Release Date: October 28/2014
Acquired: Print copy provided by Publisher
Goodreads: ADD
Purchase: Amazon/IndieBound/Book Depository
Three cities. Three seasons. One chance to find the life that fits.
Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is.
So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London. Exchanging grouse moor and mousy hair for low-carb diets and high-end highlights, Cassie tries on each city for size as she attempts to track down the life she was supposed to have been leading, and with it, the man who was supposed to love her all along.
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I'm not a huge fan of name, and/or label, dropping in books. I feel like it cheapens the narrative, and makes my skin itch from superficial ridiculousness. Christmas at Tiffany's was full of it. Filled to the brim. I kept trying to concentrate on the deeper message of 'truly finding yourself' after you've experienced trauma, but I just kept getting distracted by the primping and preening. I can't count the number of times I eye-rolled at the references made to guys 'checking out' Cassie and her 'long legs.' I sound bitter, but I just can't stand it when an author consistently needs to drill into a reader's head just how 'attractive' her character is.
Qualms aside, Christmas at Tiffany's was a fast, entertaining read, a 'how to spend a rainy afternoon' type of narrative. The scenery in this book was the star pupil, the way Karen Swan seemed to capture the true essence of New York, Paris, and London. If anything, she made me want to blow my savings on a round trip to all three cities. I stopped focusing on Cassie's personal and romantic life and began to focus on the effects that each city had on her well-being. I didn't care for her fantastic physical transformation and wish that the narrative didn't spend so much time emphasizing that. I figured out very early on who her true romantic match would be, so it was more exhausting than anything else to have to sit through multiple 'hook-ups' with random men.
Christmas at Tiffany's is a massive tome of a book, which wasn't off-putting in the least once you actually started reading it. I want to say that it could have been about 150 pages shorter, but I respect that the author didn't elaborate too much on any one particular moment. It was an interesting technique, used especially well in, and after, the opening scene. A huge twist is revealed and becomes the catalyst for the remainder of the novel, but it wasn't dragged on, and you don't even really understand what's going on until Cassie has already moved on to the next chapter in her life. I must admit, it was one of the hardest hitting revelations I've read in a 'chick-lit' book, and written very well.
This novel would definitely make a terrific gift/suggestion for the people in your life that enjoy Lifetime Movie Specials, or books centered around the holiday season. And that cover would look fabulous sticking out of a stocking!
Read if you like:
Books by Elin Hilderbrand, Sophie Kinsella and Emily Giffin
Books by Elin Hilderbrand, Sophie Kinsella and Emily Giffin
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Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and an ADHD puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest in Sussex, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs. Her first novel, Players, was published in 2010, followed by Prima Donna and Christmas at Tiffany's in 2011.
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Thank-you to Trish from TLC Book Tours for hosting this tour, and to William Morrow for sending me a print copy to review! CLICK HERE to follow the rest of the tour
Thanks for sharing your thoughts as part of the tour.
ReplyDeleteGreat bllog I enjoyed reading
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