Take a chance you might be lucky enough to love it (Second Time Lucky - Sophie King)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Second Time Lucky - Sophie King
Date:	17/02/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a great read

Disadvantages: ending is abrupt

I have only ever read good books by Sophie King so was excited to read another by her. Anyone who has read anything by King will know that she writes with a lot of different characters who all intermingle during the book, and usually their lives have a purpose for crossing due to the plot ending.
Second Time Lucky is no exception with the amount of characters we meet along the way. The setting for this novel is an old estate house known as Bridgewater House that has since been converted into apartments. Each character has their own reasons for living in these apartments and each one has a very different story to tell.

** Marcie is American and has married David who has two teenage children by a first marriage. Marcie and David are desperate to have children of their own but it doesn't seem to be happening. Marcie comes across as uptight and slightly snobby.

** Louise is a newly single parent, finding herself at Bridgewater House after her own home has to be sold. She has three teenage children and a dog, all of whom she finds difficult to manage on her newly appointed finances and fear of living alone.

** Roddy is a recovering alcoholic who used to live at Bridgewater House before it was converted. His newly appointed step father sold the house when his father died. Roddy has two children whom he isn't allowed to see due to his past problems.

** Mollie is a retired well known actress who has just lost her actor husband to cancer. She believes her husband is still with her in spirit and talks to him frequently.

There are spatterings of other characters included in the book, and they all have a purpose of being there. The above four characters are who I class as the main characters and we learn a lot about them as the book progresses.
The whole of the book takes place over a few weeks and during that time an active residents association and a massive amount of joy, turmoil, sadness, intrigue and terror will happen in each of their lives.

I thought there was a lot going on in the whole novel, and King did like to switch characters a fair amount, but despite all this the reading was easy to keep up with and I never lost track of who was doing what, and what character was linked with which.
There were a fair amount of twists and turns in the book, some I saw happening and a few I didn't. All of the major twists that happened at the end however I did see coming. I find this with chick lit in particular, the more I read the easier it is to see through certain possibilities and events.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and I found myself finding excuses to go and read a couple of chapters. So much so I had read the book in two days, which is unusual for me due to lack of time most days.
Sophie King has a style of writing that you don't find in many other authors, in the way that she manages to drag you into their lives and you will find out more about the characters that you could ever expect to learn, especially as there are more than just a couple of main characters.
My only criticism of this book is that I felt the ending was slightly hurriedly put together and it ended slightly abruptly leaving me with a couple of questions I would like to have had answered.

Price: £6.99 (Amazon)
ISBN: 978-0340922675
Published: 2007

Summary: a great chick lit read