Kathryn S Rose

Name: Beautiful Façade
Author: Kathryn S. Rose
Genre: Drama, Romance, Mental Heath, Contemporary
Rating: 3.5/4

Review:
Beautiful Façade is a vulnerable calling-out song for all the ladies out there, who keep living under a beautiful façade of perfection. it encourages us to be more of ourselves than to be anything else. Enticed with a troubling past and mental health problems, this book is a beautiful tribute to all the women, telling them to love themselves more.

The protagonist, Winter Starling seems to be living a perfect, successful businesswoman, fiancée of a popular soccer player. Winter has it all, a beautiful home, success, love! But her ideal life starts falling apart when she reunites with her first love, Kai.

Reuniting with Kai brings back old memories, memories she would rather forget. Winter delves into her troubled past, suffering from insomnia. Kai seems to be the problem and the solution to all her problems at the same time. Especially when she is still attracted to her childhood sweetheart, Will Kai's return bring back old scars or heal them all the way?

The writing style is fluent, lyrical, and wonderful. The story is heart-touching, especially the way the protagonist has developed in the story. I find the protagonist to be relatable, though I felt she is really annoying at times. She is so confused throughout the story, her character development was better. The writing itself is good, enjoyable, and engrossing.… (plus d'informations)

I received this book as a Library thing member review giveaway. I am an Australian woman who over the past decades have eaten and breathes Australian Rules Football (AFL) so this book is a plus as far as I am concerned as it is set in both Melbourne and Western Australia (my stomping ground) with a footy theme. The heroine is Winter. When we meet her she and her fiance who is an AFL star are scoping out their wedding sites and participating in the AFL and WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) crud that magazines seem to think is relevant. Enter Kyle, a school friend of Winter who disappeared out of her life ten years ago. He is now heading up a pop band, and, becoming more famous. Unfortunately his arrival sets off triggers from Winter's childhood not created by Kyle but rather Kyle is the only one who knows she was the victim of abuse by a school teacher. Winter's organised dull life starts to fall apart in front of our eyes. It looks like she is making bad choice after bad choice, but is she? Read and see, And did I say AFL?????… (plus d'informations)

Beautiful Façade, while technically a romance novel, is much more than that. While the plotline seems a little slow to develop, the characters and their actions are woven into a textured and entertaining story about the pains and pleasures of taking responsibility for one’s life and growing into adulthood. The writing style is effective and easy to read with just the right amount of description to draw the reader into the story.

Winter, the female protagonist, is a twenty-something fiancée of an Australian footy star. Not only is her fiancée a famous athlete, but he is also an award-winning one whose life is followed by fans and the media alike. In addition to all of this, Winter is a successful business person in her own right with a career on the upswing. Winter’s wedding is set to be a top society event with all of Australia watching. Life is not simple. As might be expected, an athlete superstar can be more than a little narcissistic but the challenges that Winter faces are much more complex than that. Winter has a complex past with which she has never come to terms. When an old boyfriend re-enters her life, Winter realizes that life isn’t as simple as it looks on the surface and she’s got some hard choices to make. While drugs and alcohol might smooth things out in the short run, they resolve nothing and in the case of her fiancée, in particular, can be highly destructive. After trying to hide her past and hide from the current reality, Winter finally realizes the need to face facts, be honest with herself and those who love her, and live authentically. While her story does not have the ending that might have been predicted at the beginning of the novel, it is a happy ending all the same.

At certain points in this book, I found myself enjoying the humorous and playful scenes. At other times I was frustrated and annoyed by self-centered and self-serving characters. I was saddened by the pain experienced by Winter and some of the other characters. And, there were those steamy love scenes…. Well, it wouldn’t be a romance novel without them. One of the most engaging sections of the book was where Winter is taken on a one-week vacation to Tasmania so that she can clear her head and sort out her life. The descriptions of the Tasmanian countryside, the activities Winter and her friend enjoyed and the people they met were so interesting that I now would like to take a trip to Tasmania for myself.
Also, when I was given a copy of this book to read for review purposes, I was warned about the possibility of the story being triggering for anyone who has experienced sexual trauma or issues related to addictions. I think that it is fair to give this warning but to also hedge it by saying that these issues are not sensationalized or heavily dwelt upon in the book. In fact, it is how Winter eventually deals with the demons of her past which creates the rich texture and satisfying quality of the novel.

While this book is most likely to appeal to women under forty, it is a highly recommended read for any fan of the romance novel genre. While this reviewer is not a big romance novel fan and firmly in the midst of middle age, I still found the book very enjoyable and well worth the time I spent reading it. Based on the information at the back of the book, Beautiful Façade is the author’s first novel. The author shows definite potential as a writer. Hopefully, we will see more books by her published in the future.… (plus d'informations)