Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause (review)

“There’s a difference between being alive and living. This is a book about living.”

Happy Pub Day to the super sweet Suzy Krause!

If you want to read an adorable book about the quirkiest of characters,Valencia and Valentine is the book for you! I fell in love SO quickly with both of these so different ladies, connected in the most surprising of ways, and adored getting to know them immensely!

I must say first: The book is blurbed for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine … so I know THAT book is BELOVED by millions of readers, and many of you will be thrilled with this cute story! I personally am not included in that group (don’t hate me!) AND I STILL loved it. SO I would personally blurb this one “for fans of love, and friendship, and colorful characters who are living their lives the best way they know how, whether you loved EO or not. (haha!)”

I though the story was unique and lovely. I laughed out loud at some parts and teared up at others. I was captivated by both women’s stories and enticed by the charming peculiarness of both of them, desperate to read on to find their connection.

Valencia is shy, and a bit awkward, and afraid of most things. Her job as a debt collector is boring and tedious, but the familiarity and monotony is comforting to her. She’s terrified of flying and driving on highways, but determined to travel somewhere and face her fears. She meets a man on the phone through her job, and thinks, maybe, just maybe, she can go visit him in New York. But there’s a slight dilemma – how will she meet a man, who may not even be real?

Valentine has lead and incredible life of love and travel and adventure. Yet now, 87 and living alone, she is desperate for company. She will talk to anyone who will listen and when she hires a new cleaning lady, we start to learn her story as she recounts her incredible life to a skeptical maid who kind of just wants to do her job.

I loved Suzy’s writing so much and can’t believe this is her first novel! She has created a humorous and fanciful story that was so beautifully strange and refreshing and reading it was a delight!

Huge thanks to @kccpr @amazonpublishing and @lakeunionauthors for this incredible book. #partner

This sweet book is available TODAY! June 1, 2019 – you can get it here!

Please note I am an Amazon Influencer and I may be compensated for purchases made through my storefront. Thank you!

 

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (June 1, 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1542092965
• ISBN-13: 978-1542092968

 

 

---

 

About the book:

For readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, debut author Suzy Krause delivers a quirky, colorful story about love, loss, second chances, and what it means to truly live.

Valencia, a timid debt collector with crippling OCD, is afraid of many things, but the two that scare her most are flying and turning thirty-five. To confront those fears, Valencia’s therapist suggests that she fly somewhere—anywhere—before her upcoming birthday. And as Valencia begins a telephone romance with a man from New York, she suddenly has a destination in mind. There’s only one problem—he might not actually exist.

Mrs. Valentine is an eccentric old woman desperate for company, be it from neighbors, telemarketers, or even the funeral director (when you’re her age, you go to a lot of funerals). So she’s thrilled when the new cleaning girl provides a listening ear for her life’s story—a tale of storybook love and incredible adventures around the world with her husband before his mysterious and sudden disappearance.

The stories of Valencia and Mrs. Valentine may at first appear to have nothing in common…but then again, nothing in life is as straightforward as it seems.

 

---

 

About Suzy:

Suzy Krause is a Canadian writer and music lover. Like Valencia, she has worked as a debt collector, and like Mrs. Valentine, she likes to tell stories. She writes about her life at http://www.suzykrause.com. Valencia and Valentine is her first novel.

 

---

 

 

Advertisement