Another Cup of Coffee (2014)

When Amy receives a cassette featuring a playlist of tracks from her uni days from her then-boyfriend and seeming love of her life, Jack, it kickstarts her to move out of the rut she's been living in for the thirteen years since he dumped her on the grounds that what they had was too good! Now she knows the truth and decides that having run away to Aberdeen, leaving her old friends and Jack behind her, it's time to face them again. But even with the knowledge of why Jack actually left her, is she really over him and can she cope with being around him again? Meanwhile, Jack's last girlfriend, Kit, is shocked when Jack finally confesses about Amy and his relationship with her and despite being married with two children, she can't help but feel jealous of what they had. Will Amy's arrival dent her fragile ego even more? From the first chapter, Jenny Kane offers a completely refreshing and original story of first love and old flames. I certainly didn't expect the novel to go the way that it does and Kane's inspired storyline was really a touch of brilliance. Unfortunately, there were a few elements that let it down somewhat which was a real shame. For me, the first few chapters were too overly focused on Kit, when the real heroine of this story should have been Amy and I found Kit quite unlikable at first. There were also too many thin subplots that didn't really add anything to the central story and at times I felt the whole thing could have been tightened up. However, I liked the fact that a lot of the time I didn't know where the relationships were going to go and even at the end Amy and Jack's relationship was still complex. With obvious imagination and originality, there's loads of potential for this debut author. (JC)

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