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Life Begins by Amanda Brookfield (view source)
Revision as of 13:23, 13 August 2020
, 13:23, 13 August 2020no edit summary
Brookfield writes in a few male interests for Charlotte, and one borders on obsessively creepy, which is a nice humourous addition to the book. As well as Charlotte and her immediate family, we're introduced to her other friends, especially Henry and Theresa who play an important role throughout and therefore feature quite a bit in the book. All the characters are believable and work well with Charlotte. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Charlotte and Theresa, and all the relationships were fun to read.
Brookfield's writing is very easy to read, she has some lovely descriptions of houses and places allowing you to vividly imagine them as you're reading the book. The book is written in the third person, which was easiest for this book because it does deviate from Charlotte's story occasionally to follow the other minor characters in the book. I didn't struggle with her writing style at all. What interested me most were the chapter beginnings throughout the book (not every chapter, almost every other one) which were flashbacks to Charlotte's childhood written by Charlotte and helped explain things that were written in the present -day story. These additions made the book slightly different from other women's fiction novels and really gave a good insight into Charlotte's life.
It was a very enjoyable book overall, and the story was interesting too. It had a good pace with the story travelling along nicely and the flashbacks adding another element to the book. All of the characters were likeable, and it was just a pleasant read. I'll admit I struggled at the beginning but it definitely got better as it went on, with the pace picking up slightly and becoming more readable. I was impressed by Brookfield's story-telling and shall look for more of her material.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Another enjoyable book on the theme of moving on in life is [[Divas Don't Knit by Gil McNeil]]. You might also enjoy [[Before I Knew You by Amanda Brookfield]].
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