The Man With The Dancing Eyes by Sophie Dahl (Illustrated by Annie Morris)

Summary:
An old-fashioned, modern-day love story.

In the golden half light of a midsummer's evening, the sort where any kind of magic can occur, and often does, in the midst of a party held in a wild and rambling garden stood Pierre, teetering on highly unsuitable heels, surrounded by a symphony of overripe roses.

Pierre is the heroine of this loveable love story, and the magic takes the form of a tap on her shoulder which induces her to look into the most wicked and dancing eyes she'd ever seen. These are the eyes of her future beloved, and the book charts the course of their romance, from the streets of London to the streets of New York. There are waltzes and sweet peas and bubbles, a tragic breakup, a romantic makeup, and whimsical line drawings to accompany it all. Delightfully silly, occasionally serious, The Man with the Dancing Eyes is all about love-its beginnings, its endings, and its wonderful re-kindlings. It is a hopeful tale about the place of old-fashioned romance in a modern-day world, and will warm the hearts of romantics the world over.
Summary taken from Goodreads.com

So today while I went scouting at the library for some Christmas themed romance novels I found this book on the shelf in the fiction section. I was immediately drawn to the cover because of how cute it was and when I opened the book and saw the illustrations I thought I would love it.

I was wrong.

The story was bland it didn't seem to have any real thought put into it in my honest opinion. It was as if the author Sophie Dahl was just putting her random thoughts down on a page and hoping to make a story out of it. I understand that the book was only 80 pages long so there is only so much to put into the book but I've read several books that long that were wonderful.

I wish I could have gotten more into the story but I found the female protaganist Pierre to be annoying (a little had to do with her name being Pierre) and how she got over her lover's "indescretion" with time but when he shows back up in her life she welcomes him with open arms. I hate when women let a man walk all over them.

As for the illustrations they were cute and very much like the illustrator Quentin Blake's style who is famous for  illustrating the childrens books written by Roald Dahl (Sophie Dahl is his granddaughter). So for me they were the book's saving grace.

I hope if I ever read another book by Sophie Dahl that I like it more than this one. Due to the lack of direction, poor writing, and randomness I only give this book 2 stars out of 5. I don't really recommend it to anyone and I strongly suggest borrowing this book from the library and not buying it if you do want to give this book a try.