I first read a book by T.A. Williams back in March, when I really enjoyed An Escape To Remember. I was quite surprised to find a male author writing a romance novel, but he proved himself with that wonderful book and quickly jumped into the list of authors I will always try to read. Having spoke to him on social media too, he is a thoroughly lovely man. So I was thrilled to be able to read his latest novel – A Chance in a Million.
The prologue throws you straight into the action. It begins in Fallujah, Iraq with Captain Jane Reed dealing with an unexploded bomb. Chapter One continues to follow Jane’s story after she has left the army. She is twenty-nine years old and following a change in careers, she is applying for a job as Personal Assistant to successful author Lady Veronica Cooper, who is in her sixties. After being offered the job, she discovers it entails a move to Italy.
I was interested in the story and the characters straight away. Venice was beautifully described, it felt just like I was there (and I’ve never been). It is obvious that Jane and Veronica are alike in some ways, despite being employer and employee and decades apart in age. Both women are suffering and experiencing a great change in their lives. Jane has left the army, while Veronica is finding it impossible to write anymore, following the death of her husband two years before. As a reader, you feel immediate sympathy for both of them.
The palazzo they live in is beautiful and the wardrobe of classic dresses is somewhere I’d love to see as well! The setting feels really authentic and although often glamorous, it doesn’t feel out of touch, as it does to me in some novels. Here, you feel you are experiencing everything through the characters.
In the summer months, they escape the Venetian heat by an annual move to the country estate where David (Veronica’s son) lives with his grandmother Flora, who’s a sprightly 95 years old. David is intriguing, hiding secrets and damaged by war like Jane. The characters in the novel are so deeply layered, you find out more about them as the book goes on and their stories are revealed, which I really enjoyed. Other characters I really liked are Maria the housekeeper, who I felt would be a really good friend, and her husband Alvise. Special mention to Dino the Labrador. I always love a good animal in a book and Dino is gorgeous!
T.A. Williams continues to be an author I will look out for and hope to read everything he writes. He is a great writer of stories and particularly believable characters you root for.
BLURB
A Chance in a Million
Fate brought them together, now it’s up to them to make it work…
Having left the army to recover from a traumatic experience, Captain Jane Reed is on her way to Venice to assist Lady Veronica Cooper, a world-famous writer who has lost her mojo. Plagued by grief and sleepless nights, Jane soon finds a kindred spirit in Veronica, coping with her own loss after the death of her husband.
When the two relocate to Veronica’s villa in the countryside to escape the summer tourists, Jane meets the rest of the Cooper family – including Veronica’s brooding son, David. With his own tragic past, David has resigned himself to a life of solitude. Jane finds herself determined to bring joy back into his life, even if it means finally spilling her secrets.
Can Jane and David help each other heal, and find love in the process, or are some scars too deep to treat?
Purchase Link – http://mybook.to/inaMIllion
Author Bio – I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only seven years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.
The fact that I am now writing escapist romance is something I still find hard to explain. My early books were thrillers and historical novels. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.
Social Media Links –
Website: www.tawilliamsbooks.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tawilliamsbooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevorWilliamsBooks/
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