I am a huge fan of Penny Vincenzi's Spoils of Time trilogy so I was excited to begin another of her novels. I can't decide if I would have been better off to read this one before the trilogy or if I would have skipped Spoils of Time if I read this one first...Sheer Abandon is mostly engaging and enjoyable but it was nowhere near as entrancing as the Spoils of Time for me so I was slightly let down. The story really picks up through the middle after a slow start but it seems to drag at the end. It took too long to culminate into a climax and a finish for my taste. I found my mind wandering more and more as the story continued to string me along. I had a difficult time loving the characters. I wanted to choke one or more of them almost the entire way through the book. Nat was my absolute favorite even though he doesn't play a main role. Sweet and funny, he adds an endearing quality to every scene he appears in. I found Kate's adolescent outbursts and obscenities very funny and appreciated the respite her teen angst provided. Clio is a love but Jocasta and Martha are frustrating and often annoying in what I perceived as a lack of growth through the story.Despite my diminished enthusiasm for Sheer Abandon, I'm still looking forward to reading more from Penny Vincenzi. She writes incredibly well and she has a notable talent for weaving multiple story lines into a cohesive, thought-provoking "whole." I have no doubt that there are many more Vincenzi novels out there that I will adore.Check out the engagement reading for this novel at http://bibliofilesbookrating.blogspot....To find out what an engagement reading is, visit http://bibliofilesbookrating.blogspot....
Was really looking forward to reading this book since I have enjoyed several other Penny Vincenzi novels such as No Angel, Something Dangerous and Into Temptation, unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much!! The first 250 or so pages I had to force myself to keep reading, and reminding myself that the story was about a baby abandoned at birth in an airport. The only chapters that were any where near enjoyable for me were the ones that were actually about Kate who was the abandoned baby. Part Two and Three of the book were a bit better and actually the last 100 or so pages were good, although I was not thrilled with how the book ended....after all the irrelevent information throughout the book about political parties and other blah, blah, blah...I felt the end could have been wrapped up a bit better. There were several twists that were interesting and that I did enjoy when the story line was actually about Kate and also loved the chapters that included Kate and her "not blood grandmother" Jilly...so that is why I gave it the two star ratings.I often found myself skimming chapters to get moving through this book, and I am not normally a reader who "skims" through books....sadly I did find myself skimming and hoping that the next chapter would be better...sometimes it was and most of the time it wasn't!! At 626 pages I found this ridiculously long and was wanting it to be over somewhere around 350 pages!! I took this on vacation with me hoping for a great beach read...but it didn't end up to be that for me.
This was an excellent book! It took me a little time to get into it, but after the first bit I couldn't put it down. There are quite a few characters, and I admit I was referencing the character list at the begining of the book. But, Vincenzi brought all of the characters to life. The plot twists were great and usually unexpected. I really liked her overall approach and the way it as written, especially how the reader knew a baby was abandoned, but it was unclear which character had abandoned the baby. I also thought the way the main characters had lost touch with each other and then ran across each other 15 years later was realistic and probable. I would definitely reccomend this book!
—Alyson Coffman
I enjoyed this book and first time read by this author, but I thought even the storyline outlined in the jacket cover it would be a little more intense. Maybe it was the British reserve of the author.After a gap year trip, one of the three main characters (Jocosta, Clio and Martha) gives birth in the London airport to a baby named Bianca. Sixteen years later the three meet again by chance and the beautiful young woman is searching out her birth mother. All have careers and liaisons of some sort. Each of the women are dealing with their own relationship issues and also there is the underlying theme of babies. The book was over 600 pages long and while I thought it was a good read there were so many opportunities to add in some more juicy tidbits to the story. I guess I expected the story to be written more like a 1980’s novel turned mini -series rather than a subdued version.
—Joanne
First, this is a "really" big book, because it has a lot of territory to cover. This is the first book I've read by this author and I will definitely look for her others. It is about three young girls who first meet in an airport as they are getting ready to begin their world travels. Their friendship last for three days in Bangkok before they go their individual ways but promise when they go back home in 1 year they will get together again. Fifteen years later their paths start to cross again. I love the way the author wound them into each others lives after all that time. Their individual stories are sometimes complicated and they come across as selfish, each wanting their own needs met, without regard for those around them. But the stories are so riveting, you can't put the book down and she has the knack to end a chapter in mid air, so you have to keep reading to find out what the result will be from the latest action. I couldn't put this book down. Looking forward to reading other by Penny Vincenzi.
—Gayle
