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A review by arwenauthor
It Started With Paris by Cathy Kelly
2.0
This is the story of a couple's engagement on top of the Eiffel Tower, then of three women: Vonnie, daring to let love back into her life; Leila, nursing a broken heart; and Grace, wondering if her divorce was a mistake.
Or, at least, you would be forgiven for thinking so if you believed the blurb.
Actually, the PoV is shared between a lot more characters than these three. There's: Katie, recently engaged; Michael, recently engaged to Katie; Birdie, Katie's mum; Howard, Katie's dad; Leila, who is also Katie's best friend and bridesmaid as well as nursing a broken heart; her sister, whose name briefly escapes me, also a bridesmaid and a single mum bringing up a child; Leila and her sister's mother Dolores, who has had a fall and it transpires has been hiding rheumatoid arthritis; Tynan, Leila's egocentric ex-husband; Devlan, Leila's sexy boss; Grace, Michael's mum; Stephen, Michael's dad, divorced from Grace; Julia, Stephen's new partner; Lorraine, a colleague of Grace's; Nora, Grace's best friend who runs the care home that Dolores ends up at; Vonnie, a widower who is baking Michael and Katie's wedding cake, has a son called Shane; Ryan, Grace's current husband who has two children of his own; Jennifer, Ryan's bitter ex wife; Ruby, 16, and Shelby are Vonnie and Ryan's children, though only Ruby is a PoV character; Lulu, Jennifer's mother; Andi, Ruby's best friend; Howard, Katie's philandering father; Birdie, Katie's nervous mother; Fiona, Michael's tom boy sister... I think that about covers it!
Anyway, you get the picture: there's a lot going on! The story lines all overlap quite nicely, with the exception of the Vonnie-Ryan-Ruby-Jennifer storyline; the single linking fact here is that Vonnie makes Michael and Katie's cake. This is a connection, but I kept expecting them to be joined up more than that before the end.
With this many characters, I have to admit that I was confused. I'm not sure whether that's to do with me or to do with the novel, as there are a lot of positive reviews. By about halfway through, I felt I knew who was who, but it was frustrating up until that point. There also seems to be a lot of 'padding;' perhaps Kelly had a specific word count she was aiming for? Maybe I'm being unfair.
Anyway, it was okay. I liked the fact that it was set in Kelly's home turf in Ireland as she seemed to feel a real connection for the place. For me, it was not. There are a number of issues as I have highlighted; but it also isn't my kind of book.
I need to make some sort of pact with myself: I WILL NOT READ BOOKS THAT I DON'T LIKE. Now repeat seven times.
Or, at least, you would be forgiven for thinking so if you believed the blurb.
Actually, the PoV is shared between a lot more characters than these three. There's: Katie, recently engaged; Michael, recently engaged to Katie; Birdie, Katie's mum; Howard, Katie's dad; Leila, who is also Katie's best friend and bridesmaid as well as nursing a broken heart; her sister, whose name briefly escapes me, also a bridesmaid and a single mum bringing up a child; Leila and her sister's mother Dolores, who has had a fall and it transpires has been hiding rheumatoid arthritis; Tynan, Leila's egocentric ex-husband; Devlan, Leila's sexy boss; Grace, Michael's mum; Stephen, Michael's dad, divorced from Grace; Julia, Stephen's new partner; Lorraine, a colleague of Grace's; Nora, Grace's best friend who runs the care home that Dolores ends up at; Vonnie, a widower who is baking Michael and Katie's wedding cake, has a son called Shane; Ryan, Grace's current husband who has two children of his own; Jennifer, Ryan's bitter ex wife; Ruby, 16, and Shelby are Vonnie and Ryan's children, though only Ruby is a PoV character; Lulu, Jennifer's mother; Andi, Ruby's best friend; Howard, Katie's philandering father; Birdie, Katie's nervous mother; Fiona, Michael's tom boy sister... I think that about covers it!
Anyway, you get the picture: there's a lot going on! The story lines all overlap quite nicely, with the exception of the Vonnie-Ryan-Ruby-Jennifer storyline; the single linking fact here is that Vonnie makes Michael and Katie's cake. This is a connection, but I kept expecting them to be joined up more than that before the end.
With this many characters, I have to admit that I was confused. I'm not sure whether that's to do with me or to do with the novel, as there are a lot of positive reviews. By about halfway through, I felt I knew who was who, but it was frustrating up until that point. There also seems to be a lot of 'padding;' perhaps Kelly had a specific word count she was aiming for? Maybe I'm being unfair.
Anyway, it was okay. I liked the fact that it was set in Kelly's home turf in Ireland as she seemed to feel a real connection for the place. For me, it was not. There are a number of issues as I have highlighted; but it also isn't my kind of book.
I need to make some sort of pact with myself: I WILL NOT READ BOOKS THAT I DON'T LIKE. Now repeat seven times.