People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young

People Watching is a romance set in a small town based on Baysville, Muskoka, Ontario. Milo and his sister, Nadia, arrive back in the town they grew up in after they receive a call for help from their brother. Nik, who is in the process of opening a boutique brewery, has requested that they stay for two months to help him prepare for its opening.

Milo, a declared nomad and free spirit who never stays long in one place and has over 200 one-night stands to his name (but who’s counting?), meets the stunning and naïve Prudence Welch when he stops for fuel and cigarettes at Welch’s Gas and Grocery store. With the realisation that they will be neighbours, and that Mrs Welch was his old high school art teacher who inspired his love of art, Milo decides this might be the best two months of his life.

Prue is the total opposite of Milo in every way. At 25, she has never been in a relationship, one-night stand or otherwise, never travelled the world, in fact, never left town. She is happy taking care of her mother, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s, and helping her father in the store—despite his encouragement to leave and see something of the world. 

When Milo offers to work with Prue’s mother in her studio, it’s a chance for Milo to give something back to his favourite teacher and see more of Prue. As a result, the chemistry between the couple intensifies, and Milo begins to wonder if he should stay longer.

Slowly, Milo introduces Prue to the pleasures of the body, and a relationship blossoms between them. Then Prue’s father shares a secret with Milo that will devastate his relationship with Prue and her relationship with her father. When Prue accidentally discovers the secret, she cuts Milo from her life, but unfortunately, he realises for the first time in his life, he wants to stay in town and make a life with the woman he has come to love. It’s something that scares him, but something he will do anything to achieve.

People Watching is an opposites-attract story that delves into the workings of relationships across many levels.

Reviewer: Carole Brungar

Harper Collins