What They Say
One day, sitting in traffic, married Dublin mum Stella Sweeney attempts a good deed. The resulting car crash changes her life. For she meets a man who wants her telephone number (for the insurance, it turns out). That's okay. She doesn't really like him much anyway (his Range Rover totally banjaxed her car). But in this meeting is born the seed of something which will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, and, along the way, wrenching her whole family apart. Is this all because of one ill-advised act of goodwill? Was meeting Mr Range Rover destiny or karma? Should she be grateful or hopping mad? For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?
My Review
It's been a while since I've read a Marian Keyes book and this one was definitely interesting. Stella is quite the character and I very much liked the story of her illness (which sounds horrific - you wouldn't wish for what Stella suffers from on your worst enemy), in fact I would have liked more time spent on it, except for the fact Stella's obviously stuck in the bed so it didn't really add much, but I just found her connection to Mannix Taylor so fascinating.
It's such a silly thing to get irritated by, but I could not for the life of me understand why Jeffrey called Stella "MOM". She was not his mom, he was not American (they lived there a year! A YEAR!) and it actually drove me mad. Such a tiny thing, but it was illogical. Even before they'd moved to America, Betsy and Jeffrey called her mom and I just couldn't understand it (which is why it irritated me). Surely it's Mam in Ireland?
The book took me a while to read and finish, but I never forgot where I was, which I see as a good sign. Books aren't holding my attention at the moment, and I remembered Stella's story very well. It hops around a little bit (before Stella's illness, during, after) but it all blends together quite well and it's a very coherent story. It's probably not my favourite Keyes book, but it kept me gripped and I'm not complaining.
One day, sitting in traffic, married Dublin mum Stella Sweeney attempts a good deed. The resulting car crash changes her life. For she meets a man who wants her telephone number (for the insurance, it turns out). That's okay. She doesn't really like him much anyway (his Range Rover totally banjaxed her car). But in this meeting is born the seed of something which will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, and, along the way, wrenching her whole family apart. Is this all because of one ill-advised act of goodwill? Was meeting Mr Range Rover destiny or karma? Should she be grateful or hopping mad? For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?
My Review
It's been a while since I've read a Marian Keyes book and this one was definitely interesting. Stella is quite the character and I very much liked the story of her illness (which sounds horrific - you wouldn't wish for what Stella suffers from on your worst enemy), in fact I would have liked more time spent on it, except for the fact Stella's obviously stuck in the bed so it didn't really add much, but I just found her connection to Mannix Taylor so fascinating.
It's such a silly thing to get irritated by, but I could not for the life of me understand why Jeffrey called Stella "MOM". She was not his mom, he was not American (they lived there a year! A YEAR!) and it actually drove me mad. Such a tiny thing, but it was illogical. Even before they'd moved to America, Betsy and Jeffrey called her mom and I just couldn't understand it (which is why it irritated me). Surely it's Mam in Ireland?
The book took me a while to read and finish, but I never forgot where I was, which I see as a good sign. Books aren't holding my attention at the moment, and I remembered Stella's story very well. It hops around a little bit (before Stella's illness, during, after) but it all blends together quite well and it's a very coherent story. It's probably not my favourite Keyes book, but it kept me gripped and I'm not complaining.