Since November 2009Book Review: Hard To Get by Jessica Fox
May 14th, 2010 by Chloe
Charlotte Sinclair is getting on with her life when fate throws her a curveball courtesy of a fortune teller she meets at a friend’s hen party. The psychic tells her “Love comes through hope alone”, and while Charlotte is pretty cynical, a tiny part of her hopes that it might be true. She’s forced to work every day with her ex-husband Richard and his new partner Suzie, but she won’t let on how much seeing him every day gets to her. The pair are sent on a work trip to Yorkshire (much to Suzie’s chagrin!) and there they meet 2 charities vying for the council’s art funding, and consequently Charlotte finds herself getting pretty close to both Heath and Paul. However, she’s sure no man out there is honest and manages to find a fault in both of them. But is Charlotte pushing away a potential love by being so cynical? Is love really so hard to get?
This is the third of the ‘Hen Night Propecies’ series being published by Little Black Dress author Jessica Fox, and I’m very much enjoying the series so far. The first book passed me by, but I loved the 2nd book, Eastern Promises so when this one arrived, I was quite looking forward to reading it. I really liked the purple cover, they seem to all match in certain ways which I like as it makes them seem more of a cohesive set. I was curious to see how much of the previous book would be covered in this one i.e. the characters from Eastern Promises and whether they’d be mentioned, so I sat down eagerly to read it. What I love about the LBD books is that they aren’t too long and are perfect when you fancy a light hearted, fun read!
We’re introduced to unlucky in love Charlotte at work, where her ex-husband and new girlfriend all happen to work, so we immediately know things aren’t going to be very easy for poor old Charlotte for too long. In fact, you’re left wondering why she didn’t just leave the minute he left her, but there you go! I did like her as a character, she was easy to warm to and you do feel sorry for her as I think you’re meant to throughout the book because of her situation with Richard. I liked her more as the book progresses actually, but I did find her constant cynical attitude to men a tad annoying.
The male characters are all very well written too. Her ex-husband Richard is supposed to be unlikeable, and for a while I wasn’t sure whether we were meant to be feeling sorry for him or not since he seemed nice enough. However, after a while it becomes clear what we’re meant to think about him, and I liked that very much. The other two interests of Charlotte were fantastic too. Paul is a single dad who seemed like a really likeable guy, and I think the scenes with him and his daughter were very touching, and I think the author has written these very well. However, the definite hero of the book for me was the lovely Heath, a character who certainly lives up to his name!
The setting of the book is also great. I was worried that it was going to be set in the office were Richard, Charlotte and Suzie work, but luckily a business trip moves the action to Yorkshire, and I think this was a great setting and allowed for Fox to bring in more characters for Charlotte with ease. She describes the charity projects that Paul and Heath run very well, and it actually gets you thinking about such projects in your own town. I think it’s a great subject for a book, and certainly made it difference to most chick lit out there. It gives this book a different side, and I enjoyed the pace of it very much. The love triangle kept it all quite light, and I loved the unfolding relationships throughout the book - the main storyline between Charlotte, Richard and Suzie is the best of the lot!
If you’re read any LBD books before, then I think you’ll definitely like this one. I liked seeing the character Priya from Eastern Promises pop up in this book, it definitely reminds you that these books are part of a series so I am now very much looking forward to the next one! However, this is easily enjoyable as a stand alone book too so you don’t need to worry too much about reading the other books before you start on this one. It’s a fun and short read, and as I say if you’re a fan of the LBD series you’ll like this very much. A good one for your beach bag I think, and recommended from me!
Thanks to the publishers for sending me a copy to review.
Posted in 2010 releases, Book Reviews, Rating: 4/5 | 1 Comment »
Hi Chloe,
Really glad you liked it! This is my favourite so far and I loved Heath - think I wrote myself my dream man!4×4, red setter, lives in the country, likes teenagers! Yes, Charlotte is cynical but she’s a bruised and broken hearted 30 something and I think when women reach this age we do think very differently, I know I certainly do! She’s a very different heroine to the others. Her persistent cynicism is her armour but it drives Zoe mad and Priya is certainly unable to identify with it. Thanks for the positive review.
xxxx