Why I decided to read this book:I was looking for a book that no one had recommend to me or I had herd of so I decided to go to the library and chose a random book, the book was on display facing backwards, so I had a quick skim of the synopsis and decided to give it chance.Which category on the bingo board this book completes:This book completes the 'A book with a female main character' on my bingo board. I find the category very easy to review about as most books have a female main character, I would of liked this category to possibly be more specific or to have an additional factor to the category such as ' A book with a heroine main character' to give it more personality and make it more appealing to review on.My favourite quote from this book (and why) :'Daughters are supposed to be friends to their mothers in their old age.' was my favourite quote from the book. Lily and her mother don't have the typical mother-daughter relation ship that most females share, for her its the complete opposite, although deep down, very deep down she must love her mother but only for the reason of loving your mother, because she is your mother. Lily's mother doesn't seem to care much about Lily or anything but her self at all which to me is beyond frustrating (the arrogance her mother has within herself will make you want to scream in frustration) as all she seems to care about is herself and causing others to feel frustration when she is constantly reminding everyone of her own problems. At that moment I felt so devastated for Lily and furious at her mother. How can she be a friend to her mother when her mother is not even a mother to her? How could she say such a thing with such ease and simplicity without realising what a horrible and self-centred person she is. I could just feel the anger that must be built inside Lily when her mother has said something like that. The impact on the quote and the strong reaction it was able to make me feel was why it was my favourite, it made me feel made what lily felt, the quote made me feel as though I was apart of the story.Something new I learned from the book is:In the book 'The Girl in Times Square' Lily who is the lead character discovers that she has been diagnosed with cancer. To Lily it was a foreign subject, she didn't really know much about cancer in general and especially about her diagnosis and so did I. Throughout the chapters the doctors and nurses are having to explain to Lily about her disease, effects she will go through and all the medical reasons as to why she is ill, this also benefited me as a reader as I was learning some new things that I never knew before such as what 'Acute promyelocytic leukemia' (a cancer of the blood and bone marrow) was and the damage that it can do to a body. It was convenient to learn about things like this all in a story.A character or setting that was interesting to me (and why):Lily's mother Allison Quinn was the character that was most interesting to me, but for all the wrong reasons. Allison was so frustrating that sometimes I would slap myself or scream, she was so arrogate and inconsiderate toward anyone’s feelings but her own. Allison had a drinking problem and this caused her to be the centre of attention, her husband would do his job in supporting her though this rough experience but Allison would constantly push him away and blame all of her problems on him. Allison's character had the kind of power to make the reader cringe and bite their finger nails, she was like the fly in your room that would not stop buzzing!. This to me is what made her so fascinating and it made the book so exhilarating to read.I loved this book to pieces, there was romance, mystery, pain, and friendship all embedded in this fantastic book. I would recommend this book to any one who is looking for a bit of everything in a book! 5/5 :)
"A stunning and powerful contemporary love story from one of the best storytellers this century. Lily's life is turned upside down with the disappearance of her flat mate, incredible revelations about her family and a personal discovery, all of which will affect her forever!What if everything you believed about your life was a lie? Meet Lily Quinn. She is broke, struggling to finish college, pay her rent, find love. Adrift in bustling New York City, the most interesting things in Lily's life happen to the people around her. But Lily loves her aimless life ! until her best friend and roommate Amy disappears. That's when Spencer Patrick O'Malley, a cynical, past his prime NYPD detective with demons of his own, enters Lily's world. And a sudden financial windfall which should bring Lily joy instead becomes an ominous portent of the dark forces gathering around her. But fate isn't finished with Lily. She finds herself fighting for her life as Spencer's search for the missing Amy intensifies, leading Lily to question everything she knew about her friend and family. Startling revelations about the people she loves force her to confront truths that will leave her changed forever.From a master storyteller comes a new heart-wrenching, magnificent and unputdownable novel.This is the odyssey of two young women, Lily and Amy, roommates and friends on the verge of the rest of their lives." (from http://bookcrossing.com/journal/5942405)
What do You think about The Girl In Times Square (2004)?
Paullina Simons writes strong characters. She doesn’t leave herself much choice. With the suffering she heaps on them, they have to be strong to live through some 600 pages of fictional life. What keeps me coming back to her stories though, are those very same characters. She writes them so true to life that they rattle around in my head every time I put the book down. Irritating, really, when you set a book down, but it won’t leave your head. Case in point, The Girl in Time Square. I was almost 150 pages in, when I realized this story had the potential to be seriously heartbreaking. I set it aside, thinking I’d pick it up again when I had something funny to read along side it. A few days later, I’m cooking dinner, haven’t found that lighthearted book, and the cop, O’Malley (Paullina writes some of the best cops) is back in my head. Nooo! So I pick up where I left off and read until I have to put it down again. This goes on for days and days, until I get a little over half way through the book. By then it’s too late. I’m in, and can’t put it down until I know what happened / happens.There are books in this world that are meant to be loved, and there are some that can’t help but be loathed. This has some of both. I don’t know whether to hug it, or throw it across the room. It won’t matter which I choose; neither is going to get the characters out of my head any time soon.
—Sheila
This story is very heavy on the soul, so I'm torn. The author has a big following and others don't seem to be affected in the way I am. She takes her characters to the edge of death and back again which is heart-wrenching. The crime/mystery piece of this book is excellent and one of the best I've read. I would say it's a risk . .. I'm not helping much am I?!! Hope you are doing well!!
—Renae
EDIT: Mayo, 2015: 3.5La novela era perfecta (incluso, me atrevo a decir, la MEJOR de esta autora) hasta que(view spoiler)[ el final, la GRAN resolución del misterio lo cagó todo. (hide spoiler)]
—La Mala *es de la clase baja*
