Absence makes the heart grow fonder…doesn’t it? What happens when two
people decide to give themselves the year off…from each other?
Annie and Dan were the perfect couple. But now the not-so-newly weds
feel more like flatmates than soul mates and wonder where all the fun and
fireworks went … When Annie lands her big break in a smash-hit show that’s
heading for the bright lights of Broadway, she’s over the moon. Goodbye remote
Irish village of Stickens, hello fabulous Big Apple! But with their
relationship already on the rocks, how will Annie and Dan survive the distance?
They’re hitting the pause button on their marriage. One year off from each
other – no strings attached, except a date to meet in twelve months at the
Rockefeller Centre to decide their fate.
Will they both turn up? Or is it too late for love?
The first Claudia Carroll book I bought was
'Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother.' As a true lover of anything having to
do with happy endings or fairy tales, the title already convinced me to get the
book without even reading the blurb. However, up until this day, the book is
still lying on my to-read pile. During one of my trips to the UK last year, I
picked up another Claudia Carroll novel: 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?'
Another blogger's excitement (thanks Kevin!) about Claudia Carroll's novels
actually got me to pick this particular novel as my next read, and I'm glad I
did!
Annie and Dan are childhood sweethearts, who after
having met at boarding school as teenagers, married in their early twenties,
and now live in the Irish countryside. After the death of his father, Dan
decided to take over the family veterinary practice in Stickings, a small
village approximately two hours from Dublin. Annie came with him, giving up her
chances of breaking through as an actress to be with her husband. However,
Annie continues to struggle not only with rural life, but also with her family
in-law. So, when she is offered her dream job, a leading role in a play that is
heading to Broadway, she simply can't refuse. The distance turns out to be one bump in
the road too many, which leads to Annie and Dan deciding to take a one-year break from
their relationship. No rules, no pressure. But what will happen when the year
is up? Will Annie be able to resist her handsome director Jack? And what will
happen when Dan is alone back in rural Ireland?
Personally, I struggled with the
beginning of the book. I thought the start was a bit slow as it took me around
100 pages to really find myself getting into the novel and enjoying the story. I also thought Annie's behaviour was slightly frustrating. I just wanted her
to take the first bus out of Stickens and get far away from everything that made her unhappy. However, as
soon as Annie arrived in New York... From that moment I started to really like
her as a character and I was hooked on the story itself and didn't want to put
the book down. I loved the mix of rural and city life (and the descriptions managed to capture the two different settings perfectly), but the combination of Annie and the city turned the story into some exciting I simply didn't want to stop reading about.
Even though this is my first Claudia Carroll experience, it is already her 8th book. This shows in her writing, because the novel
is easy to read and the story really started to live in my head.
The repeated use of some specific words ('Anyroadup', Jack's 'cold' hands, Annie's 'blond' apartment) in the text slightly annoyed me, but the need to read on and
find out what was going to happen made it possible to ignore that. Overall, I
found this a really enjoyable novel and the fact that there are several other
Claudia Caroll novels out there, waiting to be read, is definitely getting me
excited!
Rating:
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment