Book Review: Three Nights in New York by Michelle Jackson

Eve doesn't believe in a man coming to save the day for her - as the director of a dating agency, she thinks  the bank balance and profile is the key to falling in love. So when she bumps into 2 friends visiting New York from Ireland, she doesn't expect a lot of old emotions to be stirred up about their past, and feelings to come out that she'd pushed to the back of her mind. Rachel is loving the freedom from her restrictive husband and family life, and is enjoying time with her new friend Alex, but how far is Rachel going to go for happiness? And finally Nicky is feeling the guilt of leaving her son home while she holidays in NYC with Rachel, and is convinced she's going to end up alone. She's only come to shop but might leave with more than she bargained for. With 3 nights in New York, it's going to be a trip the 3 women will never forget!

Michelle Jackson is another Irish author who is published by Poolbeg, the number 1 fictional publishers in Ireland, and a company I am getting to know more and more about as I read more of their published books. Three Nights in New York is author Michelle Jackson's second book, and is due out in paperback on 26th February. I haven't read Michelle's first novel Two Days In Biarritz but after this fantastic read, I definitely am looking forward to reading more of her books.


The book begins with the two main characters of the book, Rachel and Nicky, arriving in New York and immediately I found it was bringing back some great memories of my 2 holidays to New York. Michelle has really captured the essence of New York with her book, you can imagine the places in your mind and you can tell Michelle has been there and experienced New York because of the way she writes and brings it to life. I loved the way we experience the city through the eyes of Rachel and Nicky who are both excited to be there and seeing things with the eyes of tourists, just  how we would want to read it and you can warm to these two ladies straight away.

Both characters are normal women, and this always helps me to get involved with a character's story and care about what happens to them. You can tell that Rachel has a secret from early on in the book, but it took a while for me to realise exactly what it is. It's not made an enormous issue until the last part of the book, and I credit Jackson for writing these scenes so well and with real empathy because it can't have been an easy topic to write about yet it is done extremely well. I really liked Rachel, and enjoyed her journey through despite what she was doing, and especially by the end I was really hoping it would all work out for her.

I found Nicky's storyline a bit more predictable because it all went exactly as I suspected, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book at all. Nicky is a single mum and determined to shop until she drops in  New York but doesn't expect to make friends with a billionaire, and meet Eve again after their friendship being destroyed in college. I liked the twist involving Nicky and Eve because it enabled me as a reader to picture them as a group, and I liked the way Jackson created a  history for them. Nicky was another great character, but the one I didn't warm to was Eve. She seemed a little cold and snooty for her own good, and she wasn't as likeable as Rachel or Nicky, but then I think she was meant to symbolise the change from her and the other two women.

The way the story moves was fantastic and the pace was just right. It moved through the time in New York at a good pace, showcasing the fun that the women had in the day and the night, showing a lot of the main landmarks of New York as well as some unknown ones too, having time to go into private scenes with the women to develop their own storylines, yet there was still time towards the end to return home to Ireland which was the perfect conclusion to the book. I liked the way that although these characters experienced the holiday together, they all had completely different holidays and therefore their own stories, and these were perfectly balanced by Michelle Jackson. It was so easy to follow which story I was reading about, and the writing style is so easy to read I simply whizzed through this book. It was a joy to read, particularly as I've been to New York and could imagine the places in my mind, but Jackson's vivid writing will bring it to life if you've never been. Great character, fatastic writing and an amazing setting - what more could you want? Simply fantastic, and extremely readable.

Rating: 5/5