I Looked for the One My Heart Loves

I Looked for the One My Heart Loves by Dominique Marny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*I received this book for free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.*

I just finished this wonderful book with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. It takes place in France, starting in the years prior to WWII and ending in the 1980's. It's about a young girl, Anne, and her family, and Alexis, her brother's friend, whom Anne has loved since she was 9 and Alexis 11. They last see each other in the early days of the war, when people started leaving Paris for the safety of the country, and don't meet again until both are adults and married with children. Anne works in an art gallery and Alexis is a teacher, and they become reacquainted all over again and fall in love. How they deal with it, or not, considering their families, is what the book is about.

I loved the writing, the characters, the dialogue, the descriptions, and everything about this lovely book. I am not judgmental about their affair because I know the details surrounding it, and I was happy for them. And I learned a lot about the art world as a bonus! Although the ending was sad, it was also lovely when Anne meets Guillaume, Alexis' son.

The negatives in this book were the title (did not fit the story),the unrealistic aspect of Anne's love for Alexis since she was 9 and expecting it to last forever, and her reaction to Alexis when he told her about his wife's pregnancy. I felt sorry for Anne's husband, Francois, who she genuinely was fond of until Alexis came back into her life. He was a good husband to her, genuinely loved her and his girls, was a good husband and provider, and they enjoyed being with each other. How she was willing to throw this all aside so quickly was a tad unrealistic, I thought, and not fair to him or their daughters. But I still loved Anne and Alexis' love story and did want them to be together, just not for their families to be disrupted as well.

I highly recommend this book!