Review by Gabrielle
Beth O’Leary is back with another character-driven romance in The Name Game.
Favorite Quote:
Her neck was bared, her hair all pulled over the other shoulder. I wanted to press my lips against it. Get closer to her, get more of her. I wonder if you can become addicted to a person. I think maybe I could.
Book Synopsis:
Charlie couldn’t be happier to take the job of farm shop manager on the remote, wild Isle of Ormer. She’s grieving, a little lost, and in desperate need of a new beginning.
Jones has come out of a difficult breakup and is looking forward to some peace away from the noise of his city life. Moving to Ormer couldn’t have come at a better time.
But when Charlie Jones and, ahem, Charlie Jones both turn up at Ormer’s one and only farm shop, claiming to have been offered the role of manager, everyone is baffled.
How could this have happened?
And just who is the real Charlie Jones?
Review:
I’m a big Beth O’Leary fan. In the last year, I’ve been visiting (and revisiting) her back catalogue, and each is a gem. One thing I love about her books is that the stories are all so different. There is a lot of variety there. One thing they all have in common is that they are all quite emotional to read. I know I will at least tear up a time or two. She has a way of making me feel what the characters are feeling that’s not something a lot of authors can pull off (at least for me). She is a master of pulling those bigger emotions out of me.
I loved the premise of this book. Two people with the same name show up for the same job? Delightful. It’s the mystery that kept me reading. Who is the real Charlie Jones?
I’ll admit, this one took me a little longer to get into. I didn’t immediately connect with the characters of Charlie and Jones. Not because they aren’t well constructed, they are, they just didn’t feel as relatable to me personally. Both Charlie and Jones are looking for fresh starts, although for different reasons. They are both highly motivated to do a good job at the farm and construct new lives for themselves on the Isle of Ormer, and they are both a little broken. Both characters undergo significant growth over the course of the story, a key feature of any Beth O’Leary book and one of my favourite things about them. I just love a good character arc.
The Isle of Ormer is awesome. The landscape and the people. Like any good small-town romance, there are a lot of really fun and quirky characters to get to know. I just loved how they showed up for each other, even when showing up to annoy each other. It’s said more than once that most people who end up there have their reasons and their backstory, and that they end up there for a reason. What I especially liked about the characters is that each has a purpose in advancing the story and helping Charlie and/or Jones grow and heal. There couldn’t have been a better setting for this book. In her endnotes, Beth admits this isn’t a real place, but one she constructed for this story, and she really did a wonderful job.
Now I can’t say too much without spoiling the story, but the last third of the book had me flipping the pages quickly. Everything is not as it seems, and there are layers of secrets revealed. I found myself saying “No way!” many times. The intricacies of this plot blew my mind. Fans of her book The No-Show will be pleased. Again, in her notes, Beth said she wanted the plot to be like an “X”. This bookworm’s opinion? Nailed it.
The Name Game is a compelling romance with intrigue and a big heart.
Thank you, Berkeley Romance, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
