{Review} My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (@JustJuliaWhelan @WmMorrowBooks)

Major Motion Picture Already in Development with Temple Hill Entertainment

Set amidst the breathtaking beauty of Oxford, this sparkling debut novel tells the unforgettable story about a determined young woman eager to make her mark in the world and the handsome man who introduces her to an incredible love that will irrevocably alter her future—perfect for fans of JoJo Moyes and Nicholas Sparks.

American Ella Durran has had the same plan for her life since she was thirteen: Study at Oxford. At 24, she’s finally made it to England on a Rhodes Scholarship when she’s offered an unbelievable position in a rising political star’s presidential campaign. With the promise that she’ll work remotely and return to DC at the end of her Oxford year, she’s free to enjoy her Once in a Lifetime Experience. That is, until a smart-mouthed local who is too quick with his tongue and his car ruins her shirt and her first day.

When Ella discovers that her English literature course will be taught by none other than that same local, Jamie Davenport, she thinks for the first time that Oxford might not be all she’s envisioned. But a late-night drink reveals a connection she wasn’t anticipating finding and what begins as a casual fling soon develops into something much more when Ella learns Jamie has a life-changing secret.

Immediately, Ella is faced with a seemingly impossible decision: turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with to follow her political dreams or be there for him during a trial neither are truly prepared for. As the end of her year in Oxford rapidly approaches, Ella must decide if the dreams she’s always wanted are the same ones she’s now yearning for.

Ella Durran knows that a Rhodes Scholarship will be the opportunity of a lifetime.  Not only will it get her foot in the door of the highly competitive political circles of Washington DC, it will also fulfill her long time dream of attending Oxford.
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The hallowed halls of the prestigious university are both challenging and thrilling for an ambitious American girl with her entire future mapped out.  

​But then Ella never planned on falling in love with her professor.

And then let’s say, just for argument’s sake, a decade later you meet this guy and he’s unlike any guy you’ve ever met before, except for one thing: he doesn’t want to be in a relationship. Which is just peaches ’cause neither do you. For you two, relationships are like decaf coffee: What, exactly, is the point? 

So you ease into it. 
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Well. Relatively. He’s like early-morning Indian-summer sun on the back of your neck. Despite the chill, you know the day is shaping up to be a scorcher.

​Jamie Davenport is a bit of a legend on campus.  His lectures are filled with poetic passion and it’s no secret that he’s a favourite of the female student population. All they ever see is the rakishly handsome professor who quotes Shakespeare and Tennyson from memory.  But what they don’t see is a young man struggling to keep a secret.
 
What starts out as a casual dalliance quickly becomes something so much more. Now Ella has to make an impossible choice.  Does she return to the life she so carefully constructed or does she dare to take a chance with the only man who could ever own her soul?

I feel like I’m waking up from one of those dreams, the revelatory kind, where you carry with you into waking the sense that all secrets were revealed and all mysteries were solved, and everything feels different . . . but what the hell was it about? You struggle to remember the context, you chase the clues left behind, you hold on to the threads of the revelation hoping they’ll lead you back to the source, and when you finally give up and let it go… it finds you. 
 
Maybe my dream of Oxford, the planning, the career building, the Rhodes, everything that went into getting me there was really about: just getting there. Maybe the City of Dreaming Spires—the foundational lifeblood of education in the Western world—wasn’t itself the dream, but the entry point to something I could have never imagined, never seen until now. 
 
Love. Family. Connection. 
 
A life. 
 
And the freedom to decide, on my own terms, what I want to do, what I’m going to do with my calling.

Julia Whelan’s debut novel – My Oxford Year– is nothing short of a modern masterpiece!  With vivid and yet poignant prose, Julia takes readers on a journey of unexpected strength and undying love.
 
Each of the characters burn with their own brand of wisdom and the locations will seduce even the most dedicated of Anglophiles.
 
So if you only read one book in 2018, it should be this one. You’ll never take life for granted again…  

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