Always with You
by Andrea Hurst
While reading Always with You, I felt as though author Andrea Hurst wrote it specifically for me. The premise follows a strong, independent woman who falls in love with a married man. The setting is in Sonoma County, where I grew up, and I recognized street names and locales. The environment is a health food restaurant, and I was raised as a vegetarian! If you’re familiar with Sonoma County, I recommend this book for the immersive setting alone. It’s a great blast from the past.
I would have also loved the story if the protagonist was a little more likable. There’s one incident from the book that stuck with me long afterwards, and not favorably. The man she loves is also a father, and while job interviewing in the area, his family are staying with her in her house. As little children often do, they put new acquaintances on a pedestal at the expense of their parents. His daughter idolizes her, and the mother notices. While shopping at the mall, the girl eyes an Easy-Bake oven and asks her mom to buy it. Mama refuses because it’s too expensive, and the protagonist offers to buy it instead. Right in front of the child, who would have undoubtedly forgotten all about the toy by dinnertime, she uses manipulation and shame to try for her way. I found it disturbing, especially since I knew the readers weren’t supposed to interpret the scene that way. Readers were supposed to be against the “unreasonable” mother, but I was completely on her side.
If you like the environment of the 1970s, with crazy fashions and healthy, hippie food, you might like this time capsule. I didn’t really like the first and last chapters that take place decades after the main story, and I thought the protagonist’s restaurant management skills were sorely lacking, but I appreciated the towns and the food.
I would have also loved the story if the protagonist was a little more likable. There’s one incident from the book that stuck with me long afterwards, and not favorably. The man she loves is also a father, and while job interviewing in the area, his family are staying with her in her house. As little children often do, they put new acquaintances on a pedestal at the expense of their parents. His daughter idolizes her, and the mother notices. While shopping at the mall, the girl eyes an Easy-Bake oven and asks her mom to buy it. Mama refuses because it’s too expensive, and the protagonist offers to buy it instead. Right in front of the child, who would have undoubtedly forgotten all about the toy by dinnertime, she uses manipulation and shame to try for her way. I found it disturbing, especially since I knew the readers weren’t supposed to interpret the scene that way. Readers were supposed to be against the “unreasonable” mother, but I was completely on her side.
If you like the environment of the 1970s, with crazy fashions and healthy, hippie food, you might like this time capsule. I didn’t really like the first and last chapters that take place decades after the main story, and I thought the protagonist’s restaurant management skills were sorely lacking, but I appreciated the towns and the food.