To Turn Full Circle by Linda Mitchelmore

Received for review

• Paperback: 356 pages

• Publisher: Choc Lit (7 Jun 2012)

• Language: English

• ISBN-10: 1906931720

• Set in Devon the first novel in a trilogy.
  
  Life in Devon in 1909 is hard and unforgiving, especially for young Emma Le Goff, whose mother and brother die in curious circumstances, leaving her totally alone in the world. While she grieves, her callous landlord Reuben Jago claims her home and belongings.
  
  His son Seth is deeply attracted to Emma and sympathises with her desperate need to find out what really happened, but all his attempts to help only incur his father’s wrath.
  
  When mysterious fisherman Matthew Caunter comes to Emma’s rescue, Seth is jealous at what he sees and seeks solace in another woman. However, he finds that forgetting Emma is not as easy as he hoped.
  
  Matthew is kind and charismatic, but handsome Seth is never far from Emma’s mind. Whatever twists and turns her life takes, it seems there is always something – or someone – missing.
  
  Can Seth persuade Emma that they can overcome their past?
• Cover: A nice simple, relevant cover.
• I really enjoyed To Turn Full Circle, it's a light, quick, perfect summer read.  
• I couldn't believe how people treated Emma after she was orphaned, they were so cruel and I became indignant on her behalf.
• The romance was sweet, and when the book starts out both Emma and Seth are young and innocent, but through the book we see them really grow up and develop as characters which gave the book a rich kind of depth.
• The romance was so drawn out and was going back and forth, constant misunderstandings and Seth went off to be consoled by another woman (this was the part of the book that I had the most problem with) when they should have just SPOKEN to each other.  This seriously frustrated me.
• Emma as a character really annoyed me at some parts.  Her constant repetition of what people tell her, and she was kind of a snob, not wanting to be in a service trade- and while I understand that may not have been ideal she was hardly in the position to turn her nose up at it.
• Sometimes I was left a tad confused, feeling some of the writing was disjointed.  For example Emma starts talking to someone, and I was like woahhh hold up! Who's this?  Is it the doctor's wife?  Daughter?  Sister? What???  Then ten pages later she meets her again and it's all 'the doctor's housekeeper'  and I just thought that should have been clarified ten pages previous.
• Over all I give To Turn Full Circle 3.5/5 stars.  I really enjoyed it, read it quickly, but some parts really frustrated me.  I definitely recommend this for historical romance fans this summer.