A Theory of Love audiobook

Thank you so much to Ecco Books for providing my free copy of A THEORY OF LOVE by Margaret Bradham Thornton - all opinions are my own.Helen Gibbs is a British journalist working on a profile piece when she meets the aspiring investment banker Christopher Delavaux off the coast of Mexico. They quickly develop a relationship and soon after, get married. Helen’s occupation gives her the freedom to travel so off they go to exotic places like Saint-Tropez, Havana, Tangier, and Milan. But soon the relationship isn’t everything Helen thought it would be. They both struggle with maintaining a marriage with the distractions of their careers looming overhead.I was captivated throughout reading about Helen and Christopher’s love story. It’s always enchanting to read about a complex relationship in exotic, gorgeous settings. I really enjoyed the swanky, glamorous scenes and the immersive world that Thornton created. I felt the tension between Helen and Christopher when the relationship suffered, which is a testament to great writing. Thornton writes with the perfect balance of intensity and subtlety that I loved, so I never felt the novel was “overly romantic”. It was just interesting going on their journey. In a perfect beach setting, everything can seem so idyllic, but it’s quite different when life gets in the way. A THEORY OF LOVE is an indulgent read with lovely prose and exquisite settings that make for the perfect escape.

Christopher and Helen meet at a resort on the Mexican coast. They enjoyed each others company.As a journalist Helen has the freedom to travel...so she goes with Christopher to these exotic places.One day out of the blue he asks her to marry him. She accepts and they have wonderful times in European hide-aways.Christopher has very aspiring goals in the business world. He is so focused on them, he neglects Helen.A beautifully written novel with flowing phrases of love and realtionships.

BrilliantBeautifulAn absolutely lovely read

Great

A Theory of Love is an excellent, often heart wrenching story of love, forgiveness and how we search our souls for answers..often with the painful realization that the "best answer" is the hardest path to take. Thornton builds the characters of Helen and Christopher with precision but always careful to allow us, the reader, the freedom to build our own perceptions. The author, not only gifted, has an elegant touch, a strong ability for description and provides the reader with the opportunity to travel the world with the young couple, watching as their lives merge, submerge and finally rise above only to truly find themselves.Strongly recommend.

A wonderful, easy to read love story that immediately captivates the reader. The vivid descriptions allow you to live the story and see the magnificent landscapes while feeling the emotions within the two lead characters. A book that is gently thought provoking and leaves you wanting more.

Just finished this book and really liked it. Helen the main character really touched me with her determination to see the world and love in a unique way. She married Christopher a man she probably does not know well enough. They many places they travel and the struggles he has running is growing empire seems to distant the couple rather than help their relationship grow. They seem so much more in love and close when not surrounded my the interference of others who for the most part view the world in a very materialistic perspective. Could not put the book down but was disappointed at how it ended. But I am a romantic who likes a good love story.

It is indeed a theory of loveI recently had the pleasure of hearing the author do a presentation on her work. She explained that for her, writing novels is a way of exploring questions about the human condition. If asked most could provide a definition of love, but when in a relationship it is a more complex thing incorporating who we are or think we are, and who the other is or who we think the other is.Contemporary psychology teaches that there are many limits to self understanding. I have come to think of love as a special kind of friendship.Her description of the couple loosing the sense of the boundary between their bodies while in bed seems to be part of it. Still aging brings ceertain stubornneses and personality quirks to the fore so in some ways our sense of self as unique increases. Part of love must be allowing an other to be who they are - accepting them as they are - perhaps that is what the couple is acheiving as the novel ends.The author mentioned that she wrote several different endings for the book.The ending she used has a bit of the lady and the tiger to it. The reader doesn’t know what will happen to the couple - do they have quantum entanglement.For me the test of a good story is do the charactrers become real to my mind. I would say that is true in this book. The author also says one of the reasons she writes is that she likes beautiful sentences - a good foundation for any book.

A Theory of Love adroitly describes the aspects of people—however noble they may be—that prevent love from evolving to cope with the changing currents of life. Anyone who is or has been in a relationship with a survivor of childhood trauma that has found the same traits that have allowed him to overcome the odds make it difficult if not impossible to nurture the embers of love into the fire needed to create the warmth of true closeness so many people expect from a relationship and marriage will find a piece of themselves in this book reflected back to them. The lovely descriptions of Marrakech, Saint-Tropez, Chamonix, and a fictional remote Mexican beachside community for ultra-rich aesthetes are reminiscent of the best travel memoirs. The story of lovers struggling to regain what they found in their first encounters is fluidly woven into moments of suspense whether against Mother Nature or the cruel world of high finance. Thornton’s novel is a delicate and touching story that many will find familiar but with beautiful settings and drama that pulls you out of your own life for an edifying and memorable escape.N.B., One reviewer felt the book was “pretentious” and stopped reading. While I clearly don’t agree, I can empathize with the reviewer’s comment. The book does start in the “shallow end” but quickly progresses to the “deep end”. I would encourage anyone else with that concern to give it a few chapters before coming to any conclusions.

I enjoyed reading this, though not a lot happens. The two main characters, a couple, Helen and Christopher, travel a lot. She is a features writer and he is starting an investment company. They travel separately and together. They meet so many people. Most of the other characters are very minor, as they don't know anyone that well. Their relationship starts to have problems because of the constant separation and his job takes so much time that he is never home even when they are at home. There are many glamorous locations with a ton of descriptive detail. Helen goes to Morocco and her day is related in great detail. Her walk through "the medina," every person she comes across, everything she eats, everything she buys, every detail is there.

This is a well-written, intriguing story with interesting characters set in enchanting locations. It had everything that should have made it a great book except it seemed to lack warmth to me. I never really felt much sense of involvement with what was going on. It was an easy, worthwhile and pleasant read with something to think about and, I suspect, others will enjoy it more than I did.I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.

This book reminded me of The Sheltering Sky. The writing is lyrical and the novel takes on the complexities of important ideas. The ending is subtle and positive. My girlfriend read the book first and saw the ending as hopeful as I did * thank goodness!

There is an entire range of emotions in this book. It is serious and yet there are some laugh out loud moments and plenty that make you smile. I was transported around the world and felt I had learned something about the human heart when I finished.

This is a wonderful book. I couldn't put it down. It is simply but beautifully written with deep empathy for characters. And don't be fooled by the ending. It makes you think about what it means to love someone.I saw delicate and nuanced ending full of hope.

This book is cleverly organized with short chapters with constantly changing locations - many places I would like to visit - Tangiers, St. Tropez, Chamonix, Havana, and the west coast of Mexico. Thornton gives the reader a real "fly on the wall" insight into different worlds. I especially enjoyed the English country house scenes. I haven't read another novel like this. Highly recommend.

I read this book in an entire sitting on a Sunday which I swear I didn't mean to do. But it was so worth it and I found myself balling my eyes out at 10pm at the ending. The entire story was so well written and captivating. It follows a couple from their first meeting through their marriage. The husband is extremely wealthy and successful, and loves his wife very much but is caught in a scandal at work. The book shows their progression from being madly in love to the strains his job and the scandal put on their relationship. The author did such a great job illustrating this (obviously, since I cried at the end). The cover is absolutely gorgeous as well. I recommend this book to everyone now! It's definitely one of the best I've read this year!

The story of a marriage. Well written, simple plot, but something almost soothing about the pace and rhythm of the writing.