"Happy Hour" tells the
stories of four very different women who are close friends, meeting
regularly for - you guessed it - a happy hour of sharing meals, wines and catching up with each other.
Alyssa, Danielle, Jamie and
Kat are all in different life situations. One is widowed, two are
divorced, one of them has remarried and another one never tied the knot
but broke off her engagement for a mysterious reason
that is revealed as the story unfolds.
Their respective children,
former and current partners, ageing parents and in-laws and sometimes people at work
make sure there is not a minute of boredom in the women's lives.
The book covers only a few
months (with a glimpse into the characters' past every now and then),
but a lot happens in those few months. New jobs, new places to live,
life-threatening illness, the birth of a first grandchild,
teenagers moving out, works of art created and new hobbies found along
with new love - it's all in the story, and told in a credible manner.
Sometimes entertaining, sometimes touching; for me, it was not always
easy to relate to the four women, as my life
couldn't be more different from theirs.
I did enjoy the fast-paced
storytelling and the change of perspective, the chapters alternating
between the four friends, the end of a chapter often leaving the reader
with a mini cliffhanger.
The language is not
particularly elegant, just average contemporary fiction level, nothing
highbrow (not that I expected or wanted that anyway). When the
characters get angry, the f-word is sometimes used, but thankfully, there is
no overuse of vulgarities.
Everything ties up nicely at
the end of the book. There is an epilogue (I do like epilogues!), and
even an interview with the author, which I found really interesting.
This book was free from
Amazon's kindle store. I am probably not actively going to look for
books by Michele Scott, but wouldn't mind reading more from her if I happened to
come across another freebie.
You can find out a lot more about the author and her books here on her website, where she also has a blog.
Sometimes a book like this just hits the spot.
ReplyDeleteIt was a comfortable travelling companion, not challenging at all.
DeleteSometimes it's nice to have a book which takes you into other folks' lives, so long as nothing very much is happening in them. A bit like listening to "The Archers" - although I suppose you don't have that in Germany!
ReplyDeleteQuite a lot does happen in the lives of the four women during a few months, and I sometimes had to shake my head at how they kept bringing difficulties upon themselves, but I guess people do that in real life, too.
Delete"The Archers" is on BBC Internet Radio, I think, but I have never listened to them.
It sounds like a good 'summer at the cottage' book.
ReplyDeleteYes, or a relaxing plane/train read.
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