Lily of Love Lane – Carol Rivers

I'm not sure what's made me so obsessed with period based books at the moment, but I keep finding myself being drawn to them. I even managed to pick up (and pay for I hasten to add!) a copy of Lily of Love Lane whilst I was out shopping for onions one afternoon!

It is quite simply another good East End saga set between the wars. There's hardship, friendship and romance and a few twists and turns, all written about in a very warm, friendly manner. Carol Rivers' books are probably best described as "historical chic-lit" but there's something nice and comforting about books like that. Having also recently watched Call the Midwife, set in the same part of London in the 1950s, I was easily able to visualise some of the places that are mentioned in the book.

If I have to have one complaint about this book it has to be the massive spoiler that is on the back cover as part of the summary of the story. I was over half way through the book when I noticed this spoiler and I have to admit that it really impacted on my enjoyment of the latter part of the book as I was always waiting for this particular thing to happen. I'm not quite sure why the publisher (or whoever else is responsible) would do this and I'm sure I can't be the only person for whom this gave away a twist to the story. In future I think I'll just pass on reading the back cover of any more of Carol Rivers' books, just in case!