Book Review: "The Name Game" by Beth O'Leary

Happy Pub Week to Beth O’Leary’s newest book! She’s rarely one to write a simple romance, and this book is no exception. Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy of this one!

Charlie Jones is desperate for a fresh start. She’s been dealing with grief and feels at odds with her life, so she applies for a job as manager of a farm shop on the remote English island of Ormer. When she gets hired, she’s excited to begin again.

Jones (as he’s called) is trying to get sober and put a painful breakup behind him. Taking a job as farm shop manager on Ormer is the perfect way to do so. But when he arrives to start his job, he is shocked to discover that another Charlie Jones believes the job is hers.

Chaos ensues between the two Charlie Joneses. Neither is willing to give up the chance for a new life, but the owners of the farm can’t afford to pay for two managers. So the Charlies strike a deal: they’ll both work at the shop for half of their salary, and after two months, the owners will decide which Charlie gets the job. Each is skeptical of the other but also recognizes how broken they both are.

The book progresses as two separate streams of correspondence. Charlie writes in a journal, while Jones sends himself emails. Of course, a spark starts to gain heat between them. And then there’s a massive twist which shakes everything up (and it confused me, I must admit).

O’Leary’s first book, The Flatshare, is one of my favorites, and that, too, is told via correspondence. I don’t feel this book has the warmth of the former, and I don’t know that I believed in the romance between the characters. (And while the residents of Ormer are quirky and cantankerous, I didn’t like them much.)