Book Review: Growing Pains of a Hapless Househusband by Sam Holden

Sam Holden has been a stay-at-home Dad to his 2 children Daisy and Peter since he was made reduntant from his Management Consultant job last year.

His wife Sally works among in the Intelligence Services, and Sam feels somewhat lonely at home with only his toddlers for company. Sam decides he needs to publicise his Holden Childcare programme and meets TV producer Dom.

Luckily for Sam, Dom thinks Sam might have a hit shot with his idea and so 'WonderHubby' is born. Sam tells his tales and woes in his humourous diary format, so follow along and find out what its like to be the star of WonderHubby, and family-life with the Holdens.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this is autobiographical because the name of the author and lead character in the book are indeed the same, but don't be fooled. Sam Holden is the pen-name of a well-known author journalist (although we aren't told exactly who), and this book, as well as the first, is based loosely of Sam's experience of being a stay-at-home Dad to his children, but of course some is fictional and these 2 elements are combined to create an unusual style of writing and story. The book is written entirely in a diary format, with entries being quite random, sometimes every day and then others missed out which does make it seem more like a real diary I suppose. It's obviously written in the first person by Sam, and consequently everything we see and hear is his own viewpoint, but luckily for the readers, he is a very good storyteller and the diary entries are really funny and easy to read.

Although the writing style is very easy to read, and I did find myself laughing out loud a few times, I did have quite a problem with this book this really only occured to me after I was around halfway through the book and just continued up until I turned the last page. The first book seemed natural and plodded along at a good pace, just entertaining the reader as we read along with Sam's daily life. The problem with this follow up book for me is that I felt Holden was just trying too hard to be entertaining to his audience. I can't lie and say I didn't find it entertaining because I did, but it just seemed in parts a bit contrived and that he was adding things in purely to be sensational and give you a bit of shock factor out of the blue. One particular shock was actually a tad disgusting and I felt it a bit out of place in this novel to be honest and I feel it was this that actually lowered the tone of the novel which was so disappointing to me.

The characters were good, although the book mainly follows Sam and so it is he whom we really get to know the best out of the few people within the book. Those who have read his previous novel will know about the character, and he is the same in the second book, very funny, likeable and generally a strong lead character within the book. His wife Sally doesn't appear very much in the book but when she does, we just seem to see her going to bed, having an argument with Sam or being a mum. She's a working mum but I just couldn't make myself like her simply because she wasn't in the book enough for me to care about her. The other character we saw a lot of in the book was Dom, the man behind Sam's new television show "WonderHubby". I didn't like this character at all, he seemed really slimy and over-the-top, and quite a horrible person actually! Some of the things that came out about him were not very nice, and I didn't enjoy any of the parts with him in it, and Holden putting in a character like this really disappointed me because I just couldn't stand him. There were smaller characters throughout too, none important enough to mention, but they didn't really add too much to the story.

I was hoping for an enjoyable and funny read, much in the same vein of Holden's first book but sadly I was left disappointed by what I read this time around. Although the elements were there in terms of story, story-teller and the ideas within the book for it to be a great story, but it really just fell flat for me throughout to be honest. The whole idea of the television show was slightly odd and seemed unrealistic, and I'm not sure how much the author can have drawn on his own experiences for something like that, making me doubt the other stuff in the book too. Holden is definitely a talented writer who has the knack for writing books based on life, families and relationships, but this one just is simply nowhere as good as the first. If you are at all tempted to try this author, I'd highly recommend you reading his first novel and not really bothering with this one!

Rating: 2/5

Book Review: Friends, Lovers and Indiscretions by Fiona Neill

Sam and Laura Diamond are struggling to make ends meet. She's a doctor working all hours and he's a script-writer, although he's hiding something about his employment status from his wife.

Their friends are struggling too. Corporate laywer Janey is expecting her first child with hedge fund manager Steve, and he knows his job isn't safe. Jonathan and Hannah also have their own problems despite owning a chain of successful restaurants and moving to the country.

Jonathan decides to treat them all to a holiday to celebrate his birthday but secrets are revealed, shocking everyone and changing friendships forever.

This book seems a very modern one, with the author commenting about the effects of the "credit crunch" on her characters, and also the effect it has had on the world of banking. I haven't read Fiona Neill's first book yet, The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy, but it has had good reviews and is one I will be looking out for. This book is Neill's second release through Century and has so far been released in hardback copy. The bright red cover stands out on your bookshelf nicely, and I was looking forward to reading this as the synopsis sounded like a book I would very much enjoy.

The themes that run through the book are relationships, children (and the issue of wanting more), secrets and finances. It is definitely a grown-up version of chick-lit, not the light fluffy stuff I usually read and therefore it was immediately different for me. The book is written in the third person so we are able to follow the different couples and characters around seamlessly and Neill's writing style allows this to be easily done, and is eas to follow as well. When you have a book with multiple characters contributing to a story, it needs to be simple in its narration and this book delivers on that.

The characters all seem very realistic, and this allowed me to really get absorbed into the book and care about what was happening in the story. Sam and Laura are the main characters of the story and the ones the reader follows the most. Sam is struggling with his work, and doesn't want a third baby, no matter how much Laura wants one. She is the breadwinner of the family and sometimes resents Sam for the time he gets with their 2 children. The dynamic between the pair was very believable and I did feel sorry for both of them at points because I couldn't help but feel they weren't talking enough and that they were a very happy couple under the exterior! Janey and Steve weren't seen as much, but Janey wasn't someone I could really relate to therefore I wasn't too sad I didn't see more of her! Jonathan and Hannah were my least favourites, neither of them were nice people and I make sure I don't have people like them in my life! They were necessary for the story but I just couldn't bring myself to like them at all.

One sour point in the book for me was that the tone was quite depressing throughout. There didn't seem to be much happiness in the book whatsoever, and all the characters were consequently quite miserable because of it. I really wanted something to happen to make them all smile and be happy, but it didn't materialise. Happiness is definitely one thing this book could have done with but it's still a great read without that, if a tad depressing at times. The pace of the book was good. It didn't span a huge time scale but that allowed the author to concentrate on character development and the direction of the story. There were several unanswered questions throughout that are slowly revealed, and I loved that part of it and I was guessing the whole way what had happened in the earlier life of the characters!

If you enjoy a well-written story then Friends, Lovers and Indiscretions is definitely a book for you. Neill has carefully created a bunch of likeable and believable characters who are centred around their old friendships but secrets that bind them all together as well. The locations are described well, particularly the holiday destination which was so well written I felt like I was there! I found it hard to put this book down because I wanted to find out more, and the constantly changing relationships in the book kept me hooked. I really enjoyed reading this and was sad to finish it, but at least I can look out for Neill's first book now! Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publishers, Century,  for sending me a copy to review for chicklitreviews.wordpress.com

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: The Gap-Year For Grown-Ups by Annie Sanders

Sarah and David Lewis have been married for years but things are getting stale between the pair.

They have twins, Claire and Tom, who are about to start University, and Sarah is dreading being left at home alone without the children. Sarah decides she needs to get away for a while, almost like a gap year, without David, and she quickly flees to France and her friend Nathalie's home.

But Sarah's family life is disintegrating, her daughter is getting out of control, and things aren't going to plan for Sarah either..

I must say that my nan and mum managed to read this book before me, and both really loved it so I had hoped that I would enjoy it just as much as them. However, I found that while I definitely enjoyed the story, I didn't think it was the best book they've ever written, and I thought perhaps they enjoyed it more because of their generation and the fact its written about a 40 year old woman being stuck in a rut. Maybe being 22, I couldn't relate properly to some of the things in the book, but it was still enjoyable as a story overall.

The idea of going away on an extended holiday and leaving your husband behind is certainly not something I would want to do but the way it was approached by the authors was one I could understand and you didn't hate Sarah for wanting to leave her marriage for a while. The relationship between Sarah and her husband was definitely not at its best, and for some reason I did end up feeling a bit sorry for the deserted David, as he was just left alone without knowing what to do with himself. The authors didn't make him a villain as such, just part of an unhappy marriage, and so I didn't feel too bad for sympathising with him!

In fact, it was actually the character of Sarah who I wasn't so keen on throughout the book. I could see why she wanted a break in routine for a while, but I felt the way she treated her husband and children wasn't at all nice. The fact she expected her children to be okay with her after deserting their dad was a bit ridiculous and she did annoy me in this respect. She seemed to move on from her husband a bit quickly for me, and I did hope that David would show a bit of resistance before willingly taking her back as she hadn't behaved very nicely at all.
'
As well as the main story between Sarah and David, there were also a couple of other stories running parallel to this which were also very enjoyable. The book kept us updated about Claire and Tom's life at University, which was actually a not so nice story to read but still compelling. There was also a bit of a mystery involving Sarah and David's parents which was good, and something totally different. The way the authors can weave these stories so easily alongside the main one is fantastic, and keeps the reader very interested.

Overall I felt that this was a very good book which certainly kept my interest for the duration. I didn't think that it was my favourite book of Annie Sanders so far, that would be Goodbye Jimmy Choo, but still it was a very good read for anyone who loves chick lit. The characters were well written, the story had a good few twists and turns, and was fairly realistic. Although I felt I couldn't relate to the story, I still enjoyed the read and am looking forward to their next book.

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: The Fidelity Files by Jessica Brody

Jennifer Hunter has a somewhat unusual job, one that she keeps hidden even from her family and friends. Jennifer works under the code name of "Ashlyn", a Fidelity Inspector, and a pretty good one at that.

Jennifer basically receives a call from a suspicious wife, and then tests her husband to see if he has an intention to cheat. But this lifestyle is taking its toll on Jen, and her friends are concerned that she's still single.

When she meets Jamie Richards after one of her trips, she begins to wonder about retiring and settling down, but there is one last surprising assignment Ashlyn has to complete.

For some reason, I am not immediately drawn to books written by American authors. I find their style to be very different from British and Irish authors, and I find a lot of "Americanisms" odd and when I don't get them, it annoys me. However, this book was fantastic, it drew me in straight away with a fun first person narrative from a character that I straight away loved, and I forgot I was reading a book written by an American! I am quite ruthless and if I don't like a book, I won't carry on reading it so this must have been good to keep me going, especially considering the size of the book as well!

A lot of female fiction is about relationships, fidelity and all things related to those topics. However, this story is slightly different because it isn't written from the side of the wronged wife or the mistress, but instead from someone who is intending to see if a man is going to cheat on his spouse. The whole idea does make me a bit uncomfortable but in the context of a fictional story, it works well and makes for very good reading indeed. Brody has really captured the essence of this story, not just making life sweet and easy for Jennifer, instead also choosing to focus on the not-so-nice side of the job too and this was very readable and intriguing.

Jennifer was a fabulous character, and a really brilliant narrator too, which really helps the books appeal for me. I think with a story like this one where the job of the main character is a bit questionable, you have to like them and luckily Brody has written Jessica in such a way that she's a nice person who genuinely thinks she is doing a good thing for people. Jennifer's relationships in the book were similar to those of the couples she is helping in the book, in that none of them are completely honest. However, this works well in the book because you want it to work out for Jen and her friends, and I just wanted to keep reading to see if they were ever going to find out anything!

The only other characters that pop up were her 3 best friends, and even then we don't see very much of them. The story is very much focussed on Jessica and her life, and the fact we see so little of them is testament to how much she sees them herself. The book seems to try to reflect real life in that aspect, and Brody does this very well and in a very readable way. Although the book travels across America, and indeed other places too, there isn't much description of them because of Jen's job, all we hear about is her job and its a shame because it would have been nice to hear something about the places, but I guess this wasn't the aim of the book in the first place!

If you are after a very entertaining read that will stay with you for a while after you have finished reading it, then look out for a copy of The Fidelity Files. It is a well-written and enjoyable story that sways away from the normal sort of storylines that many chick lit authors use again and again, and puts a spin on the whole "affairs" plot. The book moved at a really good pace, and with believable twists as well which is always good in a book like this. The author has written a follow up due out later this year that follows the characters and I am very much looking forward to that release because I loved the characters in this book, Brody did such a good job of making them likeable and I really can't wait to see what happens next. A super book and highly recommended for chick-lit fans.

Rating: 5/5

Book Review: It's A Kind of Magic by Carole Matthews

Emma and Leo are complete opposites. Leo is unreliable, a bit childish and doesn't take life, love or his job all too seriously, yet his girlfriend Emma is strict, reliable, tidy and enjoys her life being in order.

This is why, when Leo turns up at Emma's 30th birthday drunk and incredibly late, she decides the pair are splitting up. But on his way home, a newly single Leo bumps into a lady on Tower Bridge named Isobel. Strange things then start happening to Leo and Emma, but neither can work out what is going on.

Emma realises she wants Leo back but is it too late? And just who is the mysterious Isobel?

I haven't read a Carole Matthews book before, so I was interested to see what her story writing was like, and how well she wrote her characters. As you can see from the plot, there are two main characters, Emma and Leo. You are meant to like both of these people, as opposite as they are, but I just couldn't warm to Emma as much as I could Leo. Although Emma is the character who is the most wronged, I just found her slightly annoying and a bit irritating, although I can't really put my finger on why! Despite all his bad points, Leo is the loveable rogue of the story, and it's his character which kept me reading the book even when in parts I was getting a bit perplexed by the whole thing.

I don't want to say too much about Isobel as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is going to read this book, but she isn't the sort of character I would expect to find in an adult's novel to be honest. I can see that Carole Matthews has gone for a different type of novel here, but for me it just didn't really work properly. The main storyline is an enjoyable one, but it is the twist involving Isobel which made the story less believable and bordering a bit on the ridiculous, which is a shame. I like my novels to be a bit realistic, with good characters and a good writing style, but Isobel and her storyline seemed out of place in this book unfortunately.

Matthews' writing style is very likeable and easy to read, which made the book an enjoyable and pleasant read for me. As she had two main characters, she has used two different writing styles to differentiate between the two. This wasn't confusing at all, and actually made it easier in places for the reader. Emma's chapters of the book are written in the first person, so we get a much deeper and more personal look at her feelings, whereas the Leo and Isobel chapters are in the third person, like an observer's point of view. Despite this, Leo is well-written, and probably the most realistic character in the book, and his feelings and personality are well captured by Matthews. Leo's friends Grant and Lard are two fantastic secondary characters, likeable and very funny, and the friendship between the three is very touching, particularly towards the end of the book.

It's A Kind of Magic was definitely not what I expected from this well-known Women's Fiction writer, but it was still an enjoyable read all the same. It's a good basic storyline, one which has been done many times before but this one has a surprising twist, even though I myself wasn't keen on it. 'Matthews' clearly had strong ideas on where this book was going, and although I did enjoy it, the Isobel element of the book was just a tad too strange and out of place for my liking, but I am sure there are plenty out there who will love it! The book made me smile a lot, it is a happy and upbeat book, and this adds a charm to it as well. It's very well written, with likeable characters, good narrative voices and nice small chapters (93 in total in the book!), it's an easy and pleasant read.

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: Ex-Girlfriends United by Matt Dunn

Being a sequel to previous best seller 'The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook', the book picks up again with main character Dan Davis and Ed Middleton and their escapades with the women of Brighton.

Ed is still happy with personal trainer girlfriend Sam, but Dan is suffering a bit of a woman drought. He quickly finds out that all of his ex-girlfriends have been rating him on website SlateYourDate.com. Dan's determined to rectify these poor ratings, and Ed decides to help him change his caddish ways.

But just as Ed is finally settling down, a blast from the past makes their way back into Ed's life to disrupt everything...

As I mentioned, I absolutely adored this book's prequel, and consequently it got a glowing review from me! I recommended it to a few people who also loved it, so I'm glad it wasn't just me! I was really hoping for the standard writing to be the same, and the relationships between the main two characters of Ed and Dan to be the same once more. Luckily for me, I was thrilled to discover that it was and within the first couple of pages I was hooked again! Despite it being a few months between reading this book and its predecessor, I found I got into the characters so quickly because of Dunn's writing, and it was like getting back with old friends.

The previous book chose to focus mainly on Ed's character and Dan was more of a subsiduary one, albeit most definitely the comic relief throughout the book. This book however follows more of Dan's life, his disastrous lovelife being the main plot. The idea of a website being created to rate awful men after dates is fantastic, and the way it is done in the book is brilliant! Dan's got such a bad reputation its not surprising no woman will touch him with a bargepole and his discovery of these reviews is simply hilarious. It's nice to see the womaniser being taken down a peg or two, btu despite his awful behaviour I just can't help but love Dan! He's such a prat but he's great for it lol!

It was nice to see some old familiar characters come back, from the main pair to Wendy the barmaid and as I said a face from Ed's past even makes an appearance which throws an interesting twist onto the book and an element we didn't really get from the first book. Dunn seems to have a really natural way of putting men's feelings onto paper, yet making it incredibly funny and appealing for women to read as well. Because of this, I can easily see that this is going to be a book that both men and women can read and both enjoy. Women will probably be glad they don't know any men like Dan and men will be glad that they aren't Dan! Being written again from Ed's perspective, you get right into the story and the characters, and just get so absorbed into it, you can't put it down!

As you probably tell from my glowing review of yet another Matt Dunn book, I just can't recommend this book enough to anyone who enjoys a fun and easy read that is 100% guaranteed to make you laugh! I would say that you should read the two books in order, so read 'The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook' before you read this to set the scene and get to know the characters and why they are like they are in this book. So that's 3 out of 4 books of Dunn's I have loved, and I'll be getting the first of his books from the library soon enough and I can't wait! It's a brilliant read, with an easy to read writing style, great characters, great plot and is just brilliant. I loved it!

Rating: 5/5

For a review of the book's prequel The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook, please click here

Double Book Review: The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook by Matt Dunn

Edward is shocked to come home from work one day to find his girlfriend of ten years, Jane, has done a runner, taking everything of hers from their flat in the process. She's left Edward a note saying it's his fault, and that she'll be back in 3 months but he has to change.

Edward's not really aware of his faults until best friend and TV Antiques Show presenter Dan Davis is more than willing to show Edward exactly where he is going wrong. So, Edward sets out to fix everything that's wrong with him in order to win Jane back, with more than a little help from Dan along the way.

But is it just Edward's image that is going to change?