When I first decided to read “In Love With A Gentleman”, I thought it might be a typical romance, which I would enjoy, but it turned out to be a story about a young woman’s journey of self-discovery as much as it was a romance. Lea is so determined to meet her dream man and make her dream life come true, she somehow neglects to check to see if dreams fare well in reality.
This novel was originally written in German and has been translated into English. I’ve noticed that in many cases where a book is translated from its original language, the dialog and descriptions can appear somewhat stilted. It may be a case of two languages not meshing perfectly and there not being an exact phrase that fits from the original to the translation. I try to ignore that as I am reading with the understanding that the language is not exactly what the author wrote originally.
Lea is a student teacher who has come from her native Germany to teach languages in England for a year. She is the type of person who draws everyone to her – just because she exudes a sheer love of life. There is a reason behind her joy and during the book, we discover her secret to loving life. Because of it, she has become the type of person who will take lemons from life and make them into lemonade. She works hard to make the best of things, even when it is plain to everyone else that sometimes giving up a lost cause is better than working harder to make it work.
Before she leaves Germany, she meets a young man, Jens, who is obviously both smitten by Lea and eager to begin a relationship with her. Alas for Jens, he is physically nothing like the type of man Lea has dreamed of forever. Lea, like many other young women, has her heart set on a Mr. Darcy type of man – strong, tall, elegant, and probably above all else, English. Almost as soon as Lea arrives in England, she finds what seems to be her dream man in Ethan. Ethan is a teacher at the same school Lea will be working in, so they come across one another quite often.
Lea gets the chance to make her dreams a reality and that, in essence, in the story of “In Love With A Gentleman”. How much is she willing to change about herself in order to make her dreams come true. Ethan may look like the gentleman she has dreamed of for years but Lea finds that his actions and words may tell a different tale. I will admit that I, too, dreamed of meeting a Mr. Darcy. I think there are a great number of us women who have had the same dream. I experienced a similar relationship quandary with my own Ethan and Jens and ended up with the same happy result.
The book was a fun read and had lessons which are important for women to learn. The lessons were not overt and did not take away from the fun of reading the story. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more books by this author in the future. I’ve been to England several times but was never able to visit either Cambridge or Cornwall on those visits. The descriptions in the book make me eager to visit both locales in the future.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, AmazonCrossing, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
