maybe it's more of a one & a half star book. i didn't LOATHE it...but i also didn't like it.the book centers around three friends & colleagues. they all work for a magazine called "the londoner". roxanne is a freelancer who travels the world & writes hotel reviews, as far as i can tell. candice does more investigative reporting, & maggie is the editor. maggie is extremely pregnant & about to go on maternity leave when the book opens. her secret is that she feels woefully unprepared for motherhood. roxanne's secret is that she has been having a six-year affair with a married man. her friends know about the affair but don't know who the man is. turns out it's their publisher at work, ralph allsop. i'm not really giving anything away because it was pretty apparent from the first time he was introduced that he was the guy. candice's secret is that her father was a con man who fleeced many of her childhood neighbors out of their money. candice & her mother uncovered his perfidy after he died.they meet monthly for cocktails at a cheesy place called the manhattan bar. really, this book is kind of just a "sex & the city" knock-off in that respect. on this particular evening, the waitress that serves them is an old school acquaintance of candice's...& candice knows that her father fleeced this school acquaintance's father out of his money. the waitress is named heather & in order to make amends, candice arranges for her to be hired on at "the londoner".so...we can all see what happens, right? say it with me: heather is well aware that candice's father conned her father, though she doesn't let on to candice that she knows. instead, she takes advantage of candice's naive attempts to make amends. she moves into candice's flat, takes the job at "the londoner," & tricks candice into doing all her work for her, paying for all her groceries, etc etc. she deviously turns roxanne & maggie against heather & tells her boss that candice is bullying her at work. meanwhile, she filches personal receipts from candice's bedroom & turns them in as expenses to the magazine, setting candice up to look like a thief. by the time she is finished, candice is alienated from her best friends & on the verge of losing her job.maggie has her baby & feels isolated out on her country estate, being a full-time mom. & you can guess what happens...she slowly slips into loneliness & depression before she finally snaps & admits everything to the home health visitor & her mother-in-law. they arrange for her to get some help & the mother-in-law has a little chat with her son, who starts pitching in more with the baby. maggie decides to return to work & move back to london.roxanne notices that ralph is losing weight & looking haggard. she hopes it's because he is thinking of finally leaving his wife for her. but actually, he has cancer & is on death's doorstep. rather than tell roxanne this, he tells her to take a posh job she was offered in cyprus. she thinks he's broken up with her & disappears to the south of france for two weeks. while she's away, ralph dies. roxanne is completely wrecked by this & finally confesses her affair to maggie & candice. turns out ralph left roxanne his london house as a way of legitimizing their relationship from beyond the grave. roxanne gives it to maggie for her family to live in while maggie goes back to work.when maggie takes over at the magazine, she swiftly uncovers all the evidence of heather's treachery against candice & candice is swiftly reinstated. after fighting through the entire book, the three women make up & vow to be friends forever. candice even starts a relationship with the dashing lawyer who lives across the hall from her. the book ends with maggie's baby's christening, at which roxanne dabs a bit of champagne cocktail on to the baby's brow & welcomes her into the cocktail club. i was kind of like, "!!!" about that. no one better splash my baby with alcoholic beverages & act like it's a touching gesture of camaraderie. the book of course goes into way more detail about all this stuff, but it's all so convoluted & ridiculous, i just can't. the book is also in no way funny or witty. i don't think there was a single humorous line in the entire book. wickham also has a really obnoxious habit of flavoring her dialogue with asides about how someone's "face reddened" or how their "cheeks became warm". in 301 pages, i think there were approximate 297 instances of someone being caught out in a lie by blushing. can i just say that i have never in my life actually noticed someone blushing & used that as the clue that helped me figure out they were lying to me? i don't think it really happens. the characters are also painfully one-dimensional--the brassy perfectionist mama/magazine editor, the seemingly tough jetsetting mistress with the heart of gold, & the innocent well-intentioned dupe. ugh. give this one a miss.
Funny quips amid troubles. Not short-lived champagne fizz of ambitious or frivolous rich, more bitter beer of everyday (female) human woes. Outer conversations and inner thoughts both sound real. Situations resolve believably with resources we have seen, no deus ex machina out of the blue. Ordinary working people accept misfortunes, quietly realize truths, move on, bolstered by unconditional friendship (love). "We shouldn't keep secrets or put on acts for each other. None of us should ever feel we have to struggle through on our own." p282. Every month, three Londoner magazine colleagues gossip over cocktails in the same old bar. Writer Candice, guilty, gullible, gives job and flat room to crazy Heather, whose family collapsed after money lost to Candice's swindling father 'Good-Time Gordon". Editor Maggie fears imminent birth although supportive husband Giles likes isolated rural acreage. Freelancer Roxanne hides Mr Married with Kids. Hints are plentiful "flash of hostility" p33, not dreams or prophecies, annoying. I like Wickham aka Sophie Kinsella, so still fun read. Feels more down to earth than some Cinderella gets the prince marketed in same niche.(view spoiler)[Heather forges expense receipts to ruin Candice, who ignores warnings from others, including besotted neighbor Ed. Maggie misinterprets help from mother-in-law Paddy as criticism. Roxanne's lover, Londoner publisher Ralph Allsopp, dying of cancer, urges her toward job offer from infatuated island hotel tycoon. We know Ed will console Candice, thankfully he is not revealed to be fabulously rich rescuing "prince". Maggie returns to work, exonerates her. Ralph bequeaths his marital home to Roxanne, message of regret; death forces her to move on. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Cocktails For Three (2006)?
This book was just okay. Honestly, I love Madeleine Wickham when she writes as Sophie Kinsella because the books are light and they usually make me laugh. But this is the second go that I've had with Madeleine Wickham and, even though logically I know it's the same person, I just think that she loses some of her mojo when she's not writing as Sophie Kinsella. This book was a perfect example of that - she had three characters that were okay, but the front says that its "deliciously funny... witty and wicked" and I don't think that I laughed once. Also? I'm getting really sick of this whole 'three friends who meet for cocktails and are supposed to be best friends but really no one knows what's going on in the other people's lives' schtick that some chicklit books have fallen into. And even though I think Wickham was trying to go for the "oh, this is light and fluffy on the outside but look, these could be real women" aspect of things, I still felt like they were caricatures instead of characters. It was alright, but I don't think I would read it a second time and it will be going in the 'for Goodwill' pile.
—Kelly
I read a lot of negative reviews about this book, but I was looking for a "light and fluffy" read...some good 'ol chick-lit. So I decided to give it a go, and I'm glad I did. I definitely enjoyed this book and I felt like one of the girls...like I was sitting enjoying a cocktail with Candace, Maggie, and Roxanne. All 3 women seem to live decent lives, making their living by working at the Londoner. In fact, they make a living I still often continue to dream about. Although each woman has her own unique struggle (as we all do), it is only with the support of her best friends that these struggles can become bearable and balanced. It was definitely the kind of reading I needed right now.
—Al-lison D-avis
J’avais acheté ce livre fin octobre l’année dernière, j’avais vu plusieurs avis qui nous annonçaient un moment bien sympa.On découvre dès la première page en quoi consiste ce fameux cocktail club : rendez-vous de trois copines tous les 1er du mois. Elles travaillent dans la même agence de journalisme mais ne se croisent pas beaucoup en dehors. Les trois jeunes femmes nous emportent très vite dans leur univers un peu comme si on était la quatrième copine. Elles sont toutes les trois très différentes. Maggie est une future maman (enceinte jusqu’au cou), mariée et part vivre à la campagne dans les jours à venir. Roxane profite de son poste pour voyager, elle vit une relation secrète avec un homme marié depuis plus de six ans et espère toujours qu’il la rejoindra officiellement. Candide est la gentille du groupe, elle se remet doucement de sa relation avec son ex (un vrai con celui-là).On découvre leur dernier cocktail club avant que leurs vies n’éclatent, Maggie va accoucher et rien ne va se passer comme prévu. Candide va retrouver une ancienne connaissance pas très sympa au final et Roxane va voir son histoire de couple évoluer. Au final les trois amies ne vont plus arriver à trouver leur place dans le groupe, les situations et points de vue s’enchainent.En bref, on ne m’avait pas menti ;) j’ai passé un super moment. Je vous le conseille fortement, moi qui ne suis pas adepte de la chick-lit ; j’ai beaucoup aimé !!
—Liçou
