ARC provided by the author for review
Glamour, Glitz, and Grit Make To Make You Feel My Love A Perfect Beach Read
Maggie Wells’ To Make You Feel My Love sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole listening to covers of To Make You Feel My Love. It’s one of those songs, that for me, the original is NOT the best rendition. Adele is my frontrunner. And this version by Ane Brun, featured in Normal People on Hulu, is right up there.
For Brittany Owens, the star of To Make You Feel My Love, it’s the song that propelled her from teen star to pop sensation.
To Make You Feel My Love is a soapy, escapist age gap romance with enough grit to keep it grounded. Set against the Nashville music scene, Brittany comes from country music royalty and is about to break big. It’s been five years since she’s seen Cash Dorsett and when he turns up as a backup guitarist at a charity concert, the feelings all come rushing back. But the last thing Brittany’s mom (and manager) wants is Cash distracting Brittany from the path she’s on. Interestingly, for mom, it’s less about the 12 year age difference between the two (23 and 35).
Though I’m not into country music, I was a big fan of Nashville, at least the early seasons. Like the show, To Make You Feel My Love delivers (oh, does it!) the family drama, romance, and big time music biz machinations and meddling.
But instead of going full tilt on the drama and diva, Brittany’s story is also about making her own decisions and getting out from under the machine that orchestrated her meteoric rise. For Cash, it’s about focusing on his recovery and rebuilding a music career behind-the-scenes. It’s these storylines that make To Make You Feel My Love more grounded than Nashville ever was.
If you’re surprised to see Maggie Wells writing a 23-year old heroine, don’t worry. Brittany’s mom Wydetta has her own romantic entanglement with Brit rocker Sir James Paulson. Watching the two relationships evolve in parallel is an interesting study in opposites, but that’s 23 vs. 39.
I suspect it might fly under the radar, but To Make You Feel My Love delivers the glamour, glitz, and grit that makes it a perfect beach read. Put it on your list.
4 stars
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If you haven’t read Maggie Wells before, check out our reviews of her previous books:
Love Game (Love Games #1)
Play For Keeps (Love Games #2)
Double Play (Love Games #3)
