Puzzle Pieces is a romance novella by Rachael Bloome published in April of 2020. It’s a clean romance perfect for quick and easy reading. Centered on the characters of Elle Montgomery, an app developer, and Graham Dalton, a metal-welder (and the company owner), we learn that not only were Elle and Graham high school sweethearts, but they’re still in love a decade later, even after parting ways.
The characters have a strong foundation in their friendship, and it’s interesting as well as realistic that their childhood memories slightly vary from one another’s. Puzzle Pieces is a humorous, feel-good story with scenes not only interesting to read but easy to imagine, and you know I always love when a title is logical and comes into the basis of the story right away.
This isn’t a story about destiny or “the one,” but rather a story about if this is a logical way of looking at love and if it’s possible to be in and stay in love without something as unpredictable as fate. Throughout the story we get insight into not only how both these characters are run, but what their history is both together as friends and as a couple, and what their family dynamic is/was.
The few things I didn’t like were how Elle’s best friend seemed to ignore her in their business decisions, although I understand the reason behind it in propelling the plot forward, and I also was not exactly keen on Graham’s brother and his entire deal with Graham and Elle, though again, I can see how this made the plot possible. That also said, it didn’t take away from the story, at least not enough for me to ‘deduct any points’, so to speak, from my review. Just giving a little warning that you may be frustrated with these characters the more you see them.
Something I liked in this story a lot was the way Graham was so in-tune with Elle, knowing what she needed and respecting her enough to give her advice without making her decisions for her, and Elle in turn giving Graham a feeling of safety and confidence. The scenes were easy to picture, and I particularly was a fan of their phone call before getting ready to go out–I mean, come on, the description of his laugh and how it affected Elle while she’s wearing his hoodie?
The characters, overall, were pretty relatable, and the story itself held some of those relatable aspects that really draw you into the story and make it feel believable off-the-bat, such as sibling rivalry and depression-watching Hallmark Channel to feel better. The characters names stuck easily and the plot moved fluidly on its own, with excellent writing, character development, and some Jane Austen quotes. Not to mention that both characters sound extremely good-looking, which is also fun to imagine. Where my book friends at with their book-boyfriend lists, because you’ll be adding Graham onto that list pretty quickly.
One quote that stuck with me is something Graham said to Elle while they were in an art museum together. “What if it boils down to making a choice? And then, once you make that choice, you choose that person again and again, every single day, no matter what, for the rest of your lives.”
All in all I’d give this book a whopping nine out of ten stars, and would (and have) recommended it to a number of people. If you’re looking for a quick, simple read sure to have you smiling and in the feels, or looking for something to pull you out of a reading slump, this book might just be the one you’re looking for. Well done to Ms. Rachael Bloome!
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