Ripples in the Lake by May Coates

This book left me nostalgic for an age of innocence, a time when romance books were romantic. A time so far removed from the filth that now passes for romance in books.

Ripples in the Lake is a throwback to a time when Mills & Boon romances were peopled with virtuous heroines and arrogant but gorgeous heroes. This is the first book by May Coates that I’ve read; according to Amazon, she’s had only two books published so far. (Amazon affiliate links are included here!)

My Goodreads review

Ripples in the Lake by May Coates
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When I first saw the cover of this book at the second-hand bookshop I frequent, it immediately took me back to my high school years (90s), when I first read Mills & Boon books. The Mills and Boon books I read were set in the 1970s and 1980s, and like this one, are what is now called ‘clean romance’, which is almost its own genre if you read a lot of reviews and book samples on Amazon, like I do.

Coates follows the tried-and-tested formula set for Mills & Boon authors: Girl meets boy, they disagree about some nonsensical thing or other, despite the boy’s rudeness, the girl falls hopelessly in love with him. Coates makes this a May-December romance, and while the romance is clean, the plot is vague, and the two main characters are a little incomplete.

The story is about Helen, a twenty-one-year-old orphan, who applies for a matron-housekeeper post at a boys’ boarding school. However, the school bursar, Ward Prescott, thinks she is too young and inexperienced for the job.

Set in Oakfield, a boys’ boarding school in England, the story benefits from Coates’ description of the scenery. The boarding school reminded me of the Meadowbank School for Girls from Agatha Christie’s Cat Among the Pigeons, with its busy school life.

There were a few incidents where Helen, despite her youth and inexperience, displayed almost superhuman strength and quick thinking that saved lives. I got the feeling that Coates was trying too hard to turn Helen into an angel on earth figure, but this only served to give her a facade that could melt away on a hot summer’s day.

There’s a lot of telling and a lot less showing, and the point of view changed so abruptly between all the characters that it made me dizzy. It’s a short story and a quick read; you can easily finish it in a few hours.

I recommend this book for fans of clean romance who want to revisit their favourite Mills and Boon books of yesteryears.

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