Reviews

The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond

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annw's review against another edition

3.0

Gemma was a wonderful character. Her struggles were so interesting to read about. I could see Spencer being a devoted husband, and what happened was a true tragedy. I enjoyed the other characters, but not quite as much. I do enjoy a lovely Lucy Diamond book

samira2205's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

almondcookies's review against another edition

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4.0

The thing that I liked most about this book was that all three women were going through their own personal struggles, and not all of them revolved around men. There is more to life than romantic relationships, and most chicklit falls into the trap of placing romance on a pedestal above all else. In fact, isn't chicklit commonly characterised by its soppy, fluffy romance (and everything in between)? Wrong.

Chicklit is characterised by having a female protagonist(s) and the issues they face. Be that how they deal with a hectic work life balance, traumatic issues, romantic/platonic/familial relationships, religion etc. Have you been giving chicklit a bad rep this whole time? Yeah, I've been guilty of doing so too. I digress.

I enjoyed how these three didn't know each other at first, but their storylines intertwined and the ended up supporting each other as best they could. This book does a good job of making you feel emotionally invested in all the characters. I'd say Gemma's was the most compelling. She's turning from a stay at home mum to a working mum, after her husband (the ew breadwinner) has a work accident and concussion that makes him 1) redundant 2) treat his family horribly 3) devoid of all empathy and kindness. Seriously, poor Gemma. She's managing a terrible husband, rowdy teenage kids, an alcoholic mother with commitment issues, and self esteem problems. Ouch.

Saffron's a high flying PR working in London woo, sounds good! Nope, she's got issues at work with crazy clients, at home with a very jealous, self centred sister that's trying desperately hard to get pregnant, and then her latest squeeze shacks her up and doesn't seem to want anything to do with the baby.

Caitlin's mother has just passed away and she's struggling to comes to terms with it, her (very obviously) abusive ex is terrible, she's fallen for someone who's already committed to someone else and she's just found out she's adopted.

My main critique is that Spencer was a dick to Gemma and downright emotionally abusive. I suppose I was supposed to sympathise with what he had gone through and make excuses for him, but he didn't even show remorse until the last moment, so I don't have any sympathy at all for him. Perhaps if Diamond had shown us more of Spencer and Gemma before the accident, it wouldn't be so difficult to believe their resolution. I also didn't really like how the three women ended up with men in their lives (see above rant) but hey, at least they weren't the focus of their stories. Mostly.

Tldc, good book, explores lots of familial and platonic relationship issues.