BOOK REVIEW: Pippa Wright - Unsuitable Men

I’ve been so busy these last few weeks that I haven’t been able to blog as often as I’d like so, for that, I’d like to apologise. I have tonnes of notes written up about various books so I’ll get cracking on writing them ASAP. In the meantime, I finished this book on my journey to work today and I’m going to sneakily write a review at work so forgive me for any errors, I’m not the best ninja!

"After eleven years of coupled-up domesticity, Rory Carmichael is single for the first time in her adult life. Even she would admit that her ex-boyfriend Martin wasn’t the most exciting man in the world – let’s face it, his idea of a rocking night was one spent updating his Excel spreadsheets – but Rory could rely on him and, having watched her mother rack up four turbulent marriages, that’s what matters. But when she discovers that her supposedly reliable Mr Right is a distinctly unreliable cheater, she’s forced to consider the possibility that everything she knows about relationships is wrong.
In an effort to reinvigorate both her love life and her lacklustre career at posh magazine Country House, she sets herself a mission to date as many unsuitable men as possible. Toyboys. Sugar daddies. Fauxmosexuals. Maybe the bad boys she’s never dated can show her what she’s been missing in life. But if Mr Right can turn out to be so wrong, maybe one of her Mr Wrongs will turn out to be just right…"

I absolutely loved the concept of this book – we’ve all dated people that weren’t exactly suitable haven’t we? Rory finds herself single after 11 years of being with her boyfriend whom she’d planned a future with. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she finds out he cheated on her, is forced to move out of their joint home, and isn’t really enjoying work all that much. So when her column at Country House magazine gets cut she has to think fast and, influenced by a conversation with her colleague Ticky, she suggest writing about dates with unsuitable men.

This book was a genuine joy to read. I won’t lie and say I loved everything about it but I did love the majority of it and the things I didn’t like really aren’t major at all. Let’s get the ‘bad’ out of the way, shall we? There’s literally one thing: Rory’s colleagues are all posh and so everything they say, especially Ticky, is spelt out phonetically, so you end up reading it in a posh accent. Now I’m aware that for most people that would be fine but, for me, I just can’t. I don’t really appreciate a posh voice the way I know I should and so it began to grate on me because I couldn’t get away from it. (I did tell you it was silly!)

The characters in the book are well developed and very fleshed out, from the main characters to the unsuitable men that Rory finds herself dating. There are no characters that just feel like padding – for me there’s nothing worse than spending time reading about somebody to find that they’re quite two dimensional, boring and, ultimately, not really relevant to the story. This wasn’t the case – they all have their part to play and bring something worth reading to the table.

It touches upon the celebrity phenomenon but not in the way you might expect. They’re not current celebrities, as such, more past celebrities. ‘They’ being Rory’s aunt and her lodgers (lodgers feels like the wrong word as they’re more like family – something that becomes evident as the story develops).

One of the stand out things about this book was that, yes, it looks at Rory dating unsuitable men and that’s funny etc. but it also goes deeper and is about Rory growing up, changing, and becoming the person she wants to be, not the person she thought she had to be. There are moments you want to shout at her for not spotting the obvious but that just proves how well written this book is – the fact that I could get that absorbed in this make-believe world says a lot.

There’s a happy ending but it’s not necessarily the one you might think would occur as you’re reading it, although it might be as I guessed relatively early on. Having said that Pippa Wright did throw a little something in the mix that shook things up and I doubted myself for a while. Overall, this was a great book to read and, as I have ‘The Foster Husband’ sitting on my ‘to-read’ pile, I am now even more excited to get my teeth into it!

Paperback | Kindle

COVER REVEAL: Sue Moorcroft - The Wedding Proposal

I will literally read anything I can get my hands on but, as fickle as it sounds, I’m more inclined to read something if it has a pretty cover so imagine my delight when I saw the cover for Sue Moorcroft’s upcoming novel, ‘The Wedding Proposal’. Here are two things that I don’t expect you to know about me; 1) I LOVE mint green and all shades that are close to it, and 2) I love petals. Now, knowing those two things, let me know you the front cover…

JUST LOOK AT IT! My goodness! It’s a thing of beauty! When I saw this, I didn’t know anything about the book but I knew I wanted to get my hands on it.

"Can a runaway bride stop running?Elle Jamieson is an unusually private person, in relationships as well as at work – and for good reason. But when she’s made redundant, with no ties to hold her, Elle heads off to a new life in sunny Malta.
Lucas Rose hates secrets – he prides himself on his ability to lay his cards on the table and he expects nothing less from others. He’s furious when his summer working as a divemaster is interrupted by the arrival of Elle, his ex, all thanks to his Uncle Simon’s misguided attempts at matchmaking.
Forced to live in close proximity, it’s hard to ignore what they had shared before Lucas’s wedding proposal ended everything they had. But then an unexpected phone call from England allows Lucas a rare glimpse of the true Elle. Can he deal with Elle’s hidden past when it finally comes to light?"

After having read the blurb, I know I’m going to enjoy it which just makes this whole cover reveal even more amazing. It’s beautiful and sounds like something I’d enjoy.

More information about Sue Moorcroft
Sue Moorcroft is an accomplished writer of novels and short stories, as well as a creative writing tutor. She’s also the fiction judge at Writers Forum and a regular guest on Sue Dougan’s Chat Room at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Sue’s Choc Lit novels include: Starting Over, All That Mullarkey, Want to Know a Secret?, Love & Freedom, Dream a Little Dream, Is This Love? and Darcie’s Dilemma (ebook). Love & Freedom won the Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award 2011 and Dream a Little Dream was shortlisted for the 2013 Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

‘The Wedding Proposal’ is going to be released this September and I, for one, can’t wait. 

What about you?

FICTION 5: Great Books for Mothers Day!

In no particular order, here are 5 books I think would make fantastic presents for any mother on Mother's Day!

1) Lettice & Victoria - Susanna Johnston

I wrote a review about this book (read it here) but in short, it's a great read. It's one of those books that might take more than one read before you absorb everything fully but that just makes it even better - it proves how rich it is and the amount of layers there are in the story. If your mum liked 'Keeping Up Appearances', chances are she'll love this!

Kindle | Hardback

2) Billy and Me – Giovanna Fletcher

In all honesty, I’ve read a LOT of books and this is, by far, one of the most touching books I’ve ever read. I cried a lot when reading this but not always sad tears. I’ve written a review on this book (read it here) and I know that I’m going to read this time and time again in the years to come. I love it. The characters are fantastic, you can’t help but love them. Also, the story doesn’t follow the usual chick-lit structure which appealed to me.

Kindle | Paperback

3) The Time of Our Lives – Jane Costello

I recently finished this book and loved it all. It’s about 3 friends who win a luxury holiday (their first holiday together in a LONG time) but things don’t work out as they’d planned. They find themselves in hilarious situations, although probably not so funny if they’re happening to you. They also realise things about themselves that they didn’t want to admit before. I laughed through the majority of the book and when I wasn’t laughing, I was gasping at the situations the 3 friends found themselves in or saddened by the back story of Imogen. It’s light-hearted, funny, and easy to read. This, a cup of tea (maybe not for me as I don’t like tea), and a comfy sofa and I guarantee your mum will be relaxed!

Kindle | Paperback

4) The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

Without a doubt, hands down, my favourite book of all time. I had to read this when I was studying English Literature at 6th Form and I fell in love with it immediately. Usually, as we all know, when you have to study a book, you pull it apart so much that you end up hating it and never wanting to read it again – not the case with this book. I’ve read it more times than I care to remember and I love it just as much. It’s set in a dystopian world where women are forced to act out certain roles in society, right down to how they dress/speak. They’re not allowed to read and lose touch with many friends. This is written from the view point of Offred, a woman who’s rebelling in her own ways against the world she now finds herself living in.

Kindle | Paperback | Hardback

5) The Brightest Star in the Sky – Marian Keyes

The story is set in Dublin and is based on the lives of everybody living at 66 Star Street. The way Keyes makes the lives intertwine is engaging and captivating. There are points where you think you know what’s going to happen and then you find out you’re wrong. Throughout the story, there’s a small narrative from the mysterious visitor and it isn’t until you’re about halfway into the book that you work out just who that visitor may be. If you think then that you know how the book will end, you might just find you’re wrong. The story touches upon love, pain, loss, and success, in such a way that you can’t help but keep turning the pages. This book is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and tug at your heartstrings at the same time. It’s brilliantly written and is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The story counts down the days until the absolute revelation of the mysterious visitor and it’s that eagerness to find out just who it is that makes it slightly impossible to stop reading. This book is incredibly heart-warming, funny, and just genuinely amazing.

Kindle | Paperback

BOOK REVIEW: Claire King - The Night Rainbow

"During one long, hot summer, five-year-old Pea and her little sister Margot play alone in the meadow behind their house, on the edge of a small village in Southern France. Her mother is too sad to take care of them; she left her happiness in the hospital, along with the baby. Pea's father has died in an accident and Maman, burdened by her double grief and isolated from the village by her Englishness, has retreated to a place where Pea cannot reach her - although she tries desperately to do so.
Then Pea meets Claude, a man who seems to love the meadow as she does and who always has time to play. Pea believes that she and Margot have found a friend, and maybe even a new papa. But why do the villagers view Claude with suspicion? And what secret is he keeping in his strange, empty house?"

This novel follows the life of two sisters, Pea and Margot, as they cope with the fallout of the loss and devastation that struck their family a short while ago. Along the way, they make a new friend who, despite their own tragedy, slowly helps to make everything better.

The story is told through the eyes of Pea, aged 5 and a half. At times the narration felt as though it was coming from somebody much older than Pea is supposed to be. Instead of seeing that as a flaw, I'd like to think that's just the author's way of further proving that Pea had to grow up a lot quicker than any child should have, as a result of the misfortune her family suffered. Despite everything Pea has gone through, the narration perfectly encapsulates the optimism that many young children seem to possess. It is this optimism that keeps you turning the pages.

The novel focuses on very few characters, allowing you to learn a lot about each of them. It's this fact that helps to make it so captivating - it's like following the lives of people you know and care about. It also shows the various ways in which tragedy affects a person and how differently people cope with it; for that alone, it is a brilliant piece of literature.

One element of this novel became fairly obvious quite quickly. I'm not sure if that's an intentional act by the author but, either way, it didn't make the novel any less enjoyable to read. Early on in the story, a relationship develops that makes you wonder whether you should continue to read... All I can say is you'll regret it if you don't. This book touches on some of the darkest places a human can find themselves in but the ending shows that there's always hope.

There's something slightly magical about a story that contains so many negative emotions and situations yet can still portray positivity throughout. This novel manages that with ease. It's an absolute delight to read, even if it is slightly haunting at points. It's the kind of book you read and, thanks to the wonderful descriptive nature of Pea's narration, find yourself getting lost in her world.

The book is available at Waterstones, from Amazon, or on your Kindle