Author: Sue Moorcroft
Publish Date: 1st June 2010
Published By: Choc Lit
Revenge and love: it’s a thin line...
The writing’s on the wall for Cleo and Gav. The bedroom wall, to be precise. And it says ‘This marriage is over.’
Wounded and furious, Cleo embarks on a night out with the girls, which turns into a glorious one night stand with...
Justin, centrefold material and irrepressibly irresponsible. He loves a little wildness in a woman – and he’s in the right place at the right time to enjoy Cleo’s.
But it’s Cleo who has to pick up the pieces – of a marriage based on a lie and the lasting repercussions of that night. Torn between laid-back Justin and control freak Gav, she’s a free spirit that life is trying to tie down. But the rewards are worth it!
Letting go can be one of the hardest things to do, but doesn't necessarily mean giving up.
I'm not really sure what compelled me to read this book. Maybe because when I found it, it was free for a limited time and I was just that bored. The book has a few hits but a lot more misses for me and unfortunately the only thing that kept me reading was the wondering how much more ridiculous the drama could get.
I think the reason I couldn't get into this as much as I wanted to was because of the characters. Cleo was suffocating in her marriage to her husband Gav, and at times came off incredibly dim. Gav was immediately painted as the villain of the piece making it less enjoyable as we immediately knew he was an emotional mess. It was all too obvious and the characters weren't complex or dynamic enough to make me care. I didn't feel like there was much development either beyond their actions. A simple sigh and 'sorry' was not enough to redeem Gav because he had done nothing but horrible things to Cleo. Justin unleashed Cleo's wild side, but Justin himself lacked any real charm and his sexual aggression in moments of anger worried me (until the end of the book, when I genuinely wondered where this guy had been the whole time; how he handled himself like a real man). If I am honest, it felt like dramatic event, character reactions and no real development. As if parts 1 and 2 were missing part 1.5 in the middle in which showed the character's growth and development. I can recall one part of the book in which Cleo embraced the freedom she had but she went straight back to her usual self which irritated me somewhat.
That all being said, it was an entertaining read simply because the events that happened were very soap-like, as if I'd just tuned into an episode of Eastenders or something. I didn't understand the reasons for these other than for dramatic effect. This could have had so much more of a profound and deeper meaning and I couldn't get past the fact it had potential but didn't go as far as it could have.
Fans of the romance genre may enjoy this and read more into it, but for me it wasn't enough to make me want to pick up another Sue Moorcroft book for a while.
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