The best thing about this book: It's a page turner! Yes, the kind of book that you can read in under two hours and feel refreshed to tackle any other mind boggling task.Story: Emma loves Matt. He's suggested they move to France, so she sold her home in Brighton and will move to France because she doesn't like a confrontation. They have a daughter, Alice. Emma hates France. FYI: Matt a.k.a Hugh also has another woman, a wife in fact, she's called Jo. They have a son, Olly- and well, he loves his two families not until Jo makes the trip to France and tells him he's a sucker. He leaves Emma to be with Jo,who does not want him and the rest is all about Emma making the most of her new single life.I liked: the fact that it is an easy read. The dialogues are easy to follow and the story just gets you reading.I did not like: that three quarters of the story is all about Emma's and Matt's pretend life- and just a few pages about how she is building up, because she seemed like a strong character that deserved some more focus.Award: 2 starsReason: flow, and simplicity of language- makes this book quite a much needed breather.I would recommend it: Yes, because it is simple, fun in a way, and you cannot help but wonder how easy it was for Matt a.k.a Hugh to fool people.
All chick lit books have the same plot, which is this: middle-class 30ish woman has baby with smarmy wally, he cheats/leaves, she sinks into self-loathing and general dishevelment while other female characters swan around making her feel inadequate in their "crisply ironed shirts" and "deliciously expensive perfume". Mother/sister character occasionally makes barbed albeit well-meaning comments. Finally friends/family rally round to make her wash her hair and get out of her horrible old jumper. She buys some new clothes and realises to her delight that her misery has made her look "positively anorexic" (yay). Her rediscovered hip bones and general shininess enable her to snare a new man and feel worthwhile as a human once again. This book was this plot but in France. Bof.
Emily Barr has a way of writing that keeps you grabbing the book until the end. The stories have nothing really extraordinary, as they show portraits of what seem real persons in real life and not a fantasy idea of how everything should be. And this is not chick lit, as we don't have a "and they lived happily ever after" at the end.In this book, Emma seems to have the almost perfect life. Her dream partner, a beautiful daughter, it's just a pity that Matt doesn't ask her to marry him and that we
—Cláudia
This book was an okay read, but it wasn't one of my favourite Emily Barr books. It tells the story of a woman, Emma, who is convinced to move from Brighton to France by her partner, Matt.When they get there, Matt ends up spending most of his time back in England 'working', leaving Emma to navigate life in France alone.The plot was quite good, and the descriptions of life in France were interesting, but Emma was incredibly naive and when the reason for Matt spending so much time in London is revealed, I pretty much wanted to say, 'Well, what did you THINK he was doing, love?'
—Claire Stevens
I started this 400-page book yesterday morning and finished it yesterday evening, so it is safe to say it's written well enough to keep you reading. Apart from the easy reading style, I was a bit disappointed in the story build up. The first 300 pages are summarised at the back cover in 10 lines, and it's only in the last 100 pages that the story actually evolves from that point. I thought it was a missed opportunity to actually focus the story on the evolutions after the secret came out: how does one cope with secrets and lies like that? That is why in the end I only score it two stars, but if you would have asked me to rate it at page 250 I would have rated it higher. Easy reading though, nice setting (France), too bad about the unused opportunity to dig in deeper into the psychology after drama's like that.
—Veerle
