Description
A Lotus to Love is a charming story about second chances and growth after despair. Taken on those merits, I enjoyed it a great deal, and I expect many readers will as well, especially older romance readers, who may have experienced losses of their own. I strongly considered giving it four stars, but in the end, I found portions of it too flat.
Portia Ross is a perfumer whose company intends to make a perfume inspired by Cleopatra. To do this, they must send Portia to Egypt to do some research, since Portia especially intends to ensure the perfume honors Cleopatra rather than merely appropriating her image for an easy profit.
Complicating the matter is Portia’s own grief over her recently lost husband, a grief which has kept her separate from the rest of the world for months. Exactly what happened to her husband is spelled out gradually over the course of the book, and by the time it is revealed, it hardly seems to matter. What matters more is that he is dead, and that Portia’s time in Egypt will not only bring her a new love but will also ease her grief.
The other side of the romantic equation is Nadir, a tour guide turned emergency Egyptologist when the scholar who would have been assigned to Portia backs out. This is fortuitous for both of them, as Nadir and Portia quickly form a bond which will turn romantic over the course of her stay in Egypt and her study of ancient perfumes.
The romance is sweet, but aside from a few tender moments and stolen kisses under moonlight, it feels rather shallow. Portia’s grief and Nadir’s religious convictions (he is implied to be Muslim, but it is never actually stated, even at their inevitable wedding) throw up barriers between them, but they are easily overcome.
By the end of a week in Egypt, Portia is ready to let her husband go, and while the romance is sweet rather than spicy, discussions of which of them will give up their homeland for the other feel perfunctory rather than heartfelt. (There were some botanical inaccuracies which I took issue with as well, but as those will likely only impact plant nerds, I will leave them out.)
On the whole, I do recommend this book, especially for people who want a quick, sweet read to while away a few hours with. It’s not the best romance I’ve read, but it was good fun, with utterly lovable characters.