Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

66%

11.03.23

This suffered from the usual TJR problem of under-editing (endless exposition; a predictable romance; another page, another eye roll, another unnecessarily detailed description of what someone is wearing). As usual, it didn't have anything particularly profound to say... but yet, it was a hugely engaging read, despite the tedious tennis. I like the way names pop in and out of the ever-increasing TJR alternate celebrity universe. And the truculent and tenacious Carrie proves you don't need to identify with a character to root for them. Game, set and match!

One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

49%

29.01.23

I think this was TJR's last novel before she found herself a niche in fake celebrity memoirs. Those are better. Perhaps it's the more focused characters in the later books - the two men in this seemed to be exactly the same so no wonder the narrator struggled to choose between them. And I have no idea what they saw in her. Unsurprisingly, that made the whole premise a little rocky.

Maybe in Another Life - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

49%

24.07.22

This was TJR before she hit her stride with fictional celebrity memoirs and it's not good. It's hard to care about any of the self-centred protagonists. It's hard to care about what happens to them. It's certainly hard to care, or even read, about their fluffy thoughts on love and fate.

Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

53%

02.06.22

I was really looking forward to reading this but it turned out to be a struggle to finish. Why should I care about these rich, entitled people with their everyday problems? As well as the trend to set stories in the past just because people don't have cellphones, there seems to be a whole new genre about the relationship dynamics among four or more adult siblings, as if those of us from smaller families should be envious. Meh.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

60%

08.03.22

No, not Victor Hugo. Now, that would be interesting. This, on the other hand, while diverting, was like an early Daisy Jones and the Six (by the same author) - the story of an alluring woman in a glamorous world reflected through the medium of the media. And, like that book, not as profound as it would like to be.

The Tortoise and the Hare - Elizabeth Jenkins

65%
28.09.16

I ordered this from the library on a whim, after reading several glowing reviews. It's certainly of its time (late 1940s/early 1950s) and, to modern readers, the main character can be maddeningly passive as her awful husband blatantly takes up with another woman. But modern minds could also view it as a fairly convincing account of emotional abuse that causes depression and loss of self-confidence. It is beautifully written (if oddly edited) and rather intriguing in its account of class behaviour.