16 June 2023

Yes I know, you have come to expect crime, mystery and thrillers to be the order of the day on the blog. Only to visit and find that this is the second post in a row that is very far from that. My apologies if I have left my regular readers a little disappointed. I have been having a lot of fun venturing into some slightly different book choices.

I was given copies of two books by Marian Keyes and discovered that they are part of the Walsh family series – for once I decided to start at the beginning of the series and that lead me to Watermelon – which I downloaded on Audible.

Watermelon proved to be a hugely entertaining book with loads of humour and the issues a new mother faces when her husband decides to leave her just as her baby is born.

As an introduction to Marian Keyes’ work, I loved this book. Her writing is honest and the characters left me smiling. I enjoyed the family dynamics and the voice in her character’s head. This book left me eager to start the next book in the series.

Claire has everything she wants, a loving husband, an apartment she loves, a satisfying job and now a new baby girl. Just after giving birth, James walks into the hospital room and announces that he is leaving her – he has met someone else. James walks away without even looking at their daughter. Heartbroken, alone with a newborn baby, Claire returns home to Dublin. Her family might be a little quirky but that soon has her feeling better. Until James comes crawling back – what he finds is not what he might have expected.

I loved the voice in Claire’s head. This woman is a brilliant character. Her insecurities are beautifully expressed and you must love the way her mind tends to wander off-topic. The story had a realistic feel which made it very enjoyable.

The women in this book are brilliant. I loved Claire’s sisters and her mother was fantastic. Claire is just brilliant. I loved how the author takes you through all her emotions. Her lack of understanding, her self-pity and her anger were pouring off the pages and you are left sharing these emotions with her.

This book was a wonderfully refreshing change from my normal book of choice and I found myself completely caught up in Claire’s world. There are six more books to go and I cannot wait to make the time to read them. Next is Rachel’s Holiday and with a long weekend ahead of me I am looking forward to digging into that one.

If you are looking for a book that looks at a horrible situation in a light-hearted manner then I cannot recommend this one highly enough.