Book Review: This Charming Man by Marian Keyes

Synopsis:

Lola has just found out that her boyfriend - charismatic politician Paddy de Courcy - is getting married. To someone else. Heartbroken, Lola flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes?

Journalist Grace wants the inside story on Paddy de Courcy's engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him?

Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her loving loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on?

Alicia Thornton is Paddy's wife-to-be. Determined to be the perfect wife, Alicia would do anything for her fiancée. But does she know the real Paddy?

Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all...

My Review!

Urgh... I really don't know where to start with this review...! I love Marian Keyes books but I felt really disappointed by this one. I really struggled with this book, taking me just over 2 weeks to finish it but determined I was! 

I have been looking forward to reading this book for a while and when reading the synopsis I thought it was going to be pure chick lit but I was totally wrong, I was not prepared for what this book had in store for me. Paddy de Courcy.. Charming man.. I think not!!

One of my pet peeves is the size of the chapters, the first chapter consisted of over 70 pages (wow I know!) When life intervenes and I have to stop reading for a little while I always always like to finish a chapter off, it just never feels right to stop mid chapter (it's like stopping someone speaking mid sentence) but I had to do this constantly due to the size of them!

The first chapter was the hardest to get through, we got to know Lola who is a stylist and the girlfriend of Paddy. Lola had just found out that he was now engaged to someone else 'Alicia Thornton'. Lola's chapters were written like a diary and the grammar was very poor and the writing style was not to my taste which made it difficult for me to get into the story.

Poor Lola really had been kicked to the kerb by her boyfriend so she gets away to Knockavoy where she meets lots of new friends and gets herself into some interesting situations! My jaw dropped on a few occasions while reading Lola's story.

Grace is a journalist who lives with her boyfriend Damien, thankfully the writing style was much more Marian's usual flow. Grace is very close to her parents and her aunt who is currently battling cancer. Poor Grace wasn't having a good time due to her car being stolen and she somehow had been hurt with bruising on her face although we don't find out what happened to her until the very end!

Grace is requested personally by Alicia to interview her for the engagement shoot which she does. You soon realise they know each other from when they were younger and you can clearly see there is no love lost between the two. 

Marnie is the twin sister to Grace and she lives away in London with her husband Nick and her two daughters. Her first love was Paddy and throughout the book you get to know more about their toxic relationship when they were young. Marnie you could tell was a very downhearted person who seemed to be trying to keep her head above water and not sink further into depression. 

Alicia who is newly engaged to Paddy is the one woman we don't get to know all that well, we only get to hear from her on only a few occasions.

We know she has connections with both Grace and Marnie, and that she has been married before to an older man who passed away. I got the feeling that there was no love between Alicia and Paddy and that the engagement was more of a business deal.

All four women have one thing in common, they all seemed to have either a past or present with the charming, controlling, abusive politician that is known as Paddy de Courcy. 

I'm glad I stuck with it, it has a good plot and the characters were believable, but I did struggle with the long chapters and some of the switches from past to present.

It's one of those books where you finish the last page however the characters stay with you for a little while longer, especially Alicia... I felt her story wasn't finished off unlike the others.

I would recommend this book but I would stick a giant warning post to it so people are aware it's no light hearted chick lit book about 4 women all falling in hopeless love with a charming lovely man! 

Buy the Book! 

Book Review: From Notting Hill with Love.... Actually by Ali McNamara

Synopsis:

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy . . . wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant.

Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiancé David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now . . . 

When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill - the setting of one of her favourite movies - Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too.

Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

My Review!

This book has been sitting patiently on my 'to be read' pile for a while now, so I was so pleased to finally get to read it. I LOVE the title of this book, this is the first book in a 3 part series (the title's of the next two books are also fab!)

The main character in this book is Scarlett who I warmed to immediately, she is obsessed with the movies and who can blame her! When we first meet Scarlett she has just arrived in Notting Hill and being 'movie mad' she starts to compare her surroundings with the films she loves. 

Here is where she meets Oscar, they hit it off straight away and you get to know more about her and why she is in London. 

Scarlett shares a cinema popcorn machine business with her father, so we can see why she is so cinema mad, she is engaged to David who sounds very sensible and boring and then there is her best friend Maddie. 

Maddie, David and her father think that Scarlett is too obsessed with the movies so she decides to take a break from it all and house sit in London.

I was not a fan of David, he sounded so stuffy and to be honest a right bore, I didn't feel that he suited Scarlett and didn't share her love for all things movies.

However, stand aside David because here we meet Sean Bond... (Yay!) 

Sean was Scarlett's new next door neighbour, his sister Ursula was Oscar's friend so we see quite a lot of Sean throughout.

Sean and Scarlett attend a wedding together in Glasgow and you start to see the great chemistry they have together.

As well as the love triangle the book takes a different turn and we find out that Scarlett doesn't know her mother and soon possibilities start to open up to try and find her, this leads Scarlett and Sean travelling to Paris and back where they grow closer. 

Scarlett is confused on whether David is still the right choice for her or whether she has developed feelings for Sean. Everything comes to a head and Scarlett has to make some choices, will she marry David and does she find her mum...

I did enjoy this book, some of the movie comparison's and quote's were quite corny at times but it's ok... 'I'm looking for corny in my life...' (oh lord now I'm quoting Kate Winslet in 'The Holiday'!)

I am looking forward to reading the sequel to this 'From Notting Hill to New York... Actually '

Buy the Book! 

Book Review: How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake

Synopsis:

Eve is heartbroken after discovering her fiance is cheating on her. Being surrounded by the joys of Christmas is more than Eve can bear, so she chooses to avoid the festivities by spending Christmas alone on a houseboat in Pangbourne. Eve gets gets an unexpected seasonal surprise when handsome local vet Greg comes to her rescue one day, and continues to visit Eve's boat on a mission to transform her from Kitchen Disaster Zone to Culinary Queen. 

But where does Greg keep disappearing to? What does Eve's best friend Daisy know that she isn't telling? And why is there an angry goose stalking Eve's boat? 

My Review!

Ok, I know it's January, the Christmas music is no longer playing in all the shops and the Christmas decorations are down and packed away in the loft, (sob!) no more eating chocolate for breakfast and binge watching your favourite festive films but who says you cannot keep reading Christmas books!? I say festive reads are for life.. Not just for Christmas!

This is my first book for 2018 and also my first book by Rosie Blake. I really enjoyed this book and so happy knowing that I have a few of her books lined up in my 'to be read' pile.

This book focuses on two characters, Eve and Greg. Each chapter changes between them both which I really love in a book. I found that some scenes are repeated but I really like to read both the female and male point of view.

I really liked the character Eve, who works at an Estate Agents with her best friend Daisy. Eve is heartbroken after finding out that her fiancé (Liam) cheated on her. After a messy breakup, arguing over the parental rights to their dog (Marmite) and it nearing Christmas (a year ago since Liam proposed, them wearing matching Christmas jumpers in their love bubble) she decides to put herself on a pottery course and take herself and Marmite to stay on a houseboat in Pangbourne for a few weeks in December. 

You meet Greg who is the local Vet at Pangbourne, straight away he comes across as such a loveable male character. After coming to Eve's rescue on the boat they soon hit it off, I wanted to jump into the book give Eve a big hug and tell her to forget loser Liam and yay to Greg! Greg visits Eve many times on her boat, and after reading his side of a scene you know he deliberately goes her way on the off chance of running into her. (awwww!)

Eve is a terrible cook, usually letting Liam do all the cooking during dinner parties and after food poisoning her friends she decides to try again and learn how to cook on the houseboat, with Greg's help she becomes more confident, baking lots of Christmas goodies. I loved that some chapter's of the book started with a different recipe with all things Christmassy, Christmas cookies, fruit loaf and Christmas pudding! Yum!

Although some things aren't what they seem, Greg keeps having to disappear and Daisy is acting strange keeping something back from Eve. This book kept me guessing right until the end, I did try to guess a few times, convinced I knew the truth and getting it wrong, so the last few chapters I was gripped!

This is a must read whatever the season! I really hope Rosie Blake brings out a follow on from this one, would love to catch up with all the characters! 

Buy the Book!