Seize the Love by Rae Matthews - Book Review • Ana's Attic Book Blog

Seize the Love: Carpe Caritate by Rae Matthews

Standalone Related to Another. Older Woman Contemporary Romance.

It’s been a long time since Rae Matthews released Carpe Diem, and though I loved it, I can’t remember a book I read yesterday let alone one I read two years ago. Seize the Love: Carpe Caritate was very much related to Carpe Diem, yet stood perfectly on its own, and I never felt like I needed to remember Carpe Diem.

I didn’t even read the blurb. Full disclosure, Rae is a friend, and I will read anything she writes. I will also review anything honestly or not review it at all. At first, I worried. It was a little depressing watching a marriage crumble and I thought it would be about a woman learning to find herself after divorce. And while it definitely was that, it was also a great romance and a little suspense!

I liked the way Abby was gung-ho ready to start again.

“Let today be a lesson to me that we only get one chance to get it right, once the moment passes it becomes part of our history and our history is what builds our future.”

And I very much loved how she struggled to find her place. It was so relatable.

“I always thought I knew who I was, but who am I really? I used to be a wife, a friend, a hard worker and a goal setter.”

Trying to deal with friends and family trying to set her up, trying to find a hobby and online dating, her paths keep crossing with the one man who is off-limits.

“Is there something on my face?” I ask, brushing my cheeks and lips.
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”
The shock of him blurting out a compliment like that nearly drops my jaw to the floor.
“Say what?”
“Abby, you are a very attractive woman.”
“Maybe for someone my age,” I laugh nervously.
“No not for someone your age, you could stand next to a hundred twenty-year-olds and I would still find you more attractive than all of them.”

While there were some great and mature moments about dating in your forties, I love how they were still very young and active, and I loved how he felt about age!

“Why would any man want an immature, drama-filled twenty-something girl? To me, woman are like this wine.” [He] picks up his glass and churns the glass between his fingers. They may start out as grapes, but with a little nurturing they mature. Age only makes them better.”
“Yeah, but there are some pretty bad wines out there.”
“Still, I think woman age like a fine wine. They only get better with time.”
I smile. “Yeah, well, I can tell you most of us still wish we were grapes.”

There was a lot of very real moments that were so relatable. Blending families, kids, meddling friends. But what she found with him was worth it all.

Just when I thought the book was ending, POW! The last 10% had me turning pages so fast! I actually loved this part, and wish it didn’t wrap up quite as quickly as it did because I wanted more!

“The decisions in life and the people we meet, along with our experiences, are what makes us who we are.”

Likes:

I loved Abby’s friendship with Piper and Flynn.
I love how “young” she was. Rock climbing, ziplining…age wasn’t a problem.
Her diary was a great way to tell us her inner thoughts without too much inner dialog.
The happiness I felt when she got revenge on her ex.
The action at the end (though I would have liked that expanded a bit).
Rae’s realistic and relatable heroine.
An awesome single dad.
You don’t have to have read Carpe Diem at all, but if you did, it’s a nice visit back with that couple.

Dislikes:

Started a little sad and I worried the whole book would be depressing (it wasn’t).
While I felt the relationship grow, it was missing sexual tension. I didn’t realize that they hadn’t had sex yet until it was mentioned. It would have been a great opportunity to ramp up the sexual tension.

The Down & Dirty:

Rae Matthews has a talent for writing very realistic and relatable stories and characters with tons of self-growth and discovery, as well as great romance with some fun moments. It’s so rare to read about a woman in her forties starting over, but even more rare is one that never had kids. While this was definitely a romance novel, it was also a novel about a woman discovering who she is on her own, without a partner to define her, and I loved that. Rae had a great blend of that, romance, friendship, and even some suspense. Seize the Love was worth the wait! I hope she continues to write about older women. We need love too!