Thursday, June 10, 2021

Love and Lavender by Josi S. Kilpack - ADVISABLE


Love and Lavender
by Josi S. Kilpack
, 320 pages. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2021. $16.

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Hazel wants to continue teaching young girls mathematics, and Duncan wants to enjoy his clerk work again without his incompetent coworker. With their current contentment threatened, Hazel and Duncan agree to marry for convenience to receive their inheritances and secure their individual futures. Futures that must wait to begin because the man granting their inheritances requires that they live as man and wife for a year first.

Communication is key to relationships, and I love how Kilpack highlights this principle. With Duncan’s need for transparency, Hazel has to become comfortable with feeling vulnerable and saying what she means. Clear communication is also addressed by Hazel’s brother, Harry, when he expresses a desire to change their relationship to an uplifting and supportive one instead of the sarcastic one they have used to cut each other down. Finally, Hazel must also learn how to interpret her emotions, or the communication between her mind and her heart. There are several references to the previous three books in the series, but this one stands well alone. The mature content rating is for discussions of sex.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

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