Title: Love Lies
Author: Adele Parks
Genre: Chick Lit
Publisher: Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Publication Date: 30th July 2009
ARC: 504 pages
Rating: 5/10
Synopsis:
Fern is glaring thirty in the face and can’t ignore the love lies any longer. Life with Adam was amazing once – although these days swinging from the chandeliers means D.I.Y not S.E.X. She believes a romantic wedding should be the next step but dam just wont go down on one knee. Then a chance meeting with Scottie Taylor – the UK’s sexiest pop star – lights fireworks in Fern that wont stop exploding. It’s mind-expanding love at first sight for them both so when he proposes in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium, there’s only one answer. Yes, yes, yes!
Before you know it, Fern is living the celebrity dream in LA and a wedding planner is arranging designer shoe fittings. But isn’t it all happening a little too fast? Why is modern day Cinderella homesick for a rented two-bedroomed flat in Clapham? How do you know where love is telling the truth? Fern mush choose which version of this fairy tale is hers.
Review:
*Spoiler Alert*
The story is narrated in the first person by Fern, who is obsessed with getting engaged before her thirtieth birthday. She is unhappy with her current boyfriend, Adam, and gives him an ultimatum: he must propose to her on her thirtieth birthday or that’s it. As predicted he doesn’t propose and so Fern decides to lust after the famous, sexy pop-star, Scott. The first few chapters are a bit slow, and I found the story difficult to get into, but it did manage to pick up when Fern meets Scott and their relationship begins. However, even with a few chapters dotted through out the book that are narrated by Scott, there isn’t any relief from Fern and her incessant, repetitive declarations of lust, filling chapter after chapter, which became extremely dull.
It is interesting to hear Scott’s thoughts about how he deals with fame and fortune, but he isn’t a likable character, but maybe this was intentional from the author. Sadly, none of the characters in this book are particularly likable, with the possible exception of Adam, who we only get to read about in the first few chapters at the beginning and the last few at the end. I found Fern to be fickle, superficial and too obsessed with getting married to be really believable.
The ‘twist’ of Scott being ‘possibly’ gay I guessed before it was revealed in the book, and the ending was far too predictable. I did like, however, the fact that the relationship between Fern and Scott did not have the fairy tale ending and end up happily ever after.
The realisation that being a celebrity and having lots of money doesn’t necessarily bring you happiness is lost on Fern. What I really wanted was to see Fern realise how shallow and ungrateful she has been and to come to some sort of understanding about how she can be a better person. Instead, Adam takes her back and she hasn’t learnt a thing. It all ends a bit too abruptly with quite a few questions unanswered and was, to be honest, a disappointment.
Verdict:
I have never read Adele Parks before but knew that she was one of the most popular ‘chick-lit’ authors out there, so I had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, it wasn’t light or fluffy, funny, romantic or heart-warming – all the emotions I expect when reading chick-lit. I wasn’t transported into another world and I didn’t really care about the characters, so for me, this book just didn’t deliver.
Thank you to Michael Joseph for sending me this book to review.
To find out more about Adele Parks and her books visit her website HERE
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1 Comment
Good review.
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