No drama love.

Hollyland is an interesting book in that it’s everything most romance readers want in a novel, yet I found myself a little bored with the result.

Dee Schwartz is a writer, arts researcher, and brilliant woman with a deep knowledge of arts and culture. She’s more reserved personality-wise and primarily focuses on her career. Ryder Field is a famous actor with a long-running family history in Hollywood. When Dee and Ryder meet, they quickly bond and connect, mainly because they lost their parents when they were young. Both are middle-aged and yearning for something else in life, and their romance is a lovely, sweet change of pace.

Everyone complains about the overuse of miscommunication and fabricated drama to pad the pages in romance novels. It’s a trope at this point for a short breakup 80% or so through any romance novel, but none of that happens here. The couple communicates through any miscommunication, possibly because the characters are in their 40s rather than 20s, like many romances, and all the drama projected on their relationship is external rather than internal. It is a nice change of pace…in a way.

The book isn’t bad at all, it’s a lovely romance for two people looking for something more in their lives, but it didn’t rev me up in any way. While I enjoyed the book having no tropes that made me roll my eyes, I wasn’t particularly invested in the story and almost wish there was some more drama to make it more interesting. It was similar to a good sitcom episode; fun while I was taking part, but I completely forgot everything about it the minute it was over.

Title: Hollyland
Author: Patricia Leavy
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781647422967

Three Descriptors: Dramatic, Suspenseful, Detailed

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