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bettersimplerkinder's review
1.0
With lines like "she looks a bit like a Home counties suicide bomber in a burqa" in the first few chapters of this book I should have stopped reading. But it is for a reading challenge (book bingo: book with a steamy scene) and this book won the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award in 2008, so I thought it might be fun. It was not.
It's not so much that I don't relate to the characters (ex Notting Hill posh ladies, now trying to become countrified), but more that the style of writing is so Tahani, but without the underlying sincerity and depth. Name dropping is all very well to enlighten you as to the wealth of the character, or their shallow nature, but in this book name dropping lists are so consistently used as description that I wonder if the author was using them to meet her word count. Where another author might have used a few succint words to describe a character, or setting, this book seems to find it necessary to use a paragraph. I have a pet hate of multiple metaphors, things like "her eyes were the blue of the ocean, the azure of a perfect summer day, deeper than twilight, brighter than my mother in laws neon blue sneakers" (that's my example btw, not in this book), and they abound in this book.
I didn't take many notes while reading as to be honest I just wanted to get to the end. I'm not entirely sure what the plot was. The sex scene was definitely 'steamy' but that's about all the praise I can give. Such a shame. I don't like giving bad reviews, but I wouldn't want others to suffer through this book without knowing what they were letting themselves in for.
It's not so much that I don't relate to the characters (ex Notting Hill posh ladies, now trying to become countrified), but more that the style of writing is so Tahani, but without the underlying sincerity and depth. Name dropping is all very well to enlighten you as to the wealth of the character, or their shallow nature, but in this book name dropping lists are so consistently used as description that I wonder if the author was using them to meet her word count. Where another author might have used a few succint words to describe a character, or setting, this book seems to find it necessary to use a paragraph. I have a pet hate of multiple metaphors, things like "her eyes were the blue of the ocean, the azure of a perfect summer day, deeper than twilight, brighter than my mother in laws neon blue sneakers" (that's my example btw, not in this book), and they abound in this book.
I didn't take many notes while reading as to be honest I just wanted to get to the end. I'm not entirely sure what the plot was. The sex scene was definitely 'steamy' but that's about all the praise I can give. Such a shame. I don't like giving bad reviews, but I wouldn't want others to suffer through this book without knowing what they were letting themselves in for.
emmalynn's review
2.0
To me, it was much easier to read than the first one (I haven't said it was better, mind you). Probably because I was already familiar with many of the characters. And it was... okay, I guess. I've read it quickly without getting bored to tears but without much fun/interest either.
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