Four stars for this one.

Veritas by M.J. Duncan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Veritas is a tale about two women who have lost themselves: Lauren, who sacrificed everything that isn't her idea of the perfect work goal, to become a star among chefs. Every minute, every ounce of her energy went into striving for that goal, only to realise after ten years without a holiday and no emotional life at all, that she has exhausted and pretty much lost herself to that.

Grey, on the other hand, has lost the love of her life to cancer and herself to her giref, that she tries to drown in alcohol and as much sex she can get with - in a lot of cases - nameless women. When she asks the only real friend she has, Kelly, to find her a chef for the next cruise she has booked on her catamaran Veritas, it is Lauren, whom Kelly interviews. Lauren, who desperately looks for a break from her routine and a "working holiday".

When Grey meets Lauren for the first time, she is thrown for a loop by the physical similarities to the wife she lost. She hates Lauren for reminding her of her loss. Lauren, on the other, finds Grey incredibly attractive. As they try to work together to actually give the family who booked the Veritas for a week a good time, they cannot help to start seeing behind each others game-face.

For both it is a similar struggle, to fight the ideas they have of themselves that keep them from living an authentic life in the present. When they finally find one another and fall in love, Lauren's life plan forces them apart. Back in her life as a chef in New York she tries to loose herself in the "normality" of her professional routine and almost breaks her own heart and with it that of Grey, until at an unexpected encouter she is asked the one question, the answer to which finally makes her realise her mistake.

After just having re-read "Unadulterated Something"I was surprised by the lot of sizzeling hot sex in this story, I actually skipped some of it waiting for the moments of tenderness, that I was hoping for to teach the two ladies to listen to their hearts speaking through their bodies. Unexpectedly it was Grey, who listened first. As in "Unadulterated Something" they are the lovely side characters, who make this story special and the dialogues are witty and funny. I would have preferred a bit more space for the charcter development of Grey and Lauren, hence only four stars.



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