Books Under the Blanket (with a flashlight)

I Nancy, an avid reader and book blogger, will never look up book spoilers again. Furthermore, I will not subject my adult child to severe emotional trauma by allowing her to witness said spoilers when I Google them. Furthermore, I will not traumatize my co-worker Jo, who is also an avid reader, by sharing said spoilers on a video call.

When setting my reading goals this year, I decided to include a good number of back-catalog titles from my favorite authors. I have successfully accomplished that goal, but I feel traumatized in the process. The trauma, however, results from my own inability to resist looking up a spoiler for a book I finished recently.

Generally speaking, I am not a spoiler girl where books are concerned. I have regularly looked up spoilers about television characters leaving a favorite series. When we still watched The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I always looked up spoilers and followed Reality Steve to seek them out. I found that I watched the show differently knowing who was end game.

But books…never. I am not Harry from When Harry Met Sally who reads the last page of every book he starts in case he dies before he finishes. (IYKYK)

So when I finished the first of the two books reviewed below (yes, you get a bonus review this week), Corinne expressed surprise that I wanted to look anything up. But hear me out.

Anna, the main character in…Anna 🤷‍♀️, is an amazing character. I love her. And I love the way her half of the story ended. Theo, the main character in Theo (duh), carries the weight of a childhood that breaks my heart and drives the conflict of their love story.

But there is a third book in this amazing series. That review comes next week. But when I pulled up Theo on Amazon, I made the mistake of reading the description for the third book. I had not even read Theo yet, and suddenly I had a hint at the third book. I was horrified by what Amanda Prowse might have done to this couple.

When Corinne came into the office for something, I described Anna’s book to her along with what I discovered. I told her that I felt like I had to know. Not much of a reader, Corinne barely gets invested in movies except for Five Nights at Freddy’s, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and The Greatest Showman. But she agreed that I should look it up. So to Google we went.

“Anna Theo Amanda Prowse xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.” (What, you thought I was going to give it away?)

Google’s response: “Yes, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.”

The “nooooooooooooooooo” that Corinne and I both shrieked…. Jo and I regularly talk about what we’re reading, and I video called her because I needed to see her face when I told her the story. She seemed equally traumatized.

After I finished Theo and was almost halfway through the third book in the series (i.e., a couple days later), I determined that I would have been satisfied with the ending of Theo’s story had I not seen the description and looked up the spoiler. When I finished the third book, Jo asked “Couldn’t she keep it at two books and not xxxxxxxxxxxx?”

I will tell you what I told Jo. She could have, but then would she really be the queen of family drama? And the answer is no, she would not, and the book world would be lesser for it.

Jo said that my lesson here is not looking up spoilers to books ever again because I traumatized all of us. Huge lesson learned.

So…ahem….

I, Nancy, an avid reader and book blogger, will never look up book spoilers again. Furthermore, I will not subject my adult child to severe emotional trauma by allowing her to witness said spoilers when I Google them. Furthermore, I will not traumatize my co-worker Jo, who is also an avid reader, by sharing said spoilers on a video call.

I also vow to continue reading Amanda Prowse forever and ever…amen. 🥰

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Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Anna and Theo by Amanda Prowse

Publisher’s Description

This is an unforgettable romance about what happens when two very different people fall in love.

Anna Cole grew up poor, but her mother’s love made her feel rich every day. Then her mother died, and Anna was sent to a care home. As a teenager, Anna vowed that one day, she would have children of her own, and create the happy, noisy family life she always craved.

Then, one day, Anna meets Theo Montgomery in a lift. Theo has kind eyes, but a sad past. His family were rich, but his childhood was full of neglect. Theo can’t imagine bringing a child into this cruel world, but he does want a soulmate. Someone to love him unconditionally; someone with whom he can share his family’s wealth.

Theo and Anna are two damaged souls, from two different worlds. Is their love for each other enough to let go of the pain of their pasts? Or will Anna and Theo break each other’s hearts?

There are multiple sides to every love story. This is Anna’s.

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Theo Montgomery grew up in a rich family where he had all the toys and trinkets money could buy. But his childhood was full of neglect and he was bullied at school. Now he is an adult, he longs to find a soulmate. Someone who understands him. Someone who will love him unconditionally.

Then, one day, Theo meets Anna Cole in a lift. Anna grew up in a care home, and has always wanted to create the noisy family life she never had. She brings love and laughter into Theo’s life. But she wants a baby, and Theo can’t imagine bringing a child into this cruel world….

Theo and Anna are two damaged souls, from two different worlds. Is their love for each other enough to let go of the pain of their pasts? Or will Anna and Theo break each others’ hearts?

There are multiple sides to every love story. This is Theo’s.

************

Main Characters:

• Anna Cole – six years old when the story begins, lives with her single mother Karen and her older brother Joe, ends up living in a care home at age 13, all she knows about her father is that his name is Michael and he drives a black cab, eventually becomes a senior receptionist at a law firm
• Jordan – Anna’s cousin who she becomes close to when she lives briefly with her aunt and uncle, moves to New York as an adult and works in theater
• Shania Bowland – Anna’s roommate in the care home, a couple years younger than Anna
• Ned – owns a food stall, meets Anna while she’s out with a friend and they eventually start dating and get engaged, she breaks things off because she feels like she’s settling
• Sylvie – Ned’s mother, adores Anna even after Anna and Ned break up
• Melissa – Anna’s best friend, works with her at the law firm
• Micky and Lisa Harper – Anna’s half-siblings on her father’s side
• Theo Montgomery – seven years old when his story begins with boarding school at Vaizey College, not the athletic type like his father and grandfather were in their days at Vaizey, relentlessly bullied by the older boys and would rather be at home, as an adult he works in property and land renovations for his family company Villier’s House, they have offices on the top floor of the building where Anna works
• Perry and Stella Montgomery – Theo’s parents who always expected him to go to Vaizey College, named Theo after the house Perry and his father belonged to, own the family business Villier’s House and expect Theo to take over instead of going to university, never really seem to approve of Anna
• Spud Edwards – Theo’s best friend since they met at Vaizey, eventually married and moved to the States for a job
• Magnus Wilson, Helmsley, Dinesh – three Vaizey boys a couple years ahead of Theo, they relentlessly bully him all through school
• Cyrus Porter – the groundskeeper at Vaizey who befriends Theo, teaches Theo to fish and appreciate the stillness
• Kitty Montrose – from Scotland, her cousins who are more like brothers attend Vaizey ahead of her, she starts at Vaizey as a teenager, dating Angus Thompson who is two years ahead of Theo at Vaizey, Theo always had a crush on her, she eventually marries Angus, has two children Sophie and Oliver

What a unique way to tell a love story!

Amanda Prowse became a favorite author of mine quite a few years ago, and these are two titles from earlier in her writing career. Released a month apart in 2018, each book starts with the story of the title character. When they meet in an elevator that stalls, each book continues telling their story from the title character’s perspective.

While I feel like Anna could be a stand-alone, Theo fills in a lot of detail that you don’t get in Anna. And if you read Theo alone, you will miss out on Anna’s early life and all of the things that make her the amazing character that she is. This is one love, two stories, and I truly fell in love with both of them.

Anna grew up with a single mom, not knowing her father. They didn’t have a lot in the way of money and things, but their home was filled with love and happiness. From a young age, she desperately wanted to be a mom, even writing letters to the two children she was determined to have—naming them Fifi and Fox. She continues to write letters to her hypothetical children throughout her life, and it really gives us great insight into how Anna perceived her own mother and what type of mother she wants to be.

Despite spending her teenage years in a care home, Anna never lets go of her dream to find the love of her life and build a happy family. She uses the ABC game her mother taught her when she feels anxious or out of sorts, naming something about the situation using each letter of the alphabet until she’s calm. She persists through so many trials from a very young age, builds her life…and one day meets Theo in a stalled elevator. He is the first person who has ever helped her remain calm just by being with her.

Theo grew up the complete opposite of Anna—family money, boarding school, a guaranteed future, but lacking the expressions of love that he desperately craved from his parents. Horribly bullied in school, taken under the wing of the groundskeeper who taught him how to find calm in being still, and clearly suffering from undiagnosed depression, Theo doesn’t believe he would be a good father and doesn’t want children of his own. And then he meets Anna in a stalled elevator and is instantly taken in by her.

“Can you kick them?” she asked.
“You want me to kick the doors?”
“Yes!” She pointed towards them in case he might be in any doubt about which doors she was referring to.
“I don’t know what you think kicking them might achieve?”
“I want them to open!” She tried her best to keep the hysteria from her voice.
“I know that. I’m just not sure kicking them is the best policy.” He leant over and pressed the enamelled button with the number six on it.
“Oh, that’s a good idea, press the floor and see if they open! Why didn’t I think of that?” She slapped her forehead. “Oh, wait a minute, I did!”
“Do you want me to help you or not?”
“Yes. Yes, I do! But you are not helping!” She raised her voice and ran her palm over her forehead. “You are only hoping that your button-pressing skills might be superior to mine, but clearly they aren’t, as we are still in the lift!”
“What’s your name?” he asked quietly.
She took several deep breaths and held his gaze. “Anna.”
“Anna what?”
“Anna Cole.”
She had to admit that it made her feel better, concentrating on him and the calming rhythm of his voice, his eyes that held her.
“I’m Theo. And would I be right in guessing that you’re not keen on being stuck here?”
She looked at him and nodded, feeling the dots of sweat on her top lip. “I don’t…” She took a breath. “I don’t like small or dark places.”

And so their story begins…and what a beautiful story it is. They have their trials…boy, do they have their trials because Prowse really does know how to weave a story and make you feel all your feelings. She also creates these amazing side characters who provide the support the main characters need. Everyone needs friends like the ones that surround Anna and Theo. Sylvie and Spud, in particular, were two of my favorites. And the way Anna’s half-sister Lisa goes to bat for her…we all could use a Lisa or two in our lives.

I always find myself getting so caught up in Prowse’s writing. Her books are ridiculously hard for me to put down to live my real life…you know, eat, sleep, that sort of thing. When I finished Anna, I wanted so badly to know how their story ended that I immediately started Theo and finished it in just a couple of days.

The review for the last book in this series, focused on Kitty, comes next week (do not click that link if you don’t want to go down the spoiler rabbit hole). Prowse’s newest release The Way Home is scheduled for review here in January 2027, followed shortly after by Holding On Tight, which releases in January. Time to look at the rest of her back catalog to get some more in the queue for 2027…because I just adore her and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. 😉

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