Kiss Me Forever is an enjoyable tale set in an English village.
Its American
heroine, Dixie LePage, inherits a house and money from some English aunts and goes to see about her property. Her
initial plan is to just sell up and leave, but she finds herself dragged
into some strange goings-on in the village of Bringham - and she is
particularly struck by the handsome Christopher Marlowe, who seems to
know a fair bit about his namesake from Shakespeare’s time. As
darker events unfurl, Dixie has to fight against threats to
herself and those she has come to love.
The meat of this book
lies in its setting - the quaint English
village of Bringham. The author originally came from
England and it comes through in her writing, which is mostly accurate
(apart from a few howlers such as describing a meal as “jacket potato
and shrimps,” when we would say “jacket potato and prawns”). As an
Englishwoman, I also found some of the behavior of random people in the
story inauthentic. Dixie seems to be surrounded by people exclaiming
about her being American and asking her about her life, whereas in
reality I think we just let people get on with their lives whatever
their nationality and certainly don’t get excited about it. The author
hasn’t quite remembered the reserve of the Brits and the way in which it
plays out with visitors.
However, it is a good read and not entirely
predictable. Although the ‘baddie’ doesn't quite convince and a fair
amount of the events with regard to the witches coven aren’t explained, the love story
itself is reasonably well done. I finished Kiss Me Forever feeling
that hero and heroine would be happy together, but I didn’t find myself
gripped by this book as much as I can be by others.