Learning Love: A Romance Novella

by Cachline Etienne

When the death of Dianne's father forces her to move back home, she dreads starting over. Leaving small-town Weston was the best decision she ever made---she blossomed on her own. Now she's attempting to rebuild her life and an old acquaintance is stirring feelings she thought were long gone.

Alex, the well-mannered and handsome local tech supplier can’t seem to figure out the familiarness of Dianne. In his quest to uncover the mystery he finds himself falling for the witty teacher.

With walls of steel built around her, Alex must find a way to her heart. But with Dianne’s fear of attachment and an old boyfriend resurfacing, he's challenged at every turn.
Can Dianne let go of the past and allow herself to love? Or will she continue to allow the grip fear has on her reign her life?

86 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2022

About the author

Author, Reader, Feminist

Reviews

[Samyra Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read

Dianne was likable as it related to her friend, and how she chose to remember her parents; but how she handled herself in male and female relationships made me shake my head. I was confused why she needed rescuing near the end. I was left wondering about Alex’s secret; that didn’t seem resolved. The ending was sweet. I reduced a star because I was taken out of the story several times due to grammatical errors, and a few jarring scene transitions.

[Jessica Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that had potential to be great but fell flat because of the FMC. She got in her own way and got on my nerves with all of her second guessing and how she self sabotages on so many levels. I mean do I get it, yes, however if she’s “learning” than I feel there needs to be forward progression which I feel her character lacked. Ava, like most women suffers from trauma from past relationships and repeated patterns but when Jace enters the picture and shows her something completely different instead of a feeling of refreshment and comfort it screams danger and caution. This is where the book lost me. Again, if this is about “learning love” I would expect that there would be some type of light bulb moment and she would realize that not all men are the same. That’s not what happens and she consistently allows herself to slip back into her trauma. I feel if this were to be rewritten with this change this book would hit all the marks it was meant to hit. Aside from that it wasn’t a bad book. Good for the season I suppose.

['The Book Queen' · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed romance with a pinch

I liked this story, it was a mixture of light contemporary and young adult fiction. I don't think I could clearly describe either character in this story with accuracy. But the story was pretty good. No major issues for me.