French classes, champagne and sexual conundrums on The Côte d'Azur seem to be just the ticket, until a local becomes besotted with her. Maybe the adoration wouldn’t have caused a problem for Katie, had she not fallen for someone else - someone who should perhaps be strictly out of bounds!
Emotionally fighting her heart’s choice, in a bid to avoid humiliation, Katie remains strong. However, sometimes despite our strength and will, love will have its way.
Love, sex, heartbreak and scandal - all experienced by Katie through tears, laughter, excitement and regret.
Several months ago I received an e-mail from author Iza Macleod, asking whether I was willing to read and review her novel 'Katie Cannes', which was released as an e-book in 2016. As usual I checked out the book description, the cover (I know, it shouldn't be a deciding factor but I can't help it...!), and tried to find some more information on the book online, and based on what I found I decided to give it a try. The novel sounded like a chick lit read with promise, so I was curious to check out this new author and hoped I would end up enjoying the book!
While studying Spanish at university, Katie is mainly focused on anything international providing her with the chance to discover new countries and cultures. However, she can't help but fall head over heels in love with local bad boy Dean. When he proposes Katie has a bit of doubt about what this will mean for her dreams for the future, but she decides to say yes. But soon after their honeymoon Katie discovers Dean has been cheating on her and she knows it's time to make her escape. She ends up in a village near Cannes in France, ready to start over. While making new friends and experiencing new things, Katie can't help but fall in love again, but is she once again heading for disaster or could she have found real romance this time around...?
When I started reading this novel I wasn't completely sure about what to expect. The book description is quite general and follows the familiar storyline of a main character experiencing something awful and moving away to start over. I was quite curious to see how author Iza Macleod would give this her own twist and I was surprised when I already noticed in the first few chapters that the story is really fast-paced. I wondered how, at that pace, it could still be the relatively long read that it is, but I have to say I got used to the quick pace and quite enjoyed jumping from one time and place to another without too much detail. We join main character Katie when she is still a student, gets married, gets divorced and starts over in Cannes, and I was curious to see where she would eventually go, what would happen to her and whether she'd find love, and these questions kept me reading on.
When it comes to the writing style of the book I have to admit it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. While I did get used to the fast pace of it all, I couldn't help but miss some detail and more focus on the characters' emotions and their backgrounds. I also felt the story was quite raunchy at times; a bit too much for me personally. I did enjoy reading the novel and thought Katie's story was interesting, but there were some elements stopping me from falling in love with it. However, you don't need to fall in love with every book you read, of course, and I did enjoy this and am sure other readers will as well. On the whole, 'Katie Cannes' is an entertaining and fast-paced chick lit read about finding new friends, new opportunities and new love; not exactly my kind of read, but still enjoyed picking it up and giving it a chance.
Rating:
7/10
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