Synopsis
Meet Sophie Stone, a thirty-something serial procrastinator. Tesco knickers, Take That and tea with two sugars is about as exciting as it gets. Sophie’s life is safe and predictable, which is just the way she likes it, thank you very much.
But when her boyfriend dumps her on Valentine’s Day and a mysterious benefactor leaves her an inheritance, even Sophie has to accept that change is afoot. There is a catch: in order to inherit, Sophie must agree to meet the father she has never seen.
Not a fan of surprises, Sophie would rather not; why not let sleeping dads lie? Besides, her mother would kill her.
With interference from an evil boss, bickering flat mates, warring parents and a sexy ex-boyfriend, Sophie has plenty to contend with without an architect who puts his foot in it every time he opens his mouth. But it soon becomes clear that she will have to face the past and learn some uncomfortable home truths before she can finally build a future on her own terms.
Conditional Love was an okay read. It's not half bad, it's not half good either, its somewhere in between. I wish I was in love with it and as much as I think the author has potential, I didn't believe in any of the character nor did I believe in the plot and the use of "babes" grated on me. I have a distrust of people of people who use the following endearments "baby, babes, babs, bab". This is Chicklit without soul or passion or substance and for those reasons it was greatly underwhelming.
According to a very untrustworthy source (Wikipedia) Chick lit "is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly." This is well and good, problem is that at the moment Chick Lit is inundated with too many uninteresting women and very little substance. In Conditional Love I did not connect with the characters probably because they were too similar to other characters from other books. Also how many times can I read about a city girl inheriting a property in the county without succumbing to brain surgery.
I am not sure if it's the genre I'm out growing or it's the fact that I was reading another book with characters I could not relate to with scenarios I could not fathom and with family dramas that felt forced. It's not because I'm black as a friend of mine pointed the other day when I said I was bored to tears of this genre which to a great extent is inundated with white female authors, no it's the characters I'm bored with. I read all book whether the character is black or white or Asian as long as the character is good and doesn't bore me to tears. Americanah's Ifemelu struck a cord with me because she had a sharp and intelligent personality, Sophie Stone was just another female on a train I could walk past without a backward glance, she was very purposeless. I will continue to follow the author's work as I think she is a great writer, the issue I had was with the the characters.
Review
Conditional Love was an okay read. It's not half bad, it's not half good either, its somewhere in between. I wish I was in love with it and as much as I think the author has potential, I didn't believe in any of the character nor did I believe in the plot and the use of "babes" grated on me. I have a distrust of people of people who use the following endearments "baby, babes, babs, bab". This is Chicklit without soul or passion or substance and for those reasons it was greatly underwhelming.
According to a very untrustworthy source (Wikipedia) Chick lit "is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly." This is well and good, problem is that at the moment Chick Lit is inundated with too many uninteresting women and very little substance. In Conditional Love I did not connect with the characters probably because they were too similar to other characters from other books. Also how many times can I read about a city girl inheriting a property in the county without succumbing to brain surgery.
I am not sure if it's the genre I'm out growing or it's the fact that I was reading another book with characters I could not relate to with scenarios I could not fathom and with family dramas that felt forced. It's not because I'm black as a friend of mine pointed the other day when I said I was bored to tears of this genre which to a great extent is inundated with white female authors, no it's the characters I'm bored with. I read all book whether the character is black or white or Asian as long as the character is good and doesn't bore me to tears. Americanah's Ifemelu struck a cord with me because she had a sharp and intelligent personality, Sophie Stone was just another female on a train I could walk past without a backward glance, she was very purposeless. I will continue to follow the author's work as I think she is a great writer, the issue I had was with the the characters.
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