The Name Curse by Brooke Burroughs (Review)

Title: The Name Curse
Author: Brooke Burroughs
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Montlake (Amazon Publishing)
Date published: August 31, 2021

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Thomas Allen & Son in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since her father died, Bernie’s life has been stagnant. When concerned friends and family suggest she join a hike through Alaska to gain new perspective, Bernie reluctantly agrees to go, even though she’s never been the adventurous type, unlike her namesake, Great-Aunt Bernice.

Matthew is a struggling screenwriter who needs a week off the grid to gain some inspiration for a new project and to process the reappearance of his absent father.

When the two meet at the trailhead, it’s annoyance at first sight. He’s dismayed to discover that he’ll have to share a tent with Bernie, who doesn’t know the first thing about camping, while she finds he’s a little too into “roughing it” to be a reasonable human being. But as they’re forced to hike through the wilderness together, their relationship becomes a surprising source of empathy and inspiration…and maybe other feelings too. Can the two adversaries find the path to breaking the curse of family expectations—and each other?

⤖ My Review ⬻

Brooke Burroughs’ The Name Curse was definitely a fun read for me! And it might just have triggered a craving for more hiking/adventure type romance for me—especially if there’s a shared tent type situation (wink wink) even if nothing happens in aforementioned tent but it rather works as a plot devide to advance the slow burn or hate-to-love aspects of a plot! (Gimme all the slow-burn and hate-to-love!)

But back to the book at hand! I really enjoyed the setting (the characters spent most of The Name Curse hiking through Alaska) and noted just how different it was from the main setting of Burroughs’ other novel The Marriage Code that I read in the first half of 2021 and which was set for the most part set in urban South India.

There was a lot of nature in The Name Curse, which I definitely enjoyed, being a nature lover, and it was a nice mix with the hate-to-love plot as well as the banter between the two lead characters. Speaking of the lead characters, I found that while I didn’t connect deeply with either of them, I did find them to have backstories that were flushed out and that they were certainly believable.

The side characters were also a nice touch and made sense for the progression of the plot as well as character development. (Some of the lead characters’ hiking companions were my favourites!) Overall, as I said above, I did enjoy The Name Curse and rooted for love to win from start to finish.

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Brooke Burroughs is an award winning writer of fun love stories about women with a heart for adventure. Brooke lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, who she met on one of her own real life adventures living in India. When she’s not writing, she conducts experiments in vegetarian cooking, performs with a Bollywood dance troupe, travels whenever she can, and is frequently seen at the dog park with her Great Dane which is often mistaken for a horse.