Book Review... Any Way You Want Me - Lucy Diamond

Any Way You Want Me - Lucy Diamond
Pan, 2007
ISBN: 9780330446433













My rating

From the back cover:

"On paper, Sadie's got it all - the partner, the children, the house. But in real life, that doesn't feel quite enough. Sadie can't help harking back to the time when she was a career woman by day and a party animal by night. And what happened to feeling like a sex kitten, anyway? The only sleepless nights she's getting now are due to the baby. Maybe a little reinvention is the answer... 
Sadie can't resist creating a fictitious online identity for herself as a hot TV producer. It's only a bit of harmless fun...until truth and fantasy become dangerously tangled. It isn't long before she's wondering if the exciting alter ego she has dreamed up really is the kind of person she wants to be after all... 
Wry, funny and with a wonderful twist in the tale, "Any Way You Want Me" is an enchanting novel of infidelity, motherhood and friends reunited that heralds the debut of a lovely new voice in fiction."


When it comes to romance novels, infidelity as a theme is an absolute no-no for me. However, with chick-lit books I don't have a problem reading this, if it's handled well, mainly because these books are more life focused (it does happen!) and we're not necessarily reading for a HEA.

This book had the heroine being unfaithful, and it's not pretty. It's not because her partner doesn't treat her right, or he is also having an affair... No, it's the selfish kind of affair, but the author doesn't make any excuses for it.

Throughout the book the heroine behaves appallingly, but at the same time you can understand why and, after all, we all make mistakes.

The author does a nice job of keeping you guessing throughout and the rollercoaster journey the heroine goes on is on that is honest, gritty, emotional, and above all believable.

I do feel that the 'other man' character wasn't really used to full potential, the author makes a big effort to make us think that he really does love the heroine despite them both being in tricky situations, but then in the end he turned into a bastard, it seemed a little inconsistent.

Also, I felt this book may have been written a few years before it was published as there were a few things that felt a little dated.

But other than that, this is an interesting, emotional, and brave story.

Xx

Book Review... Lizzy Harrison Loses Control - Pippa Wright

Lizzy Harrison Loses Control - Pippa Wright
Pan Publishing, 2011
ISBN: 9780330521710












My rating

From the back cover:

"'Have you ever noticed that the modern romantic heroine can be, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit useless?' 
Lizzy Harrison has everything under control Lizzy Harrison isn't a romantic heroine. Not even close. She doesn't have a cat, owns no more shoes than the average person, and is in no way hopelessly scatty and disorganised. In fact her life is in perfect order, and that's just how she likes it. Okay, so she hasn't met the right man yet, but she really doesn't have the time what with her busy job in PR and her packed schedule of improving activities. Her diary is planned months in advance and she's determined that nothing spontaneous will force its way into her life...hasn't she? But when her best friend Lulu questions her need for control, Lizzy starts to wonder if she needs to let go a little. So when she's thrown into the arms of her boss' number one client, notorious comedian (and love-rat) Randy Jones, she reluctantly relaxes her hold on routine. Lizzy Harrison is about to find out that losing control could win her more than she had ever imagined. "

This book was one of those recommendations you get on Amazon after buying something. I was a little sceptical, but it didn't take long before I was hooked in.

The subject is interesting, fun, and quite honest. I felt for the heroine, at first, being pushed into becoming the pretend girlfriend for a disastrous celebrity client for a PR stunt, something she really didn't want to do. But then she went and ruined all my respect by actually getting involved with him, although I suppose that was the whole point and, probably, quite true to life.

But what pissed me off most was that even though the character admitted to her weakness about becoming involved with him, the author then had to make her turn into a blind fool and have her ignore everything she, as a supposedly intelligent women, already knew about this guy. Very frustrating as I kept thinking why bother spending all that time making out that she was smart, aware, the 'anti-chick-lit-heroine' and then go and turn her into a heroine that is 100 times worse than the 'chick-lit-heroine' she had mocked previously.

I'm not entirely sure what the author was trying to do with the Russell Brand/cross-dressing Eddie Izzard style character of Randy-the celebrity- although it was certainly intriguing and different. But the fact that he was a heroin (and other drug) addict, and slept with many other women during the time he was involved with the heroine, was very distasteful especially that there was no mention by the author about the heroine's health - you don't have to be too obvious but a little mention of safe sex here would have been a good thing.

Overall though, this is an enjoyable read, it certainly kept me reading despite my moans!

Xx