Cecelia Ahern - The Time of my Life

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780007350445

My rating: 4/5

Lucy Silchester has an appointment with her life – and she’s going to have to keep it.
Lying on Lucy Silchester’s carpet one day when she returns from work is a gold envelope. Inside is an invitation – to a meeting with Life. Her life. It turns out she's been ignoring it and it needs to meet with her face to face.

It sounds peculiar, but Lucy’s read about this in a magazine. Anyway, she can’t make the date: she’s much too busy despising her job, skipping out on her friends and avoiding her family.

But Lucy’s life isn’t what it seems. Some of the choices she’s made – and stories she’s told – aren’t what they seem either. From the moment she meets the man who introduces himself as her life, her stubborn half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory – unless Lucy learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her. (CeceliaAhern.ie)

 

 

My thoughts

 

I cannot believe, I'd had the book on my desk for over a year before I started reading, but after the previous Ahern books I'd been a bit hesitant!

Anyway ... beautifully written and thought provoking would be a summary of this review!

 

Lucy, the main character, meets "her life", a grumpy guy who is trying to improve her life. Her life: she's broken up with her partner, lost her job and now lives in a small apartment, growing more and more distant to her family and friends.

 

I didn't really like Lucy that much, although very realistic, I couldn't really warm to her. Yet, I loved "her life". He was funny, witty and had some really good lines.

 

Bottom line, I'd say, this is Cecelia Ahern at her best again. The story makes you think, not only about what you've just read, but your own life, and stays with you well and truly after you've finished the book. I laughed, I blinked away tears - and loved it!

 

 

Sophie Kinsella - I've got your number

Publisher:  Black Swan

ISBN: 978-0552774406

My rating: n/a


I've lost it. The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate Poppy. Stay positive!!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry the ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her 'happy ever after' begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring but in the panic that followed, she has now lost her phone. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton doesn't agree. He wants his phone back and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other's lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents... she soon realises that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life. (SophieKinsella.co.uk)


Sorry - no thoughts on this one, at least not any I'd like to share.

Rachel Gibson - True Love and other Disasters

Publisher: Avon

ISBN: 9780061579066

My rating: 2/5

DISASTER NUMBER ONE: MEN
Hard knocks and hunger taught Faith Duffy not to believe in love. Still, when she married her very wealthy—and very old—husband, she became the perfect wife. He gave her security; she gave him fidelity and loyalty, but not her heart. And then he went to that big bank in the sky, leaving Faith with a lot of lonely nights, a pile of money, and a total mess of a pro hockey team. Heck, Faith doesn't even watch hockey!
DISASTER NUMBER TWO: PASSION
But most of America and half of Canada is watching Ty Savage, team captain. His lethal sex appeal and deadly right hook make him the favorite of hockey fans. For most of Ty's life, he's dreamed of winning the Stanley cup. The last thing he needs is a gold-digging bimbo messing up his plans.
DISASTER NUMBER THREE: LOVE
Faith loathes Ty on sight, but she can't stop thinking about him all day...and all night. Then a night of temptations ends with Faith in Ty's bed, and she begins to see there's more to him than sex appeal and slap shots. Ty discovers there's far more to Faith than beauty and billions. A relationship with Faith is impossible, and falling in love---would be a disaster (rachelgibson.com)

My thoughts

OK - I have to admit this one was disappointing.

Basically it's Stripper marries rich guy, rich guy dies and leaves her a Hockey Team (Chinooks), Stripper falls in love with the Team's captain and throw in a little blackmail (waayyyy to late). The rest of the book is filled with yadi yadi yada of self doubt, guilt, attraction and other uninteresting stuff.

That's about sums it up.

I didn't really like it. The characters were plain, without depth and the story reminded me too much of Susan Elizabeth Phillip's first Chicago Stars' book.

Marian Keyes - The other side of the Story

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (April 11, 2006)

ISBN: 978-0060731489

My rating: 2/5

Jojo Harvey is a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with both her married boss and her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. One of them, Gemma, has suddenly found herself from a broken home - at the age of thirty-two. Meanwhile, Lily - the woman Gemma has always blamed for stealing her one chance of happiness - is enjoying the overnight success of her debut novel. Set in the world of publishing, 'The Other Side of the Story' is about love, loyalty, glass ceilings and survival tactics - and what to do when you get your chance for revenge. (mariankeyes.com)


My thoughts

I kinda thought this book was boring. I had read "Anybody out there" a while back and remember how much I enjoyed it and the tissue box which I had used up .... so I was looking forward to this one.

But really I can't say anything else than boring. We all have a bad day and I suppose what I did like was the description of the publishing side ... the pain we feel with bad reviews, the hope and the let-down - the roller coaster of being in this business. But there's nothing else to say. Gemma's story was ... okay. Dad falls in love with his secretary and leaves his wife. Daughter writes about it in emails and these emails fall into the hand of a Literary Agent. That is Jojo - her story. I have no idea. Lily is Gemma's friend. Well they used to be friends until Lily falls in love with Gemma's ex. Lily's just released her book - a bestseller.

So that's it. Sprinkle with a bit of relationship and you have "The other side of the story".

I did like a lot of the Lily's soul-searching. It was great reading - thus the 2 stars, but IMO too little too late.

I still have another Marian Keyes' book somewhere on my desk and will persevere, hoping it'll be more like the first book I've read.