Catherine Bennetto

***MAJOR SPOILERS CONTAINED BELOW***

Emma George has a job in TV, which is less exciting than it sounds, and a long term boyfriend Ned, who is less reliable than a boyfriend should be. And then she finds herself accidentally pregnant in the same week that she loses her job, and breaks up with Ned.

She is lucky enough to inherit a cottage and find temporary work, and an accidental lodger, but she still realises that soon she is going to be wholly responsible for another person, and things are going to have to change…

SPOILERS CONTAINED BELOW!!

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, narrated by Rosie Jones. I would have to say that the narration was excellent; unfortunately that’s the only thing that I *can* say was excellent. My main issue is that clearly the reader/listener is supposed to identify with Emma and root for her, and…well, she is just a terribly selfish, judgemental and spiteful human being. Horrible human beings can make for interesting main characters but the reader/listener is supposed to be well aware that they are horrible characters; we are not supposed to be expected to support their behaviour!

This started out quite amusing in parts, but what ruined it for me was when Emma constantly fat-shamed another character. Martha’s size and eating habits were completely irrelevant to the story, yet literally every sentence that mentioned her (and there were a LOT) made an unkind reference to the character’s weight. Furthermore, when Martha correctly chastised Emma for not doing her job properly, Emma videoed Martha after she had had sex with someone, and then blackmailed her with the footage top stop Martha reporting Emma’s behaviour. And we were supposed to think this was hilarious!

Additionally, Ned was just the most feckless and unreliable boyfriend, who stole Emma’s money after sponging off her for years, had not contributed any money towards rent or living costs, and preferred dreaming up ultimately unsuccessful get-rich-schemes with his mate. When one such scheme accidentally works out, all of a sudden Ned is painted as a wonderful character and an example to us all not to give up on your dreams.

I listened to the end, because I was too far in to give up before I realised what a truly selfish character Emma was and because of the narration. However, although I would certainly listen to more books narrated by Rosie Jones, I won’t be checking out any more books written by this author.… (meer)

I’ve been reading a lot of books that require concentration lately, something that doesn’t always translate well midweek when work and life are busy and you want to escape it all. Make or Break sounded like a fun read, so despite the size (nearly 500 pages), I decided to pick it up. It’s definitely madcap humour in some places, but takes quite a sombre turn towards the end as very difficult decisions are made. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but be prepared for your feelings to go all over the place.

The story is told to us by Jess in the first person. Jess is 29 and works in the music video industry. (Unfortunately, there’s very little about the music industry here). Jess reminded me of Becky Bloomwood from the Shopaholic series as someone you’ll either adore or find irritating. Jess is a way better decision maker than Becky, but she does have the tendency to let her thoughts run away to the most extreme situations. That has mixed results, such as thinking she will be eaten by a snake on Table Mountain to being convinced that her boyfriend Pete will propose in South Africa. It also makes it difficult for her to get through some major life events in the book. I kind of liked Jess more in the sadder parts of the book. I know that sounds mean, but her thoughts didn’t seem so wacky to me. But then Jess’ family is not exactly typical either. Her sister Annabelle has a penchant for men that love, impregnate and leave which has caused Jess and their mother to ‘protect’ Annabelle at all costs. Jess’ mother is into natural therapies in an extreme way – think mono mealing (eating only one thing at a time) and silence retreats to remove guilt. Boyfriend Pete is a bit obsessed with his assistant teacher role and flatmate Dave lives for zombies. All these quirks add up to some incredibly funny moments.

The majority of the book is set in Cape Town, which seems like Jess to be the epitome of sun and warmth. Until her world comes crashing down. The new characters that come into her life here are my favourites – Jimmy, Diego and Ian. They are more settled and a good grounding point for Jess. That’s not to say that they don’t have their quirks but I found them much more fascinating. After Jess’ holiday ends, so does the sunshine in this book. The tone becomes much more serious. It wasn’t completely unexpected, as things had been hinted at, but the fun was over as Jess needed to face the music in more ways than one. That’s not to say that Catherine Bennetto doesn’t do it well – she handles a very, very sticky situation with grace and without failing any of the characters. It was just a bit of roller coaster ride with that sinking feeling like the end of a holiday. There are some sparkles of wit here, but one character getting a cheeky comeuppance from a sartorial error.

I did enjoy this book, and it gave me the fun times I wanted plus some serious parts. My copy has a blurb for How Not to Fall in Love, Actually which sounds like a fun read. Catherine Bennetto writes well, getting to the heart of the matter with character growth with some laugh out loud moments.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (meer)