One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond

On the 9th of August I tweeted, "Just started reading this... anyone else read it?". Attached was the picture below, of the book One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond. I've FINALLY got round to finishing it this week.

Whenever I blog about books I always want to reiterate that I'm never writing a book review. I have no idea how to write a book review, I have attempted them many times and to put it bluntly; I am shit. So this isn't a book review. I'm simply summing up the book because I feel it's worth a read, and so anyone who likes the sound of it, can go and read it too.

The book follows the lives of 3 characters: Anna, Catherine and Sophie. They all meet at an evening Italian class Sophie starts teaching, when she comes back home from travelling for a few years because her Dad is ill. Anna is wanting to find her Dad- whom she believes is Italian. And Catherine has just found out her husband has been cheating on her and wants a divorce, and because her 2 children have just left for University, she takes the Italian course to make use of her free time. It's a very uplifting story about friendship and how your friends can make your life so much better. It involves break ups, fraud and travel. I particularly liked Sophie's storyline about her travelling and the people she'd met along the way. There's character in this book which I think most women could relate to in one way or another- and it also shows how age is nothing when it comes to friendship. It's a very charming book and I'd definitely recommend it! A feel-good, easy read.

I'm shit at reading books but once I get into one, there's no putting it down! So if you have any good book suggestions then please do let me know.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Charlotte x

Chelsea Wives by Anna-Lou Weatherley

Like I said in my last book related post, this isn't a book review because I have no idea how to write an effective book review... but I've just finished reading "Chelsea Wives" and I thought I would share my thoughts with you all!

I never actually bought this book; I picked it up on holiday last year in a book exchange at the hotel I was staying in. I never even got round to reading it until a full year after I'd landed back on English soil. 

From reading the blurb and judging the book by its cover (naughty, I know) I'd come to the conclusion that this was just another really trashy, tacky book. Hence why it took me over 365 days to actually be bothered to read it.  

Now I've read it; I'd honestly say it's one of my favourite books I've read. It's a mix of romance, drama and friendship; with the backdrop being Chelsea in London. I found this very fascinating because it was almost an insight into other peoples lives, because in reality; there are many "Chelsea Wives". 

The book is about 3 women: Imogen, Calvary and Yasmin/Stacey who get revenge on their husbands. Calvary's husband for cheating on Calvary with their sons fiancée, Yasmin's husband for murdering Yasmin's ('real' name is Stacey) sister and Imogen's husband for deliberately publicly humiliating her and making sure she is unable to re-launch her once successful modelling career. A lot of this book is very "action" based; telling the story of how the three women plot and carry out a robbery of a very high profile diamond. There's also a few unexpected moments in there which I just loved! I won't mention those as it will give everything away. The book also tells a few real love stories and there's a good measure of sex involved, like any perfect poolside companion book. 

I loved this book and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.. well any female reading this! I do have to agree with the front cover though, it's definitely more of a poolside read. Full of sass, sex and scheming, it's definitely worth a quick read! 

If you've read it then I would love to know your thoughts; please leave me a comment below!
Charlotte x

The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

This isn't a book review because I have no idea how to write a book review... but I've just finished reading "The Guardian" and I just thought I'd share my thoughts.  

I do not own this image, no copyright intended.

To be totally honest, I'm not sure what to think of this book. It's so broken and confusing yet flowing and logical.. it frazzles my mind at how that is possible! 

The book is about a woman called Julie who's husband died and he left her a dog (the bit about the dog becomes a lot clearer towards the end of the book). Julie goes on a few dates with a man called Richard but then ends up getting into a relationship with her dead husbands best friend, Mike (I don't mean to sound so blunt there!) At first the book seems to be about Julie and dating men and how she finds herself after the death of her husband. Then the middle part of the book is very slow-paced turning away from the finding love aspect and more towards the sociopathic criminal aspect... I'm not sure if sociopathic is even a word, but basically one of the characters is a sociopath kinda guy! The end of the book was very fast paced. 

It had taken me AGES to read this book, I'd even stopped reading it and read a few other books in between but then towards the end of "The Guardian" I just couldn't put it down!

Personally I wouldn't say this book is a love story. There are romance aspects but I think the main storyline has more aspects that I would describe as a thriller... but I don't know anything about book genres so I could be totally wrong! 

Having looked at reviews online, it seems like most other people who've read "The Guardian" don't have the same opinion as me. The majority of the reviews I've read are singing the books praises very highly indeed. All in all, I wouldn't say this book is a definite 'must-read' but if you enjoying reading regularly and want something not too intense but quite gripping, then "The Guardian" would be a well suited book for you. 

So yes, there are my thoughts on the book! I'm hoping to start reading a lot more so maybe there will be some more review type things (excuse my hideous English!) on the way :) Charlotte x