Something Blue - Emily Giffin
OK - I want to clarify this post first by saying that I unashamedly love chicklit. It's my curl up on the lounge with a cuppa or a glass of wine not-so-guilty pleasure. I like the simple humour and the silly situations. I like the movies about these books. So I'm coming at this book from the position of a fan. I didn't like it. Having read reviews on Amazon after finishing it, I understand that it is the sequel to "Something Borrowed' and the main character Darcy was the villain in that piece. So I suppose that was clever of Giffin - to write about the villain and make her the star. But I just found her grating, irritating and so so wrong. Quick rundown - at the beginning of the story Darcy recaps what was obviously the plot of the previous book - she's about to get married to Dex, but is having an affair with his groomsman Marcus, to whom (by whom? under whom? :D) she falls pregnant. She goes to break up with Dex and discovers he has been having an affair with her best friend and they are in lurrrve. She is horrified (not seeing the obvious irony, because she is just that self-absorbed), gets dumped by Marcus then runs off to London to lick her wounds and sponge of another old pal, Ethan. Ethan calls her on her bad behaviour, and she changes. But the change isn't a slow, meaningful thing. She gets up the morning after he has read her the riot act, writes a list of points based on what he told her, then changes. Completely. And there lies my problem. I liked both Darcys - the original selfish, nasty one was funny and I wondered how she would get her comeuppance. The second was sweet and kind and sympathetic. I just didn't buy the change, a rather pivotal plot point.
OK - I want to clarify this post first by saying that I unashamedly love chicklit. It's my curl up on the lounge with a cuppa or a glass of wine not-so-guilty pleasure. I like the simple humour and the silly situations. I like the movies about these books. So I'm coming at this book from the position of a fan. I didn't like it. Having read reviews on Amazon after finishing it, I understand that it is the sequel to "Something Borrowed' and the main character Darcy was the villain in that piece. So I suppose that was clever of Giffin - to write about the villain and make her the star. But I just found her grating, irritating and so so wrong. Quick rundown - at the beginning of the story Darcy recaps what was obviously the plot of the previous book - she's about to get married to Dex, but is having an affair with his groomsman Marcus, to whom (by whom? under whom? :D) she falls pregnant. She goes to break up with Dex and discovers he has been having an affair with her best friend and they are in lurrrve. She is horrified (not seeing the obvious irony, because she is just that self-absorbed), gets dumped by Marcus then runs off to London to lick her wounds and sponge of another old pal, Ethan. Ethan calls her on her bad behaviour, and she changes. But the change isn't a slow, meaningful thing. She gets up the morning after he has read her the riot act, writes a list of points based on what he told her, then changes. Completely. And there lies my problem. I liked both Darcys - the original selfish, nasty one was funny and I wondered how she would get her comeuppance. The second was sweet and kind and sympathetic. I just didn't buy the change, a rather pivotal plot point.