Tale of love, families, life and sisterhood (Someone Like You - Cathy Kelly)

Member Name: KELLY170980

Product:	Someone Like You - Cathy Kelly
Date:	06/04/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loverly uplifting tale, feel good factor.

Disadvantages: quite a big read, but worth it.

Well this is not my normal type of read, but a few months ago while tidying my garage out, I went down to the tip, and ended up waiting for what seems forever for a space in the recycling plant bit, well to pass the time, I left my hubby waiting and I decided to look in their on site shop, well its like a Aladdin's treasure cove for bookworms like me, I ended up buying about fifty books all for prices like 10-50 p each.....anyway this is one of my bargain books.

This book is written by Kathy Kelly, whom I had never had the pleasure of reading until now, but I defiantly will be trying to hunt out more of her books. I love the way that she explains her characters in such a way that you can actually picture them in your head and also identify with them and feel for them, I found myself willing things to happen to them, and could not wait to continue reading each night to see what would happen next.

The story is based in Ireland and is about the lives of three thirty (ish) year old women all unknown to each other and from all different walks of life and outlooks. They are all going on their holidays in Egypt, and unexplainably end up becoming the best of friends.

By the end of the holiday they decide to continue their friendship when back in Ireland, and this is where the story really begins to get interesting, it tells of their love life's, friendships, family problems, work etc etc. and how their lives enfold over the years, its full of highs and lows and really is an uplifting tale that will have most people hooked.

The main characters consist of;

Leonie - She is an earth type mum, stocky in build and a fan of new age type clothing etc. she is Mum to twin teenager girls Abi and Mel and son Danny.

She is a Divorced vetinary nurse, whom finished her marriage ten years previous to the story because she thought there was a soul mate out there for her, and did not just want to stay in a boring marriage, so she breaks it off although her ex accepts this, he was the one whom really wanted to stay together for the sake of the kids. She then has to cope with her ex hubby whom she thought would probably stay broken hearted for ever getting remarried to a supermodel type, well in her opinion anyway.

She is quite critical of herself, especially her image and over compensates with her personality, she was actually my favourite character as it made me think of myself and how I often am over critical of myself, and try to hard to be perfect when it comes to parenting, friendships etc. and tend to put everyone first often to my own detriment.

Hannah - Bitter singleton due to bad past experiences, most recent being her long term boyfriend who had left her broken-hearted behind to go travelling to find himself, so she took the approach, love them and leave them!!.

She is incredibly focussed and Career minded. And I loved the way her character completely changes within the story and you see her softer side and it just shows that deep down she was probably more insecure then the others.

Emma - she is very happily married, works for a charity "kids in crisis" and is desperate for a baby. She has an overbearing and nasty father who seems to constantly criticise her, a sister whom is a spoilt brat whom her father adores and a mother whom becomes very dependant on Emma for reasons you will see throughout the book. I love the way that she starts off as a pushover and doormat for everyone and ends up being a really strong women with a very positive outlook on life. I think the best part of her story was that she chooses to stop playing the victim and takes her life and happiness in her own hands and makes it happen.

I did not have high hopes for the book, but thought it would be a good holiday read, but I was actually quite surprised on how very much I enjoyed it.

I loved the camaraderie of the women, it reminded me of my friends on how we are all completely different but yet are the best of friends, and we sort of balance each other out.

Last week was one of those weeks for me, just things going wrong, bad news, and horrible eastenders episodes!!! Ha-ha!! (Bring back Danielle!!) and this book really kept my spirits up and kept me entertained.

I would recommend this to any women looking for a nice read. Do not let the size of the book put you off either as when you get started, it just seems to go by really quickly, well did for me anyway.

* Paperback: 677 pages
* Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New Ed edition (1 April 2001)
* Language English
* ISBN-10: 0006514766
* ISBN-13: 978-0006514763
* Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 4 cm
*
Can be brought from Amazon for 5.49, although give your local tip or charity shops a try as there are always bargains to be had.

This was my first book review so I hope it was ok, any help or tips where I could do any better will be greatly appreciated.

Summary: fantastic characters and was a uplifting tale.