Back from a sweltering London and very glad to be home in the cool. Mother of all thunderstorms this afternoon with lightning and torrential rain but now we have that lovely fresh smell from the earth and the leaves. Bliss.
So my round up of books read in the last week.
Seven Days one Summer - Kate Morris.
Jen and Marcus receive an invitation to spend a week in Italy in a friend's villa. Sounds good but owner of the villa, Sam, happens to be an old flame of Jen and, as Marcus spends most of his time travelling and their seven year old son, a rather spoiled Alfie, is still sleeping in their marital bed, the joys of motherhood and marriage are a tad worn. A temptation for Jen but nothing can go wrong if she accepts - can it?
There are assorted other guests as well and a slightly odd housekeeper, who seems more than usually curious in Sam and his doings, a TV star separated from his wife who comes along with his two children, Dave and Tara, a couple with whom Jen and Marcus are friends and debating whter they should have a child or not and, in short, a good cast of characters to sling into the mix, sit back and see what happens.
An enjoyable read, nothing stunning but well written though I felt it fell off a bit at the end and if I say this is a perfect Beach Read, I am not being patronising. Lie on the sun bed, factor 30 on, cool drink to hand, this book and chill.
Note: cover features a headless woman. Think this idea may have been done to death by now somehow.
OK you look at the cover and you think of Another Chick Lit and yes that is what it looks like, but in this case, the women protagonists are not young skinny things only interested in sex and shopping, these are women of a certain age - I prefer to say mature - with worries and insecurities. Wisdom is not necessarily acquired with age, having one's heart broken can happen no matter how old or young you are.
This is the story of three friends; Bea who is a publisher in a company recently taken over, with a demanding new boss and a rival editor who is clearly after her job. She has a monosyllabic son and is now back on the dating scene after a nasty divorce and is finding it all a bit sticky. Kate seems to have a happy marriage with a charismatic and interesting husband, but who is finding it difficult to cope with empty nest syndrome now that their last child has left. Her husband seems to be more and more remote - is he having an affair? What can she do? Then Ellen, a widow, rather mumsy and not exactly a stunner, who has devoted herself to her children and suddenly finds herself in the middle of an raging affair with the handsome Oliver several years younger than herself.
As well as being a story about the loves and lives of Bea, Kate and Ellen it is also a story of friendship and how tensions and betrayal can stretch it to the limit. If you know something about your friend's partner to their discredit do you keep quiet or do you risk your friendship by speaking out? This is a dilemma I have faced in the past and it is a tricky one I can tell you.
Female friendship is a wonderful thing. I have many friends and acquaintances and a wonderful family, but I have three close friends without whom I could not have managed in the last ten years or so when I have gone through a marriage failure, divorce and having to start a new life all over again. To have good friends you have to be a friend in return and support each other through problems and upsets and then enjoy the happy times. I found myself becoming very fond of Bea, Kate and Ellen and the sometime insecurities and jealousies that can happen in close relationships like this. In the end of course, they stick by each other and the friendship is not broken though it is tested.
And What do Women Want? I think we want to be happy, as simple as that, but it is learning to recognise when you are content and not to keep yearning for the unobtainable. Sometimes what you least expect to bring you joy, does. I have certainly found that to be so.
I met Fanny Blake last week at the Oxo Tower and she was lovely and such fun and interesting to talk to. She has been in publishing for years so I rather think that Bea's experiences might just be based on real life....
Lovely book. Recommended.
Smokin' Seventeen - Janet Evanovich
What can one say about the Stephanie Plum series? Not a lot really, save that this one dropped through my letterbox on Saturday morning, was seized upon by me and read straight through. Within ten minutes I was helpless with laughter at the antics of Stephanie and Lula and the inevitable chasing after a defaulter on a bail bond and the inevitable antics that occur which always, but always, include a food throwing incident. In this book they are on the trail of a defaulter who is convinced he is a vampire, will not come out during the day and sleeps in a coffin. Every time they try to arrest him he tries to sink his 'fangs' into Lula's neck. This guy is 72. 'Nuff said.
No character development at all. Nothing has changed with Stephanie, her life in the Burg and her difficulty in choosing between her boyfriend Morelli, the Italian Stallion and the mysterious and unutterably sexy Ranger.
Loved every single page of it. If you are feeling fed up or miserable, read a Stephanie Plum. Guaranteed to set you straight. I read these last year just after my lovely mum died and my lovely daughter offed to Australia and left me bereft. Sat on the sofa in a wobbly state for about a fortnight and worked my way through the entire oeuvre and impossible to feel miserable or sorry for yourself when reading this wonderful series by Janet Evanovich.
OK that was my week. Reviews to come, two titles by Anthony Trollope and a debut novel about a serial killer. Yes another one. I am beginning to worry about this......
