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rebroxannape's review
4.0
Rereading on audible 11/23, finished 11/19/23.
I still feel the same about this book, finished on Audible read by Christine Prendergast. On this read, Milly's love for cruising really shines through! It makes it seem like heaven on earth. There is so much food porn! another thing I noticed was her penchant for over-the-top similes and metaphors which are amusing if eye-rolling. Near the end, which is why I remember it, She describes the handsome Captain of the Ship in his dress whites as making Richard Gere look like Quasimodo. Really Milly? Oh well. She is one author that can almost do no wrong in my book.
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I struggled between giving 4 or 5 stars on this one. Although on the whole, it is up to Milly Johnson’s high bar as far as humor, romance, and character development, I had a few minor problems with it. In order for the reader to have the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing her heroines escape from misery, have an emotional journey, and ultimately triumph, Milly goes a little over the top with two of her characters, Olive and Roz.
Poor Olive is living such a horrific life at the beginning that I did turn against her for a while for putting up with the abuse. She is basically working as worse than a slave to her evil and disgusting husband and Mother-in-Law and will not leave them. Worse than a slave because, since she is still being charged rent, she is paying for the privilege of being abused. She would have a better life out on the street than the one she is living, but stubbornly resists all of her friends' advice to escape. I don’t care how her needy parents molded her attitudes, there is just no justification for her being such a weakling. However, the scene where Olive finally sees the light and escapes is a gem. I loved it.
As for Roz, she is so unlikeable and such a b*tch to her wonderful guy that you almost hate him for putting up with her. When Roz is finally told off by Olive of all people and she has her epiphany (another stand up and cheer moment) the arc of her story flags a bit. This is before the halfway point. That she never calls Manus, her ever-patient and loving boyfriend to make amends is ridiculous. Milly tends to sort out at least one of her heroines pretty quickly in her books, to focus concentration on the remaining members of the group. This is actually one of the things I like about her plots.
I loved how we got peeks back into how Olive’s and Roz’s family and boyfriend were faring without them. However, the fate of Olive’s family and the changes for the better that they go through are not credible at all. Total personality transplant as far as the Mother-in-Law is concerned. Olive's disgusting husband improves for the better, and we are not 100% sure Olive will have the gumption to dump him at the end. But when he tells her about their new life and what he expects her to do, we realize he hasn't changed all that much after all, and Olive will follow her heart and "do a Shirley Valentine."
Despite my quibbles with some of the plotting and characterizations, I thoroughly enjoyed this joyful and satisfying read. There's a lot to love about this book that I didn't even mention like the other passengers on the cruise and the little supernatural element. And I am definitely going to be watching the movie Shirley Valentine this week.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/books/
I still feel the same about this book, finished on Audible read by Christine Prendergast. On this read, Milly's love for cruising really shines through! It makes it seem like heaven on earth. There is so much food porn! another thing I noticed was her penchant for over-the-top similes and metaphors which are amusing if eye-rolling. Near the end, which is why I remember it, She describes the handsome Captain of the Ship in his dress whites as making Richard Gere look like Quasimodo. Really Milly? Oh well. She is one author that can almost do no wrong in my book.
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Then, just as she was about to cross the road, she saw the front door of Doreen’s house open – and what she witnessed was to jerk the course of her slow life off its track in favour of a far more perilous and unpredictable one...Olive was in a terrible state. One second she looked as if she was going to burst into tears, then her mood suddenly segued into homicidal mania.
I struggled between giving 4 or 5 stars on this one. Although on the whole, it is up to Milly Johnson’s high bar as far as humor, romance, and character development, I had a few minor problems with it. In order for the reader to have the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing her heroines escape from misery, have an emotional journey, and ultimately triumph, Milly goes a little over the top with two of her characters, Olive and Roz.
Poor Olive is living such a horrific life at the beginning that I did turn against her for a while for putting up with the abuse. She is basically working as worse than a slave to her evil and disgusting husband and Mother-in-Law and will not leave them. Worse than a slave because, since she is still being charged rent, she is paying for the privilege of being abused. She would have a better life out on the street than the one she is living, but stubbornly resists all of her friends' advice to escape. I don’t care how her needy parents molded her attitudes, there is just no justification for her being such a weakling. However, the scene where Olive finally sees the light and escapes is a gem. I loved it.
As for Roz, she is so unlikeable and such a b*tch to her wonderful guy that you almost hate him for putting up with her. When Roz is finally told off by Olive of all people and she has her epiphany (another stand up and cheer moment) the arc of her story flags a bit. This is before the halfway point. That she never calls Manus, her ever-patient and loving boyfriend to make amends is ridiculous. Milly tends to sort out at least one of her heroines pretty quickly in her books, to focus concentration on the remaining members of the group. This is actually one of the things I like about her plots.
I loved how we got peeks back into how Olive’s and Roz’s family and boyfriend were faring without them. However, the fate of Olive’s family and the changes for the better that they go through are not credible at all. Total personality transplant as far as the Mother-in-Law is concerned. Olive's disgusting husband improves for the better, and we are not 100% sure Olive will have the gumption to dump him at the end. But when he tells her about their new life and what he expects her to do, we realize he hasn't changed all that much after all, and Olive will follow her heart and "do a Shirley Valentine."
Despite my quibbles with some of the plotting and characterizations, I thoroughly enjoyed this joyful and satisfying read. There's a lot to love about this book that I didn't even mention like the other passengers on the cruise and the little supernatural element. And I am definitely going to be watching the movie Shirley Valentine this week.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/books/
leelee77's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book, I would love for a follow up of the girls and how they are getting on.
mrose21's review against another edition
4.0
This book is OK.
Its honestly a book I would read on a beach with not a lot of care about the state of the book. But really the book is slow starting. I got really into it in the middle and I was just waiting for the ending because I was dying to know, but I don't know if I would read this author again, shes nice to read. I don't find myself thinking "that sentence doesn't look right" which I do do sometimes. IT is just chick lit or contemporary novels aren't always for me unless I am in the mood for them.
Its honestly a book I would read on a beach with not a lot of care about the state of the book. But really the book is slow starting. I got really into it in the middle and I was just waiting for the ending because I was dying to know, but I don't know if I would read this author again, shes nice to read. I don't find myself thinking "that sentence doesn't look right" which I do do sometimes. IT is just chick lit or contemporary novels aren't always for me unless I am in the mood for them.
katewhite77's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Perfect for a heatwave and pure escapism
This is perfect holiday reading to lose yourself in. I was on a cruize without leaving my house. narrator and author work together to create this wonderfully emersive which I didn’t want to drag myself away from.
This is the first Milly Johnson I have read but it won't be the last. I may even start another one tonight, as a kean reader I don't often say that so it is high praise indeed!
This is perfect holiday reading to lose yourself in. I was on a cruize without leaving my house. narrator and author work together to create this wonderfully emersive which I didn’t want to drag myself away from.
This is the first Milly Johnson I have read but it won't be the last. I may even start another one tonight, as a kean reader I don't often say that so it is high praise indeed!
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer
mnsreid's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
loudgls89's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ve been going through a process of uploading all my books into StoryGraph so I can use it to tell me what to read next, and I was shocked to realise that there were 3 Milly Johnson books on my shelf that I haven’t logged as read! I had to immediately rectify that, and this was the first one.
As I was reading, it did feel quite familiar so I think I may have read this one when it came out 10 years ago before I was logging my books in Goodreads, but it was fabulous to re-read it again.
The characters Ven, Roz, Olive and Frankie are written in such a way that you immediately feel like you could be best friends with them (which is typical for every Milly book I’ve read), and I absolutely love that. For me, it means I feel like I’ve been transported into the plot, like I’m there with them - and given that the location for this book is predominantly a cruise ship, that’s not a bad place to be transported.
As is usual with a Milly novel, the characters are lovely well-rounded people, and their flaws are front and centre. But the friendships shine from the page - and I love how the friendships develop throughout this book - particularly between Roz and Frankie.
All four characters are going through big things in their lives - Olive is stuck in a loveless marriage, acting as a carer for her hapless, lazy husband and his mother, working a cleaning job by day and looking after the whole household by night. She’s forgotten what it feels like to love.
Roz comes across as a brashy confident person, but she’s been badly burned by her previous relationship and is risking losing the best man she’s ever known as she’s pushing him away.
Roz also had a major falling out with Frankie which we don’t know all the details of, but Ven is determined that this holiday will get all four of them back on their feet again and back to the close-knit foursome that they were at school when they made all their dreams for the future together. And speaking of Ven - she’s hiding something. We’re not clued in on her secret so we don’t know what it is, which made for a glorious moment of discovery along with Ven’s friends.
I loved how the characters progressed through the book, each taking a turn as front and centre so we can get to know them and become invested in their story - and I also loved the way that we kept getting glimpses into life back at home for them too - so we could see what they’d really been going through and how their families were doing without them.
Full of drama, intrigue and of course romance, I absolutely loved this warm hug of a book.
emlostinbooks's review
3.0
Just like the leading ladies of the book I had a good time with this one. Story was about four friends in their late thirties, on a cruise vacationing. It was a time when some found true love, others mend their friendship, and few secrets were revealed. And everyone got their happy ending too.
glrreid's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
areadinggal's review
5.0
excellent storyline. .. All those descriptions of food make me feel like going on a cruise