GRR Reviews Time for Honesty by Mette Barfelt

Emmelin, a professional tour guide / adventurer, has a child with her husband Leo in Oslo, Norway. Her one crushing secret regret was losing her lover Denis (who she thought abandoned her), or she had gotten pregnant at 16 (by Denis), and had to give up the baby for adoption. Eighteen years later, the marriage is... tolerable, though Leo incessantly blabs about why can't she be a home-mom like her sister Julie. When Emmelin's mother died and left her the childhood home at the small town of Slovik, Emmelin wasn't sure if she wanted to keep the house. When she encountered Denis on a trip in Europe, she was surprised, the shocked when she realized her father had concealed all the letters and phone calls from Denis. Denis lost his wife a while back and was considering moving back to Norway. When Emmelin got back home, she got two more shocks... her biological daughter, now 18, came to visit her... and she found Leo was cheating with her sister... As her marriage disintegrated and she decided to move back to Slovik, she found herself wondering about life with Denis... Even as Denis got homesick and decided to move back...

Romance set in Norway, finally something that's not a major US city or London/Paris. The tone and style were different from the typical American writers. It feels a little more detached. The characters are nicely drawn, and there was a LOT of family drama without resorting to plot tropes like weird will or marriage of convenience. This managed to blend on the rocks / second chance / triangle / mystery / into a good tale. I wanted to give this a 5/5 but I'm not TOO sure about the characters. Emmelin just somehow coward her way out of many situations "I can't tell him over the phone" multiple times over several MONTHS until someone else outed the secret. And Denis, well, still not sure what to think of it. He's a bit flat to me. In the end, 4.5/5.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman found her marriage disintegrating when her husband cheated with her sister, even as she found her first love was kept away from her 18 years ago, and he's back...

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

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