Lucy Robinson - The Greatest Love Story of All Time...

It's Fran's thirtieth birthday and things are good . . .
She's bluffed her way into a Very Posh Job and her outlandishly handsome and talented boyfriend Michael is escorting her to the Ritz with a bulge the shape of a ring box in his pocket.
But something has gone wrong. Very wrong. By the end of the evening Fran is howling in bed with a bottle of cheap brandy and one of Michael's old socks.
In her quest to figure out why her life has suddenly gone down the pan, Fran comes up with a failsafe plan: live like a badger, stalk a stranger called Nellie and cancel her beloved Gin Thursdays in favour of drinking gin every night. But then Fran's friends force a very different plan on her and it's nowhere near as fun. How could eight dates possibly make her feel better?
But eventually she agrees. And so begins the greatest love story of all time . . .

Comment: In 2019 I've read another book by this author, which I ended up liking a lot, even though it did have some details that weren't as appealing to me. I had promised myself I'd read other books by the author (from what I saw, only three more, perhaps mrs Robinson stopped writing?) and now I've finally jumped into this one, which apparently was the author's debut. 

Well, thankfully I tried her work with that other book because if I had read this one first I wouldn't even know I'd missing out on that other one - at least - which would have been a pity...

In this story we meet Fran, a 30 year old woman who believes the love of her life is about to propose. She's also having a good challenge at work and her life seems to be in a good spot. However, her boyfriend doesn't propose and on top of that, even asks for a three month break. Fran is devastated, and even though she has the support of her friends, it feels as if this situation is only the beginning of an escalation of trouble in all areas of her life. While dealing with the problems, Fran decides she needs to understand why her boyfriend asked for some time, and she accidentally hears a conversation leading her to believe he is already seeing someone else. How can this be? Is there any hope for Fran to get control of her life?

I will have to confess I felt very disappointed with this story, especially because now that some time has passed and I can think about the plot with more concentration, the bones for this story were actually quite compelling and I probably would have appreciated it more. The issue, to me, was that not only the execution was very muddled and all over the place, but Fran just wasn't a likable heroine to me.

With the example of the other book I had read by this author, which I liked, I had some expectations for this one. I now know this was the author's debut and I can imagine this is, perhaps, the explanation, for my lack of engagement; the plot just wasn't edited/presented in the best way it could. I struggled to like Fran and to root for her when she seemed to be such an airhead, only worried about her boyfriend and getting him back. This was even more annoying when he was clearly not the hero, something we can "guess" practically from the start.

Fran is a little silly and her friends decide she should go on dates, to have different experiences and see if what she feels for Michael, her boyfriend, is truly the greatest love of her life. Of course this is meant to offer us a comedy factor, for most "dates" are simply too bad. The issue is that this isn't done so that we can become convinced that Michael is her best option, but to let Fran know she should be more aware of people around her and what their intentions must be like. To make Fran's life worse, and to complicate matters, her alcoholic mother has been having an affair with a married man, who is a public figure, and she thinks Michael has moved on.

Thus, with such complications in life, what does Fran decides to do? Well, instead of working and trying to process things, she starts neglecting her work and starts finding ridiculous ways to stalk the woman she thinks her boyfriend is seeing. I've found these schemes and situations to be incredible childish and the whole thing made me struggle to focus on the story. Then, her boss finally realizes what she's been doing and warns her in such a way, mostly conveying his disappointment in her lack of professionalism, that this does work as a waking up call.

From here on the story did get on track to something more palatable and a few details, which had been almost hidden from our attention with all the silly/complicated shenanigans, started to become more interesting an a lot more solid in how important they were to justify a few things. I'm especially thinking about the clues about Michael not being the best boyfriend, the ones about Dave (Fran's best friend at work) being more than perhaps just a friend to her, and how those around her who could impact her professional career were actually better or worse people than we assumed.

When most of the misunderstandings are vanquished, Fran is finally at a position to understand what had been wrong in her life, in her relationship with Michael and at work. This is, of course, the whole point of this novel, but to me it came a bit too late. I just cannot fully match silly woman Fran with competent Fran,  as she kept being described as being, and this affected my overall impression of the story. I should say that, as the plot was being wrapped up, I could "see" some of the details in the author's skill which I had liked in the other book. I suppose this is really a matter of getting better as time and experience goes by.

In the end, though, this was still not a good story to me. I also wasn't too fond of how one or two last situations were presented as the story was being finished. This means that I cannot think of this story as a good one and I'd very likely not read it again.

Grade: 4/10

Lucy Robinson - The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me

Sally is an incredible singer but she sings only in her wardrobe where nobody can hear her. She'd rather join a nudist colony than sing in public.
That is until she ventures to New York where a wild and heady summer of love and loss changes her forever. No longer able to hide in the shadows, Sally must return home to London to fulfill a promise she cannot break - to share her voice.
But just as she's about to embark on her new life, a beautiful man turns up on Sally's doorstep bearing a sheepish smile and a mysterious hand-written message.
How did he find her? Why is he here? Does he hold the truth to what happened back in New York? And, with him back on the scene, will she still have the courage to step into the spotlight?

Comment: I got interested in this book in early 2015 because it had been in some "best-of" list of 2014. It has been in the pile for a long time but it was the chosen title for September in my buddy-read experiment with friend H. Despite not being as magical as I hoped, it was nevertheless a great read.

In this story we meet Sally Howlett, a young woman from a small English town who has always loved opera and singing but after a terrible first experience in a stage as a child and the opinions of her parents, she decides she will keep her singing in the wardrobe, where she feels secure.

Her best friend is her cousin Fiona, who has her own insecurities but together they are a good team and as grown ups they join the arts together, Sally as a dressmaker for the Royal opera House and Fiona with the Royal Ballet.

Things change for Sally when she and her friends/co-workers participate in a small tour in America with their company. She didn't expect to fall in love so easily despite her self-esteem issues and she also didn't count on returning to England so devastated and in need to fulfill a promise, which is why she has to try to be an opera singer at last...

This is a first person narrative told by Sally and we get to click with her rather easily because of this but thankfully - unlike other 1st person books - Sally is a likable character and she makes this story very compelling and a page turner. At least, for me it was difficult to stop reading when necessary and I was always thinking I had to go back to her story.

In fact, this was sounding quite a wonderful read until a certain detail happened and I got disappointed. It didn't ruin the book, nor the amazing details I liked and why I got invested in the plot but I couldn't help thinking the drama content could have continued without it so... annoying it was.

I liked the idea of Sally being so afraid to sing in public she decides to overlook her talent and just be part of the opera world a different way. I did feel Sally was realistic because if it was me I would probably behave just like her. I think her fear of changing things and keeping up with normalcy was well done and fit her personality.

I also think the characters around her were all well placed: her parents, who acted as a steady but uncompromising voice of reason, her reckless cousin Fiona who was such a contrast to her, her friends who were in the right moment when they had to and, of course, Julian, her love interest in America who proved she could still be humble and quiet but a success and respected.

The biggest conflict comes from a badly perceived situation and that shapes the rest of Sally's attitude. The story is told back and forth between the current moment and her time in America and although I don't tend to like shifting times novels that much, this author's writing felt convincing for how this situation was developing.

Sally, as expected, goes on an emotional journey through her past and present and it's no surprise that she needs to understand whatever she does, she has to do it for herself and that includes be confident to accept her feelings for Julian. What annoyed me in the book was how the author made things happen so that after what happened in America and Julian comes to England to be part of Sally's life, they can't be together. It was so frustrating and I would have preferred a different reason for their conflict.

This is a very emotional story, there are certain situations that are quite touching, others I think were exaggerated or, maybe, they weren't presented in the best way.

I liked Sally's experience a lot, how she went to something she feared and still found positive things. Perhaps some scenes weren't played as well as they could and, to be honest, the end was what I hoped for but a few details in how things got there weren't to my personal liking. After so many things to solve, to go through, I also expected an even more romantic HEA, or with a detailed epilogue. The end, faced with the pace of the book as a whole, felt rushed.

Despite the things I'd change, I still think this was a great read. I'm now curious about the other books by the author and I will most likely try them in the future.

Grade: 8/10