So often with Moyes’s books that follow two timelines (or any author’s, really), I find myself really enjoying one timeline, and resenting the other for getting in the way. So I give the Bohemians 4 stars, and soppy Daisy 2 stars, to average out to a solid 3 star book.
“I simply believe that sometimes the fates have a future for us that we cannot imagine. And to enable them we just have to keep believing that good things will happen.”
In the 1950s, a group of artists move into an art deco home called Arcadia, in the very old fashioned seaside town of Merham. Two girls — Lottie & Celia — become obsessed with this group of people. Celia, because she desperately wants to leave Merham, and Lottie, who finds something new in herself with these new friends. When Lottie falls in love with Celia’s fiancee, she’s forced to flee Merham to find a new path for herself. Decades later, Daisy and her new baby move into Arcadia to renovate it, while Daisy recovers from her long-time boyfriend (and father of her child) suddenly disappearing. She slowly befriends some townfolk, and finds out the mystery of the Arcadia.
I loved the Bohemians, and I loved Lottie (although the “love at first sight” thing with Guy felt a bit overdone). The story of Frances and the others who lived in Arcadia fascinated me, and I wanted to know more about them. In contrast, the more modern day story seemed kind of dull. Moyes shoves a few too many storylines in — the troubled relationship between Hal & Camille seemed like one too many troubled relationships for the whole book — and Daisy made me a bit crazy. But overall, it’s a good read!