Aussie Book Review: The Trouble with Lucy by L. J. Young

Book reviews

1 Dec

The Trouble with Lucy by L. J. Young ebookReview copy provided by publisher/ NetgalleyDestiny Romance, November 2012 Synopsis- Lucy Lockhart had it all. A glamorous job, a successful boyfriend and a fabulous apartment. But when she's sent to recuperate at her parents' country house following a sudden illness, she meets dreamy, blue-eyed, Tom McGregor, and suddenly starts to realise what she's been missing.Tom takes one look at city girl Lucy, and decides to avoid her at all costs. He's been hurt by girls like her before. But there's something about Lucy and as their paths continue to cross, he realises there's more to her than meets the eye.Despite their deepening feelings, neither can imagine a future together. Lucy could never live in the country and Tom could never go back to the city. The very idea horrifies them both.Their hearts however, have other plans.An often hilarious, rural romance with lots of laid-back country charm, a rich cast of characters and a sizzling love affair between two opposites who are deeply attracted to each other. Review- The Trouble with Lucy is a simple romance story by Australian debut author, L.J. Young. Set in the fictional country town of Lillypilly, it’s city chic meets sexy farmer guy. Lucy is staying with her parents in the country to recuperate from having a fit.Lucy is very much citified; she arrives in town in stilettos and designer clothes and expects all the locals to be red-faced, flannelette-wearing hillbillies. However, when a local farmer gives her a lift into town after their car gets stuck in mud, it’s basically love at first sight for Lucy when she meets Tom McGregor. One problem, Lucy has a boyfriend named Zip who is a big shot IT guy who has landed a job in New York.Lucy isn’t the most likeable character, she’s a little superficial and tends to go on a bit when she realises Tom isn’t a farmer after all but an educated veterinary doctor. She wears ridiculous shoes in the country for a good portion of the book and turns her nose up at the locals, one in particular who wears bright coloured jackets and seems to have little dress-sense, according to Lucy. The way she deals with the whole Tom and Zip thing also got a little annoying. It was obvious she didn’t really have feelings for Zip and yet she was flirting with Tom and imagining a future with him.When the conflict between Tom and Lucy is heightened she decides to stick with Zip even though she doesn’t have feelings for him, because she can’t be with Tom. I was frustrated that Lucy wouldn’t break up with Zip whether she could be with Tom or not, so some of her decisions didn’t sit well with me. In fact Zip was the one who pretty much ended their relationship and so Lucy never really had to take any responsibility over this.The relationship between Lucy and Tom wasn’t very well developed since they just had an instant attraction and then before long they have very strong feelings for each other.There were also the alternating viewpoints of Lucy and Tom within one scene that got a little confusing and sometimes repetitive as I would hear both of their views on a particular event- sometimes one sentence was Lucy’s thoughts and one sentence was Tom’s. So the flow seemed a little scattered at times, probably reflecting Lucy’s overall personality!Nevertheless, it was an easy read and I did like parts of it. Lucy, though a little superficial at times did make me laugh at the silly situations she got herself into, in a Bridget Jones kind of way. Despite the few issues I had with the story, it was lovely to read about Australian characters in a real Aussie setting and it’s fantastic that the publisher, Destiny Romance is supporting this. If you’re after a light-hearted, quick read without too much depth then The Trouble with Lucy might just be for you.