Two For Joy - Helen Chandler
Published: 06/06/13
Publisher: Hodder
Pages: 307
My cover loving obsession kicked in when I saw this cover and I was desperate to read this book! The lovely people at Hodder kindly sent me a review copy and I started it as soon as it arrived. I read the blurb before I started and got about a quarter of the way through the book and was rather disappointed. The blurb had already told me what was going to happen and it didn’t seem like there was going to be anything more exciting to the plot. I was quite wrong though and a big bombshell was suddenly dropped which, amazingly, I didn’t see coming!
Julia and Toby have been best friends since they can remember but have always been nothing more than that. However, when Toby asks Julia about proposing to his girlfriend Ruby, Julia can’t help but feel slightly devastated. Toby goes ahead and proposes to Ruby but she declines and they split up because Ruby is totally not ready for commitment. Toby goes running back to Julia and they finally decide to tell each other how they feel and agree to give their relationship a go. Everything is going well until Ruby gets back in touch with Toby to say she is pregnant. Toby, ever the gentleman, decides that as much as he loves Julia, he should do the right thing and go back to Ruby and his unborn child. Julia is left distraught and tries to pick up the pieces by busying herself with work and nights out with her friend Rose. Can Julia ever win back Toby or is Ruby and his new child all he needs?
I was drawn into these characters lives instantly and I fell in love with Julia. She wasn’t a perfect ‘size 10, petite, glamorous’ woman. She was a size 14, business woman who loved nothing more than a bag of crisps (my kind of girl!) I adore Toby as a character and, even though he sometimes made the wrong decisions, all he was ever worried about was the happiness of his child. Ruby was an interesting character, she was very self centered and I was concerned that she would be an awful mother but she learns a fair bit over the course of the book about responsibility.
This plot had a few surprising twists, some of which I didn’t see coming. The writing was funny and sharp and I found myself storming through this book as each chapter made me want to keep reading. It was quite a short book, only just over 300 pages so it would have perhaps been nicer to have a few extra chapters on the end but, for a debut novel it was really impressive and I cannot wait to see what is next from Helen!
Publisher: Hodder
Pages: 307
My cover loving obsession kicked in when I saw this cover and I was desperate to read this book! The lovely people at Hodder kindly sent me a review copy and I started it as soon as it arrived. I read the blurb before I started and got about a quarter of the way through the book and was rather disappointed. The blurb had already told me what was going to happen and it didn’t seem like there was going to be anything more exciting to the plot. I was quite wrong though and a big bombshell was suddenly dropped which, amazingly, I didn’t see coming!
Julia and Toby have been best friends since they can remember but have always been nothing more than that. However, when Toby asks Julia about proposing to his girlfriend Ruby, Julia can’t help but feel slightly devastated. Toby goes ahead and proposes to Ruby but she declines and they split up because Ruby is totally not ready for commitment. Toby goes running back to Julia and they finally decide to tell each other how they feel and agree to give their relationship a go. Everything is going well until Ruby gets back in touch with Toby to say she is pregnant. Toby, ever the gentleman, decides that as much as he loves Julia, he should do the right thing and go back to Ruby and his unborn child. Julia is left distraught and tries to pick up the pieces by busying herself with work and nights out with her friend Rose. Can Julia ever win back Toby or is Ruby and his new child all he needs?
I was drawn into these characters lives instantly and I fell in love with Julia. She wasn’t a perfect ‘size 10, petite, glamorous’ woman. She was a size 14, business woman who loved nothing more than a bag of crisps (my kind of girl!) I adore Toby as a character and, even though he sometimes made the wrong decisions, all he was ever worried about was the happiness of his child. Ruby was an interesting character, she was very self centered and I was concerned that she would be an awful mother but she learns a fair bit over the course of the book about responsibility.
This plot had a few surprising twists, some of which I didn’t see coming. The writing was funny and sharp and I found myself storming through this book as each chapter made me want to keep reading. It was quite a short book, only just over 300 pages so it would have perhaps been nicer to have a few extra chapters on the end but, for a debut novel it was really impressive and I cannot wait to see what is next from Helen!
Laura