in their lives exert their independence and be strong, understanding that strong doesn’t diminish femininity. Simply stated, Cathy Lamb is a master of the Women’s Fiction genre.

Cathy’s newest novel, My Very Best Friend is no exception. It’s a beautiful story of first friendships and first loves. Sometimes, as well as you think you know someone, you don’t know their story at all.

My Very Best Friend tells the story of four childhood best friends, separated for twenty years when one of them (Charlotte) is moved across the ocean from Scotland to America. Though the distance separates them, they’re never out of each other’s thoughts. When Charlotte returns to Scotland to take care of family property, she is reunited with old friends and discovers heartbreaking secrets that she never knew existed. The kind of secrets that change a child’s life and define the adult she becomes. The same kind of secrets that brings overwhelming guilt to those ignorant of that secret who, had they known, may’ve been able to provide the very support that friends always provide.

Like all of Cathy’s novels, My Very Best Friend is a melting pot of humor and sorrow. In one moment the reader is laughing out loud and, in the next moment, the reader finds her heart broken. It’s a careful balance that leaves the reader feeling completely satisfied, and it’s Cathy’s biggest strength in her writing.

If I tell you any more about the story, it’ll ruin it for you. So instead I’ll leave you with the basics:

- A romance novelist specializing in a time-traveling heroine series
- Quirky women with no censor
- A rugged Scotsman
- A lost childhood friend
- Love found through both friendship and romance, and the keen understanding that sometimes the difference between the two is blurred.

Overall, a very good read. ( )