Review — Keeping You, by Mollie Blake

Keeping You, a Cheshire Love Story by Mollie Blake, 2018, Black Opal Books, ~403 pages

“She watched Lawrence remove his jacket and study the contents of her make-up bag, then sat in awe of the many talents of her guy, as he expertly touched up her lightly applied makeup, emphasizing her cheekbones with blusher, defining her eyes with liner and a touch more mascara, and transforming her rose-pink lips into a deep red, accentuating them to complement her dress. Where had he learned to do this?”

This was a long, slow, read. It is perhaps better suited to be a slow burner from an author also skilled in crafting short stories, in alternative genres of both romance and erotic fiction, though my familiarity with her works is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Jackie Collins’s writings so the best comparisons I can think of from the limited range of fiction and other books I’ve read are Gray’s anatomy, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (the Derra incident), Agatha Christie and various strands of dark dramas that play out in a north English context.

The book is well put together and the chapters are often short, only some chapters are very long. This makes it very easy to get through certain chapters and offers those breathing spaces that will help it be a slow burner of a book though not as slow as a book like War and Peace…