Book Review: Happily Ever After?

Blurb on the Back: What happens after the happily ever after…?

Eleanor Cooper is a smart, attractive blonde with a successful career and life clearly mapped out in front of her. That doesn’t stop her falling for the ultimate romantic cliché – a fairy tale wedding to her own Prince Charming, Tony.

 

But Ellie’s marriage and new husband prove a lot more complicated than she bargained for.

 

Can Ellie and Tony survive their troubles? Can she forgive if not forget? Or should Ellie leave her prince for the love that is waiting for her? That’s a choice only our heroine can make. And whats (sic) if it’s the wrong one?

 

Funny, moving, sad, sex – Ellie will become part of your life.

Bridget Jones has grown up.

And she is fabulous.

 

My Thoughts: I think the author of this book is a fairly talented writer. I love the way in which the book is written, I like the style and I would look forward to reading more of her books. However I have several issues I need to raise.

 

But let’s begin with the good stuff shall we? The manner in which this book is written makes it a casual read, something you can sit back with and enjoy without thinking too much. You could sit outside under a tree on a sunny day and just enjoy the book. For that reason it’s a good book. I do enjoy the story but I don’t agree with it.

 

I think the story makes excuses for people. It is basically a story filled with infidelity and this book sort of brushes it off as a regular occurrence that people should just sort of accept; and without giving too much away, it also seems to tie everything up neatly in the end which again to me screams the wrong message. I’m well aware that I shouldn’t be searching for a moral in every story but in this case, if there is a moral it is clouded with a negative undertone. It’s like saying “Hey, it’s ok to go outside of your marriage under these circumstances and don’t worry because in the end things may turn out perfectly” and in this book, all the problems get tied up into a neat little package.

 

I’m one of those morally grounded people who believes once you’re married, you’re married; if things start going wrong you do something to fix it and regardless of the problem, you don’t go bed-hoping. That’s my view and I’m sticking to it. So that’s why I clash with this book a little bit. It’s a little bit more cynical but accepting of that cynicism at the same time. “Ok your husbands a tool, well if you go do XYZ and claim that you feel ever so guilty about it, you should land up in a better position”.

 

I do get it, the whole point of the book is to suggest that the fairy tale doesn’t always end up in happily ever after, there are bumps and hiccups along the way. I get that. I understand that girls are far too in love with that Disney fairy tale ending that they close off their minds to the possibility to the idea that things can and will go wrong along the way. That point of the books is clear, but I don’t like the manner in which it is presented.

 

So I guess my only problem in that sense is that the moral side of me doesn’t agree. Which I shouldn’t hold against the book really.

 

But the other problem I have is with the actual editing of the book. I am one of those types of people who is really good and cross-words, find-a-words and sudoku; what is relevant about any of that? It basically means that I am fairly good at finding things that don’t belong or are incorrect. In most books I read, I always find one or two things that are wrong, spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, ‘s’ where they shouldn’t be (see blurb on the back) and so on. This book seems to have quite a few mistakes and it started to get a bit irritating. I would think, with all the money someone invests into writing a book and getting in published, they would at least attempt to edit it properly. I know things slip through the cracks sometimes, but after the 3rd mistake I started to get a bit rattled.

 

Overall though, it is an enjoyable read and if I put my moral compass away for a bit, it was a well written story (minus the mistakes) and I could kick back and relax with it. Hopefully  the author has a few more books up her sleeve because I could see myself reading more of her work.