Sophie’s got used to being the girlfriend of Billy Buskin, the biggest movie star in the world. Sort of.
But when she and Billy take a trip to visit his family in Los Angeles, she quickly discovers she’s totally unprepared for the chaos of Hollywood, the paparazzi Billy’s controlling mother.
And when Billy extends his stay in L.A, leaving Sophie to fly home to Rosefont Hill alone, it seems there’s more than just miles between them.
Now Sophie must decide if they can overcome their differences for good. Because not all love stories end with happily ever after…
Sitting on the plane on my way to sunny Malta I start reading Always with Love, the new novel by the wonderful Giovanna Fletcher. As we start reading, we are greeted by Sophie and Billy we can’t wait to see where their story will go, as at the end of Gi’s novella Christmas with Billy and Me we saw Sophie gift plane tickets back to LA for herself and Billy to visit his family.
We start the story on the plane to LAX, where we finally (after a book and a bit) get to meet Billy’s family, his Mum, Julie, Dad, Clive, sisters Hayley, Jenny and Lauren and a brother called Jay.
Sophie is seriously nervous to meet Billy’s family, and quite rightly too, he practically abandoned them to be with her in England so she’s slightly anxious of their reactions to her, however upon meeting them at the airport all her worries seem to go away, for now…
To start with everyone is nothing but lovely to Sophie and apart from having to adjust to L.A. heat she’s having a whale of a time, when she gets the news of a ‘little’ party that Julie is throwing (for Billy) to welcome them to L.A, and it just so happens to be New Years Eve, so there is even more reason to celebrate.
As apprehensive as Sophie is to meet all of Billy’s friends and show off her high street party dress in front of all of the stars, she has Billy next to her and gets to see him shine in his own environment, something she hasn’t seen in a while.
As we go through the novel we see Sophie and Billy’s relationship hit some rocky patches and I can speak for everyone who loves the two, it’s worrying to read! However as always they realise just how much they mean to each other and get over their problems.
We also have the shock of Sophie leaving Billy in the USA as she travels home to the sleepy Village of Rosefont Hill alone, however they let us know that they haven’t finished their relationship by sending little loves notes to each other from across the globe, which is funnily enough where the title of the book came from as Billy ends his letters to Sophie May with ‘Always with Love’.
As I have mentioned we see their relationship go up and down during Billy’s stay in L.A, much to the delight of his mother Julie. Julie is a classic mum, who’s been given a hell of a lot of money by her son to live in America instead of England, and she clearly doesn’t want to lose her lavish life that she now gets to live, but she also won’t let her children live the lives they really want to live. So when she gets to have Billy back for what is meant to be just a visit, she waits no time at all to make him feel like he can’t leave home again. This also goes for Billy’s younger sister Lauren, whereas the twins like to live off of Billy’s fame and fortune, Lauren is sick of it. She wants to be more that just Buskins little sister, she wants her own life and seeing the courage Billy had to do what he wanted makes her realise she can do it too.
Lauren is one of the new main characters in this book mostly because of the amazing friendship her and Sophie manage to create in just two short weeks.
Overall, as usual I fell in love with the characters all over again, from Sophie to Billy, and his younger sister Lauren. They’re all brilliant and relatable.
You just HAVE to go to your local bookstore or Amazon and pick up a copy of Always with Love, you will not regret it, I just can’t wait to see what Giovanna has to come next!
Also a little note of thanks to Giovanna’s publisher for sending me my copy of Always With Love, it was such a lovely gift!
Until next time…
Lucy
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram!
LAUREN LUCY
Twitter: @laurenoola Twitter: @LHutchon
Instagram: @laurenoola Instagram: @lhutchon
Elle Hache 