Book Review / The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley

It is said that anyone who comes to stay at Pandora for the first time will fall in love . . . 

It has been 24 years since a young Helena spent a magical holiday in Cyprus, where she fell in love for the first time. When the now crumbling house, Pandora, is left to her by her godfather, she returns to spend the summer there with her family. 

Yet, as soon as Helena arrives at Pandora, she knows that its idyllic beauty masks a web of secrets that she has kept from William, her husband, and Alex, her son. 

At the difficult age of 13, Alex is torn between protecting his beloved mother, and growing up. And equally, desperate to learn the truth about his real father. When, by chance, Helena meets her childhood sweetheart, a chain of events is set in motion that threatens to make her past and present collide. Both Helena and Alex know that life will never be the same, once Pandora's secrets have been revealed.

Published:     41st October 2016
Publisher:  Pan Macmillan
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...   Lucinda Riley has been on my 'authors to check out' list for as long as I can remember so when I saw this came out only last year I knew I had to pick this up and check it out.  I loved this.  It was a perfect pick for a summer day.  Most of the book is based in Cyprus at Pendora, a summer home where the main character Helena spent a wonderful summer very long ago.  She fell in love for the first time and then left, never to return until she inherited it many years later.  Now, there is nothing better than a story about family secrets for me.  I love reading that kinds of stories and this book ticked all those yes boxes...  Beautifully written and the characters had so much depth it was hard not to love all of them, including those characters that made mistakes; you could not help but root for them. 

What I didn't like about this story...  There were times were I did not agree with some of the choices the main character Helena made, particularly when she has obviously not disclosed the majority of her time in Cyprus with her husband (with whom she has a 13 year old child with).  With what is revealed in this book, I would have thought that she should have disclosed much of that with him, but just because it was something I would not do does not mean that it is wrong.  It was just different to what I believe in.