I thoroughly enjoyed Katarina Mazetti’s novel Benny and Shrimp. This quirky love story follows the relationship of Desiree, an urban-dwelling fastidious librarian (nicknamed Shrimp), and Benny, a milk farmer who works too hard to settle down. This a real-life romance with all the lovely firsts at the beginning, the arguments and compromising in the middle, and a cliff hanger ending. I read this book in one sitting in one evening…it was a fast read, yes, but I wanted to find out what happened. The characters were believable and felt so real I could swear I’ve met them all in one form or another over the course of my life.
For me, the story brought home the importance of communication in any relationship and understanding your own expectations before shunting them off on another. For two middle-aged lonely people who have so much baggage (personal and relationship), it was amazing they were able to make it through the compromise stage at all. Their personalities were strong and their expectations were so reasonable yet so unreasonable at the same time. I smiled, I laughed, I shed a few tears, and I found myself wanting to read more when the end came. Overall, a great read if you like your love stories with a whole lot of real life thrown into the mix.