The Sudden Departure of the Frasers by Louise Candlish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My name is Amber Fraser. I've just moved in at Number 40, Lime Park Road. You'll come to think of me as a loving wife, a thoughtful neighbour and a trusted friend.
This is a lie.
When Christy and Joe Davenport are handed the keys to Number 40 on picture-perfect Lime Park Road, Christy knows it should be a dream come true. How strange though that the house was on the market for such a low price. That the previous owners, the Frasers, had renovated the entire property yet moved out within a year. That none of the neighbours will talk to Christy.
As her curiosity begins to give way to obsession, Christy finds herself drawn deeper into the mystery of the house's previous occupants - and the dark and shocking secret that tore the street apart . . .
This started off really promising, a mystery with lots of intrigue. The characterisation was good, each character believable and mostly very likable and then for the first part of the book I was really anxious to read on to find out what the 'secret' was. However it didn't take long before I was becoming bored as nothing much was happening and I was tempted to 'skim read' to get to the action.
The story is based around Joe and Christy Davenport who can hardly believe their luck when they buy their ideal home for a fraction of it's worth on a sought after street in London. Moving into the 'Fraser's' house however is not what they were expecting, they encounter a very hostile reception and Christy is determined to find out why the sellers moved so quickly and what secrets are keeping her neighbours from being neighbourly.
I liked the stories being run as parallels from chapter to chapter through the book of the two main characters Christy and Amber and this helped to build the plot up nicely. However with 500 pages to wade through without getting any closer to 'the secret' until at least 2/3rds into the novel I found it was a bit too long and protracted for me. When the 'secret' started to unfold I had already worked it out anyway and just kept hoping there was a curve ball at the end - there wasn't.
To be honest because I had guessed the ending it was a bit of a let down as it was very predictable. You have to invest so much reading time to get to 'the action' when really there is no 'action' to get to at the end. Although well written and good overall pacing I just felt that it fell flat at the end leaving me feeling disappointed. Such a shame but because of this I can only really give it 3 stars.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
The Island Hideaway by Louise Candlish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
'How far would you follow him before you accept it's over?
Eleanor Blake, distraught after breaking up with her fiance Will, decides to do what most would scarcely dare: secretly follow him to the island hideaway where he's on holiday with the woman who took her place. But on the shimmering, sun-drenched Sicilian island of Panarea, distractions come in many forms - including her fellow hotel guest Lewis, an enigmatic Englishman with secrets of his own to protect. And then there's Frannie, a young Italian actress on the island to prepare for her first film role, who is as charming as she is beautiful. Can she really be so perfect? And shouldn't Eleanor be the first to suspect that things might not be as they seem?
The Island Hideaway is a surprising, insightful and compelling novel from the bestselling author of Since I Don't Have You.'
I had previously read a short story by Louise Candlish and enjoyed it so much that I bought this one.
Since reading the book I have found out this was published a few years ago under a different name - Prickly Heat. Since then it has been updated to fit into the world today. Things such as technology have changed which the author updated. Was this necessary? I am not sure, however the cover of the book also was update, which I think has been for the better. It appealed to me more and I am sure some others would feel the same.
The book follows Eleanor, she pursues her ex- fiance to an island. I found the story very hard to get into, it starts straight in what felt like the middle of the story. I found it hard to work out who was who and build up the scene/plot. This eventually became apparent and throughout the story we go from the past to the present so understanding the characters became clear. This was something else that I found hard to follow.
The plot of the story is an unbelievable one, Eleanor follows her ex - fiance to an island to 'spy' on him, she spends her days trying to look out for him but at the same time trying not to be seen. The likely hood of this actually happening is slim to non. But it is chick lit in style and relatively easy to read. At the beginning of the book, I was wondering how this was going to pan out and what Eleanor was going to do when she did spot Will. I felt that actually little happened, she watches him from various places and even meets up with his now current partner but nothing surprising happens. This I felt was a bit disappointing and at the end of the story I actually felt a little flat.
We also meet the other characters in the book who are staying at the same hotel as Eleanor and actually I enjoyed reading about them more and what they got up to. This created a diversion in the book at kept it moving.
This is a good beach read for you to pack in your case, as it has the holiday feel while reading it. Overall I found the book to be O.K - nothing taxing but perfect for the beach.
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