PS, I Love You

Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: I have to say that I really liked this book! It really took a different look at coping with the loss of a loved one. The story follows a character, Holly, who recently lost her husband at a very young age. The book follows her and her close friends through the year that follows. Holly has received notes from her husband, one for each month, that are intended to help her move on with her life, in a positive direction.

I was amazed how on one page I was crying and at the next I was laughing, and two pages later crying again! My only disappoinment with the book is that the age of the author can be seen in some immature aspects of the book, such as the partying and drinking of the characters. However, it is still a great read, and I would recommend it to any female looking for a unique, quick read!

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: What a terrific story! It will touch you in every sense of the words love and loss, respectively and together. I was touched and reminded of the true meaning behind important relationships...read it!

Rating:
Summary: Ho-hum
Review: When I heard about this book, I thought it was a really interesting premise. Chick lit as a genre suffers from a lack of originality (the formulaic three-women's-lives-intertwine-as-they-overcome-various-crises plot, anyone?) and is generally given bad press - unfairly as there are some chick lit gems out there. This isn't one of them, however.

After a couple chapters I started wishing that Marian Keyes or someone had written the darned thing - at least she'd have injected some life into an admittedly great plot idea. It was repetitive (check out the clumsy chapter in which Holly goes through her husband's stuff) and the humour was horribly flat. I didn't laugh (or indeed cry), though I may have smirked once or twice.

As for the characters, I rather liked Holly and her odd mix of strong and fragile. Her friends were stereotypes and the banter between them was painful at times. There seemed to be too many siblings - Jack in particular had no real purpose, his supposedly close friendship with Gerry introduced suddenly out of nowhere. Ah yes, Gerry. Holly's dead husband is extremely dull. How is buying a lamp supposed to be life-affirming?

All that said, there are some deft touches, especially towards the end of the novel; for example, the scene in the travel agent's and the part where Holly's boss tells her about visiting the botanical gardens in remembrance of his late wife.

I don't think it made any difference that Cecelia's father is the Taoiseach (that's TEA-shock for any non-Irish people; I suppose it's alright to call him PM, but I almost wept with happiness when an American referred to Bertie as his Irish title on TV recently). She admitted in an interview that it meant she "jumped the queue" at the publisher's, but it hardly accounts for the phenomenal sales worldwide. Bertie Ahern's not THAT much of a power-player; if Chelsea Clinton wrote a book, it'd be different.

Overall? Pretty disappointing.