Sunshine on a Rainy Day by Bryony Fraser: Worst Heroine Ever Alert!

Blurb: It’s Zoe and Jack’s first wedding anniversary party. They’ve got an announcement! They’re getting divorced…

Marriage isn’t for everyone – something that Zoe and Jack discovered only after they’d walked down the aisle. Bad timing, huh? So now they’re stuck together in their once harmonious marital home, neither one of them willing to move out of their lovely house.

With Zoe’s three sisters always wanting a say, and Jack’s best friend trying his best to fix things between them, misunderstandings arise. Tempers flare. ‘Accidents’ happen…

Zoe and Jack are going to be lucky if they’re still alive when the twelve months are up. But maybe things aren’t quite as final as they seem?

Review: This book could have had a lot going for it, but unfortunately the main character Zoe was very poorly written and simply came across as being very immature and selfish. Not to mention thoroughly annoying. I actually had no idea why her new husband Jack was with her - he could do a lot better.

Indeed this is one of the mysteries of this shaky romance - Zoe is surrounded by an absolute bevy of totally charming friends and family who are very generous, kind and patient with her rank stupidity and downright cruelty. I would much rather the main character could have been someone - anyone! - else.

That said, the premise of a newly wedded couple opting for divorce is an interesting one, but poorly executed here. Such a shame.

Anne Brooke Books

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: a Dull and Longwinded Tale

I had high hopes of this book which were sadly dashed. I should have been warned by the list of characters at the beginning of the book - as if an author needs to have a list of characters, then they're really not doing their job correctly in bringing them to life for us in the text. And there are so many of them and they all sounded the same! I certainly couldn't keep track and wasn't interested enough to refer back to the list .. I found the main characters irritating as well, which didn't help matters. I wouldn't have been friends with either of them, LOL!

Anyway, the story is long and ambling and ends up in blind alleyways far too many times - it seems to be written in a very clunky and flat style, and focuses on the dullest parts of a scene rather than the most exciting ones. It's certainly no Dickens! There's a moment or two of excitement when Lena goes away to an island somewhere and has a few interesting experiences, but then she returns to the homeland (sadly) and her life falls back into its dull routine. The ending is abrupt and made no sense at all to me. Surely even in a series, a novel can't just stop for no apparent reason, but there has to be some kind of closure even though strands are left open for the next book.

As an aside, I really hated the cover - it's quite horrid. That said, the story idea is a good one (and deserving of 2 stars out of 5) but someone should write it properly.

Anne Brooke Books