Review

The Phoenix Syndrome by Claire Gem is a fun and light romantic comedy that is a highly pleasant read.

The book started out at a steady pace, but before I knew it I was so engrossed in the plot that I found it difficult to put it down even to make a cup of coffee! This book is one of those books that gives you a feel-good feeling about the story and makes the time go by in the blink of an eye. I enjoyed reading this book thoroughly and found myself chuckling quite often owing to the author’s witty, sarcastic and intelligent\remarks.
I’ve previously read Hearts Unloched by the author and loved her writing style, but this book was even better and I found the writing style even more engrossing. I’m really looking forward to reading her next releases.

I loved the characterization and was able to connect to the main character, Lannie. Even though I rarely read books about characters above 30 years of age, this book proved to be a pleasant experience. I also loved the other secondary characters and enjoyed the background stories of them all. The ending of the story was perfect too.

I’d recommend this book to all the romance and chick-lit lovers and also to those who won’t mind reading a warm funny read.

Author: Robert Davies Higgins
Release Date: 10 November 2016
Series: –
Genre: Chick-Lit, Romance
Edition: Ebook
Pages: 150
Publisher: AG Books

Rating: ★★

Blurb:

Veronica and her best friend and business partner Elizabeth work long hard hours preparing to open a high class art and gift shop in the English Lake District. With the work completed, they decide to take a short break before the grand opening, and they go to a beautiful country hotel for a few days to chill out.
They befriend a young Australian waitress, who has a bubbly fun filled personality. When a huge old American Cadillac drives into the parking lot, a competition between the three of them ensues as to what the handsome driver does for a living, and who is going to win his heart!
Great fun, and exciting adventures follow, but who indeed will win the heart of the tall handsome stranger?

Review

We Are Going To A Wedding by Robert Davies Higgins was, unfortunately, not for me.

First off the blurb of this book is actually the synopsis of only the first two chapters and after that, the story seems to stretch all the way to the uneventful ending. The story didn’t make any sense for me.

Apart from the story, the dialogues were unreal too. They were awkward and I really think that this book needs another round or two of revising and a good professional developmental as well as line editing.

The characters felt flat and one-dimensional and the story just didn’t make any sense. Veronica was at least tolerable, but the character of Elizabeth was so weird that I had a hard time reading the book whenever she started talking or making pervert snide remarks (which was quite a lot.)

I hate posting negative reviews, but there’s nothing really positive I can say about this book as the writing itself had flaws. I had a hard time focusing on the story with abrupt head hoping and change of POVs without any break or warnings. There were11 chapters in total, but I feel that the story should have been divided into at least 20 chapters giving space for individual POV chapters that could have made the reading experience better.

Unfortunately, I did not like this book and as an author myself I feel like it will be wrong to not point out the flaws, hence the detailed dissection.
Even though I might not recommend this book to anyone, I have a feeling that chick-lit readers might find it interesting enough to enjoy it (or maybe not.) And I do think that if this book gets edited properly and the typesetting is improved then it might make for a pleasant read for the genre lovers.

Goodreads and Amazon