28 Jun 2013

MY HUSBAND NEXT DOOR.

MY HUSBAND NEXT DOOR by CATHERINE ALLIOTT.

When Ella married the handsome, celebrated artist Sebastian Montclair at just nineteen she was madly in love. Now, those blissful years of marriage have turned into the very definition of an unconventional set-up. Separated in every way but distance, Sebastian resides in an outhouse across the lawn from Ella's ramshackle farmhouse.

With an ex-husband living under her nose and a home crowded by hostile teenaged children, gender-confused chickens - not to mention her hyper critical mother whose own marriage slips spectacularly off the rails - Ella finds comfort in the company of the very charming gardener, Ludo. But is he really the answer to her prayers.


Then out of the blue Sebastian decides he must move away, catching Ella horribly unawares. How much longer can she hide from what really destroyed her marriage . . . and the secret she continues to keep?

...... Press release

FIRST SENTENCE: Sorry, an Advanced Reading Copy, the books expected release date is August 1st, I was asked not to quote. PW

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page) : As above.

SOURCE: A Penguin books Proof/Early Copy won in a competition held by GoodReads.

MY THOUGHTS: Expecting so much more, I was left feeling disappointed with just about every aspect of My Husband Next Door. Though on occasion quite witty and even rather well observed I'm sorry to say I found myself unable to immerse myself in this the author's thirteenth book and its cast of what I can only describe as walking, talking cliches.

Predictable, over long (its close on 500 pages), beyond farcical - not wanting to give away too much but the incident involving a St Bernard dog and a suitcase was just ridiculous and probably the point in which I should have given up reading - and with few characters that I could in any way relate to, I'm afraid that not even the inclusion of the rather quirky chickens could raise a smile let alone a laugh. Unlike the badly researched/totally misinformed belief that the episode with the St Bernard would total a meagre £20 in vet fees which did see me laughing out loud.



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20 comments:

Joan said...

At first glance it seems good and I thought a new download to my kindle but thanks to your review I ,ll give it a miss , another great review ,

,

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Each to their own Joan, you may well enjoy it as I know it got some good reviews on GoodReads.

Mary (Bookfan) said...

Sounds like a lot going on in this book but 500 pages worth? I usually read only epics of that length. Thanks for telling us about it.

brandileigh2003 said...

so sorry you were disappointed with pretty much everything

Kelly said...

At 500 pages, a book needs to be really good for me. This one doesn't sound like it's to my taste.

Lindsay said...

I think there are a lot of novels recently that are 500 pages or more and even if they are good this is unneccessarily long in most cases. Thanks for being honest.

Jinky said...

Bummer! From the title and blurb ..sounded promising. At least you got one lol moment.

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

I love quirky and funny, but sorry it didn't work for you. I suspect I would feel the same way. Hopefully the next one will rock your socks off! :D

Maude Lynn said...

And, it sounded like it would be funny!

Anonymous said...

This sounded like it had so much promise. I thought the chickens added a quirky touch. Thanks for your helpful review. Sorry it wasn't a more enjoyable read.
Jess

Brian Joseph said...

Too bad that this was such a disappointment as the plot sounds somewhat original. Also these unconventional family situations, with ex - spouses living together also seem to be becoming more and more common.

Arti said...

The initial part had got me hooked but 500 words? No chance of me completing it anyways. Enjoyed reading the review though, many thanks for sharing it.

Kalyan Panja said...

Nice reading the review...

The Bookworm said...

Oh that's too bad. I don't like ridiculousness in books either.

Nina Gray said...

The title and the summary really looks like the kind of book I might want to read.

So many books, so little time said...

Thanks for the review, I hate when books go farcical in some aspects. Read a few like that so will miss this one.

Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

Aunt Mary said...

Thank you so much for the nice review, as you always do :)

Betty Manousos said...

that's too bad.
sorry this one was such a disappointment...as the plot sounded promising.
thank you for your honest review, tracy.

big hugs~
xx

Literary Feline said...

That's too bad. It sounded interesting from the description of it--almost comical. Not the type of story though to fill 500 pages, I would think.

Gina said...

Wow...and I had high hopes for it too from the synopsis. Cie la vie. Curious about the St Bernard incident though. .. hmm..