The Love Market [Kindle Edition]

Carol Mason (Author)

Book Description

When a marriage ends and a first love reappears, Celine Lewis is about to find out that moving on is as complicated as going back.
Three years after seeing her first love, Patrick, quite by chance in London, Celine's ten-year marriage to Mike is over. She is running her own business, a professional matchmaking service called The Love Market, in Northern England, and coping with the unanticipated heartbreak of a marriage ending - not to mention her quirky twelve-year-old daughter who blames her for the split.
Then, out of the blue, Patrick emails. Celine is tempted to find out if all the old feelings can still possibly be there, but then Mike has an unusual proposition for her. One that forces her to question whether a divorce really means it's over.

See the author's website for information about her other novels, The Secrets of Married Women and Send Me A Lover. www.carolmasonbooks.com

Reviews for Carol Mason's novels:


'A writer of compelling insight with a gritty yet humorous edge.' Daily Mirror

'A sweet, sad tale about love, loss and the crazy way the world works to reclaim love again.' Cosmo Australia

'A beautiful story about coming to terms with loss.' Yorkshire Evening Post

'This cross between Mamma Mia! and PS I Love You is fast and furious chicklit. (Send Me A Lover.) Red Magazine, Top 3 Must Reads

'Full of realistic emotional twists... There is a refreshing honesty about the numbness that comes from discovering an infidelity and the shame that comes from perpetrating one.' The Telegraph.

The Secrets of Married Women. 'There is a fresh and vital edge to this superior debut novel. Mason has much to say about relationships. Her women have resonant characters and recognisable jobs, which give depth to their messy lives.' Financial Times

If only there were some way for me to give this book more than 5 stars. I can honestly say without a doubt that The Love Market is by far my favorite chick lit novel I've ever read. Ever. Danielle, Chick Lit Reviews, January, 2011
I picked up this book to read just a few pages before bed; by midnight I was a hundred pages in, wide awake and anxiously reading to see what happened next.' Cheryl Wartman, The Edwards Magazine Bookclub

'A satisfying read with compelling characters and a concept that had me hooked from the first few pages. It's really easy to get caught up in the story and realize it's already 2 a.m. and you haven't put the book down." Ali deBold, Chick Advisor

'A thoughtful, insightful book on marriage and the path not taken. The Love Market was a great read.' NovelEscapes.com 4.5 stars.

'An absorbing read about ending a relationship and starting a new one.' 8/10. Chicklitclub.com

As I was reading this book a strange feeling overwhelmed me. I couldn't wait to review it. I couldn't wait to share it with others. This is the same feeling I had when I first read Emily Giffin and made the startling discovery that chicklit didn't have to be vapid - that it could be intelligent, engaging and introspective. Mason's writing flows beautifully. This is simultaneously a comedy that knows when to be serious and a drama that knows when to be funny. 5/5 stars. Meredithdias.com

I have not been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it several days ago. This novel does a beautiful job of depicting the complexity of life in terms of dealing with what could have been. I highly recommend it.' Mavis Davis, Dewey Decimal System Rules

'Mason is as great with character development as she is with prose. Her lyrical writing and true sense of her characters sets her apart from other writers of the genre.' Alison Scott, The Allure of Books.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

When I was trying to find an idea for my third novel, I was surfing the net - looking at any random thing of interest that might spark something in me - and I came across an article on a place in Vietnam called The Love Market. Basically, it's a village square where locals meet regularly to find someone to love. Young people come to meet their future spouses, and sometimes older lovers meet up there to rekindle their passion. I found it intriguing and did more research. Then I started to think Hmm I wonder if you had a western girl in The Love Market while she was touring Asia, she's curious and goes there to see what it's all about, and she meets a man there - a slightly older American foreign correspondent who is in The Love Market looking for a story. They have a brief 4 day love affair then they never see each other again. But she never forgets him. This idea warmed me and then I flashed forward to her life some 20 years later - newly divorced from a great guy whom she may have never truly loved, and in the back of her mind is still Patrick - her first love. Then out of the blue, he gets in touch... 

I wanted to write about a divorced woman who is not certain she's done the right thing in leaving a great man just because she wasn't sure their love felt big enough or right enough. To add to the complication she has now to choose between getting back together with someone she's known best part of her adult life, and someone who was only in her life for 4 days. I thought it tested the entire concept of true love and what that really means. I have received numerous touching emails from readers who are themselves divorced and could relate to her uncertainty and doubt, and others who have harbored feelings for a first love. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the novel. If you can relate to it personally, then do write and let me know! carolmasonbooks.com

Product Details

• File Size: 432 KB
• Print Length: 231 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006QYJZ82
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,236 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars sweet, real, somber, well written- a quiet gem September 8, 2012

By susan

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

this book is much more reality based than other "romance"/"relationship" books i've read. it's not silly or exaggerated, and no cartoony characters here. while i can appreciate many other takes on the subject of love, even sometimes a soap-opera style one, this book is about a woman's take on her relationships, past and present, without tons of drama and angst. just a quiet, tasteful, even melancholy look at her life.

i found the writing to be very good, the thoughts expressed to be poignant and well reasoned, leaving room for that unexplainable, perhaps illogical feeling of "rightness" or "wrongness" in love. quite a bit of the novel has to do with the main characters' marriage, and her relationship with her husband and child. the setting is very lovely and far from london, in the north of england. some of the expressions and way of speaking are purely "brit speak"- just fyi for those who may not have encountered this before. context should be all that's required to understand.

this is a very pleasant book-the general feeling of the book is so low key and kindly- it's very highly recommended. i really enjoyed it a lot.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive August 5, 2012

By Lee-Anne Phillips

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was hooked on this book after the first sentence in the prologue, 'Someone once told me that there's no such thing as a coincidence, only a synchronicity.' From that intriguing opening, we're plunged straight into the head and body of the protagonist -- who thinks quite a bit about almost everything -- and stay there, without the dizzying shifts into a dozen viewpoints in three paragraphs one sees so often in women's fiction. This is the author's third book and by the time I'd finished the second chapter (sometimes one doesn't realise quite how lucky one has been to stumble across a writer quite so in tune with one's own brain until a few moments have passed) I'd gone back to the well and purchased her previous novels to place into my personal queue of things to read. I haven't been at all sorry.

This is an intelligent work of compassionate literary fiction, in my humble opinion, and not 'chick lit' by any means, although I suppose the market tends that way. It deals with divorce and love and loss, not necessarily in that order, and with a generous humanity that allows the characters to find their own way in life, make their own mistakes, recover from them, without once making anyone into a pantomime villain or cardboard heroine, as anyone who's actually gone through a divorce may sometimes be tempted to do.

I highly recommend this book, for whatever that's worth.

Lee-Anne

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very realistic and touching book February 2, 2013

By PFenton

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this book to be very realistic and the emotions experienced by the characters so well written. The realization that her marriage was mediocre, luke-warm, more of a friendship than a romantic relationship tore at my heart. The hurt they both felt was so real I could truly feel the loss. I hurt so badly for him and kept wanting her to change her mind and yet I didn't dislike her for questioning her feelings. I truly liked both characters so much I wanted her to just let things go back the way they were and undo the damage. When I finished the book, I felt emotionally drained and yet I loved it because it was so well written, it drew you in and you experienced all the emotions as though they were your own. To me, this is a sign of very good writing, when you aren't just reading about "characters", you almost become the character. I gave the book five stars.

More About the Author

Carol Mason is the women's fiction author of three novels - The Love Market, Send Me A Lover and The Secrets of Married Women, all bestsellers in Canada, where she lives. She was born in the North East of England and moved to Canada when she was twenty-one and met her now husband. They live in British Columbia. Her novels are translated into more than 10 languages.
The Secrets of Married Women and Send Me A Lover were first published worldwide in print by Hodder & Stoughton to rave reviews in the international media. (if you wish to read more consumer reviews for The Secrets of Married Women go to amazon.co.uk)
Cosmopolitan Magazine Australia called Send Me A Lover "a sweet, sad tale about love, loss and the crazy way the world works to reclaim love again."
The UK's Daily Mirror named Send Me A Lover their Book of the Week and said, "Her debut, The Secrets of Married Women, marked Carol Mason's coming out as a writer of compelling insight, with a gritty yet humorous edge. This follow-up is equally assured."
The London Financial Times said, of Secrets of Married Women "There is a fresh and vital edge to this superior debut novel. Mason has much to say about relationships. Her women have resonant characters and recognisable jobs, which give depth to their messy lives. A bittersweet narrative and ambiguous outcomes make this much grittier and more substantial than standard chick-lit fare.'
The Vancouver Sun said, of Secrets of Married Women, 'Mason's writing is absorbing. While reading a spicy bit about Leigh's affair while taking the bus to work, I rode past my stop.'

Praise for The Love Market:
Danielle of Chick Lit Reviews, said, 'Wow. If only there was a way to give this book more than 5 stars. I can honestly say that without a doubt the Love Market is by far my favorite chick lit novel I've ever read. Ever."

For more information about Carol, her books and upcoming new releases, or her advice on getting published, visit her website www.carolmasonbooks.com. Or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.