Holidays are the perfect time for me to absorb myself in to the literary world without any distractions around me. Our trip to Mexico was no different. I found myself immersed in fictional worlds during the 4 books I read on holiday in Mexico and boy, was it a great way to relax and unwind whilst I was there. Here’s a round-up review of the books I devoured whilst we were away.
“Do the friendships you make on holiday have anything to do with real life? It might be sensible to hope that they don’t. For the last few years, Beth and Ned have gone to the same Caribbean island to the same luxury spa hotel. There they meet the same crowd, and take up where they left off last time. Real life, home life, family life, are all safely left behind.
Except this year. This year, home problems have somehow tagged along for the ride. Ned has been playing away – a bit of a drunken fling, that’s all, nothing to worry about, Beth thinks. But although they have put it all behind them, what Beth doesn’t know is that Ned’s fling was with the female half of one of the couples they are holidaying with. To make matters worse, Beth has insisted on bringing along their sixteen-year-old daughter Delilah, who’s been ill and needs rest and sunshine. Not so ill, however, that she can’t look around for some entertainment…”
I decided that whilst I was on an All Inclusive holiday in a faraway destination (just like the book) that this shorter novel by Judy Astley would be a great way to ease me back in to my read-a-thon. For the most part I enjoyed its (somewhat) predictable story line, I’ve never been a huge lover of crime or thrillers or anything to hard hitting when reading a book. I like to escape and this “All Inclusive” novel, had I not have been on a holiday somewhere exotic, would have easily transported me to a Caribbean Island if I needed to feel like I was evading the real world.
There was a running theme of male indiscretions, some rather ghastly characters but also some rather lovable ones too but not ones that make you feel like you’re really connecting with them. However, there were a lot of characters that I often found myself flicking back a few pages to remind me who they were again as there were so many people to remember. By the end I’d got it, but it took a little bit of enjoyment away from fully immersing myself in the storyline as it kept jutting off here and there so quickly.
Overall, I’m not sure I would recommend it as the book of the summer holidays, but it’s certainly a quick read to throw in the suitcase if you’re looking for something with a rather cliche storyline. You aren’t going to gain any extra brain cells from reading it, you might even lose a few trying to keep up with the names though, but ultimately it was a simple, chick-lit book that got me back in to my reading groove for out 11 nights away so I was thankful of an easy-ish reader.
“When Frankie stumbles upon an unopened letter from her late mother, she’s delighted to have one last message from her . . . until she reads the contents and discovers the truth about her birth. Brimming with questions, she travels to York to seek further answers from the Mortimer family, but her appearance sends shock waves through them all.
Meanwhile, Robyn Mortimer has problems of her own. Her husband John has become distant, and a chance remark from a friend leads Robyn to wonder exactly what he’s not been saying. Dare she find out more?
As for Bunny, she fell head over heels in love with Dave Mortimer when she first arrived in town, but now it seems her past is catching up with her. She can’t help wondering if he’ll still feel the same way about her if he discovers who she really is – and what she did.
As secrets tumble out and loyalties are tested, the Mortimer’s have to face up to some difficult decisions. With love, betrayal and dramatic revelations in the mix, this is one summer they’ll never forget.”
I have to admit, I’m already a huge fan of Lucy Diamond. For the past few years I’ve always taken one of her books on holiday with me because I just love her style of writing. Whilst yes, again it falls in to that “chick-lit” style (one I so dearly love because I want nice, happy reads!)
There’s always something really interesting about her story and character development. You often find you’re really rooting for everyone rather than wishing they got their comeuppance (okay maybe one I was wishing a rather unpleasant ending for one of them and I’ll leave you to decide who) but the main gist is that you want to know how their story does end, one way or another.
Something to Tell You swapped and changed narratives between the characters, and unlike the previous book I read (which was a little airy fairy) I found it much easier to follow along with. It was interesting to see the different relationships form throughout the book too, how each of their lives intertwined and told their own story.
Again, various male characters seek affairs, past and present, which is so agonizingly annoying but I guess its typical of this style of novel to have a woman scorned by a cheating man. Sometimes I just wish the sequence of events would change ever so slightly to accommodate not feeling sorry for the woman all the time.
I much preferred this book to the first, but then again I am already a follower of Lucy’s writing!
“What if you almost missed the love of your life?
Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine. Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his dad died.
One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper: To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?
So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.”
Ah, finally! A book that is truly a heart stopping, clench your bottom, whimsical world of love that makes you turn each page holding your breath. One that’s not filled with sordid affairs and a a story that has had both a 21st century and Millennial makeover.
Don’t get me wrong, some chapters sincerely frustrate you as you pray and pray for these two people to finally meet and you’re willing for it happen each and every time they come close but then if they had, the chapters would have finished much, much sooner.
Sometimes the male characters came across as a “bit wet” as the boomer generation might say, but that’s only because I’d force fed myself books for so long that stories aren’t told in a way that show men have feelings and it’s so, so, so bloody refreshing to believe that there are good, kind, romantic and funny men out there that do really, genuinely care about treating a woman right.
The cat and mouse chase love story could have been pretty overdone and rather stale by now but this story has well and truly been brought in to the modern day world, most likely because of it’s ex blogger come now novelist, Laura Jane who has a much younger take on the style of writing people, especially women, want to see on bookshelves.
There’s so many twists, turns and revelations that it’s hard to put Our Stop down. That’s possibly why I inhaled it in two morning reading sessions by the beach.
“Seventeen years later, life has moved on – Kate, now a successful actress, is living in London, married to Matt and mother to little Tallulah. Meanwhile Callum and his wife Belinda are happy together, living in Edinburgh and watching their kids grow up. The past, it would seem, is well and truly behind them all.
But then Kate meets Callum again. And they are faced with a choice: to walk away from each other or to risk finding out what might have been. Second chances are a rare gift in life. But that doesn’t mean they should always be taken…”
Christ alive, this one took a while to get in to and even by the end (all 516 pages of it that seemed to go on and on) I was still a little stifled by it all. It was only the last chapter or two where it rounded it off with a bit of happy news that I felt myself getting a little choked up and a solemn tear was shed which is what redeemed it ever so slightly.
The book touches on subjects that aren’t sugarcoated as much as you would expect from this sort of genre which I think gives it that slight edge but once again, a theme of infidelity runs throughout this novel which was extremely hard to keep persevering with. It’s almost like waking up from one of those dreams where your partner has cheated and even though it’s not real life makes you want take a swing at your husband (poor lamb!)
Never Greener swaps between back in the eighties where the two main characters first meet, to the early 2000’s where their worlds collide once more and finally settles on the year 2017 at the end to bring the story full circle.
As it was my last book on holiday, I think I kept going with it for the sake of it as I had nothing else to read. I finished this one at home as I was determined to get to the end to find out what happens which I guess in some ways, made it worth a read. But, I think had I been home an started this book from page 1 I don’t think I would have kept going with it as a great speed, or in fact finished it at all.
Written by the legendary Ruth Jones (of Gavin & Stacey fame) and its clear she does in fact, have a good eye for a story (despite how I felt about this one) and clearly the anger I felt towards most characters means that she can tell it well and make you feel things about the protagonists, it’s just a shame that pretty much nearly all of the characters were so insufferable!
Overall I would say, you would have to be really in the mood for this book to give it a good go. I think I’d read another book by Ruth (as it was well written) if it wasn’t centred so much around an affair storyline!
Bee
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