Beware of the Bridesmaid... (The Matchbreaker - Chris Manby)

Member Name: Nickycool

Product:	The Matchbreaker - Chris Manby
Date:	23/03/08 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: not a bad read

Disadvantages: expected better because of the author

My fiance bought me this for our anniversary. Strange present but it has a significance. When we first started dating, he noticed that I liked Chris Manby so hence the present, I'm guessing. I don't know how much he paid for it but you can buy the hardback copy on Amazon for £10 or in paperback for £5.49.

...The Story...

The whole story revolves around Lindsey Parker. She has just finished university and is getting ready for her father's wedding. She's not happy about this and wants to break up her father (Alex) and her soon to be stepmum, Karen, as soon as possible. She hatches a plan of taking Karen on a hen night in Ibiza. There, Lindsey wants to get Karen into as much trouble as possible so her dad dumps her. Gemma, who's Lindsey best friend, invites them to stay on their yacht. Lindsey is hoping that her and Gemma will team together to get rid of her soon to be stepmother.

Lindsey ends up getting really drunk on the ship and has an argument with Karen about her marrying her dad. She 'accidently' pushes Karen over the edge and she falls into the water. This is not exactly the plan that Lindsey had in mind, she thinks she's killed Karen but doesn't really seem fazed by the fact that she might have killed someone.

Anyway, Karen is found alive, Gemma tells Lindsey to go and that they are not best friends anymore. When Lindsey gets back home from Ibiza, she finds that Karen has left her dad. A few months on, Lindsey gets tipsy and blurts out that she's happy that she almost killed Karen. On hearing this, her dad kicks her out.

With no job and no place to go, lots of things go wrong but she ends up finding a friend in her old schoolmate, Poupeh, who's a private investigator. Lindsey feels absolutely horrible about what she did to Karen and her dad (about time) and Poupeh encourages her to get her dad and Karen back together.

So Lindsey follows Karen around and finds out that Karen has a new boyfriend, Barney. Lindsey turns honey-trapper and sets out to seduce Barney but instead she finds herself falling in love with him. So does Lindsey succeed in getting Karen and her dad back together? What happens between her and Barney? Does Lindsey really change?

...My Thoughts...

I thought it wasn't a bad read but it had moments where I just thought it was cringeworthy and for the first half of the book, I had no compassion for Lindsey when her father tells her to leave. She comes across as a spoiled brat especially when she calls her father's secretary, Clare, because he's reduced her credit card limit to only £6000 (before it was £40,000) and she whines at Clare for not being sympathy. Clare informs her that she only takes home £15,000 a year after tax.

At that point, I was thinking "Do I really want to read a book about a spoiled annoying selfish brat?". Anyway, I don't like leaving a book unfinished so I kept on reading. I felt slightly robbed when I guessed the ending five chapters before the end. I really thought there would be a twist or two.

Lindsey redeems herself a bit by the end of the book but still, I found it a bit strange on how everyone including Karen just forgave her for all the things that she had done. Chris Manby's writing style, all from Lindsey point of view, was spot on but I do question some of the characters and some of the plot. I know it's meant to be a romance book, chick-lit and so on but it didn't seem a very real to life story to me.

Also the name Barney had me thinking of a purple dinosaur all through the book, which was a funny image in my head but I don't think it was the one that Chris Manby wanted me to think of.

This is definitely just a holiday read and I wouldn't pay more than £2 for it. It's something I would buy in a charity shop. It's definitely not one of Chris' Manby best books. It's probably the worst book that I've read of hers and her work seems to be deteriorating, the more books she writes. Her early books are interesting and fresh but as each new book comes out, especially in the last couple of years, they seem to have lost of the magic that the earlier books have. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book but I expected more of it because of the author.

Summary: good holiday not too taxing as long as you don't pay too much