Book Review - First, I Love You

First, I Love You by Genevieve Dewey

Released 27th September 2012

Paperback 300 pages

Publisher Smashbox

Rating 5/5

Source Sent a copy by Genevieve.

Summary…

'First, I Love You' is the first novel in the Downey Trilogy exploring the powerful bonds of family, friendship, and love. After having spent most of his life avoiding his father, Omaha Detective Tommy Gates takes an opportunity to work his first big Federal case in Chicago, the same city where his father, retired mobster Mickey Downey now lives. While battling the increasing meddling of his sister Kiki Downey and his co-workers, Tommy struggles with taking the risk of letting his father into his heart when his world-view is everything Tommy stands against. Just as he is beginning to navigate these issues of family, loyalty and trust, his personal and professional lives collide in a way that could threaten them all.

My thoughts…

The title suggests a love story to me, First, I Love You reminded me so much of Cecelia Ahern’s PS I Love You. However, reading about Genevieve’s passion for organised crime, I figured I was in for a very different kind of story in the first instalment of the Downey trilogy.

The book doesn't quite follow the rules of any specific genre – while the main theme is organised crime intertwined is a story of hatred, love and regret, which pleased me greatly. Some may say that you cannot have a story about warring Mafia families, crime and murder with stories of love thrown in, but I think in this instance it really worked.

The story is told from the viewpoint of six main characters: Tommy, Mickey, Mark, Kiki, James and Ginny. Each chapter is told from the view of a different character with each one following on from where the previous have left off. Each character is introduced at a steady pace allowing you to get to know one before another is added into the mix, instead of just throwing them all in at the beginning. For me all of this worked perfectly, as each character plays a highly important role within the story and by constantly changing the narrative, the story is allowed to move at a much faster pace.

The story is completely believable. You have Mickey, a famous gangster who has an affair which results in the birth of his first son, Tommy. Mary loves Mickey dearly but wants the complete family so she does what she believes is the only way to do this and turns to the FBI. Mickey wants nothing more than to be a part of Tommy’s life, but he must do everything possible to keep his two loves safe and that is to let them go. 20 years later and a “retired” Mickey also have Kiki and Joey to keep safe now while Tommy is a Detective working to bring down one of his father’s associates. With so much history, it is no surprise that things don’t go quite to plan.

I am a huge fan of chick lits and crime thrillers and this book brought my two loves together. On one hand you have two new loves beginning, you have an old one rekindled and you have the love between a father and a son – you then have the nitty gritty child sex ring, gangland murder and Mafia feuds.

One thing that Mary says really stuck with my throughout the whole book, “why did no one never know the answer to these things until after the milk had been spilt?” The book poses so many questions, with some being answered and the others leaving you on the biggest cliff-hanger dying to find out how it will all end.

If you are a fan of Harlan Coben that I would definitely recommend First, I Love You. Such a fantastic debut novel from Genevieve Dewey, I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us.

You can buy the book from Amazon now. 

Book Review - The Rose Petal Beach

The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson

Released 30th August 2012

Paperback 416 pages

Publisher Quercus

Rating 5/5

Source Purchased

Summary...

Every love story has a dangerous twist. Tamia Challey is horrified when her husband, Scott, is accused of something terrible - but when she discovers who his accuser is, everything goes into freefall. Backed into a corner and unsure what to think, Tamia is forced to choose who she instinctively believes. But this choice has dire consequences for all concerned, especially when matters take a tragic turn. Then a stranger arrives in town to sprinkle rose petals in the sea in memory of her lost loved one. This stranger carries with her shocking truths that will change the lives of everyone she meets, and will once again force Tamia to make some devastating choices...

My thoughts...

I am a long standing fan of Dorothy Koomson, from The Cupid Effect to My Best Friends Girl to Goodnight Beautiful. Her latest offering, The Rose Petal Beach is in true Dorothy style and did not disappoint one bit.

The story focus’s around Tami, a wife and mother who has a seemingly perfect life – two beautiful children, a stunning home, gorgeous husband, her dream job and a life that she had always dreamed of. Then one day, all that she knows about her life comes crumbling down around her, with dire consequences, where nothing will ever be the same again.

The tale is told from various different angles – Tami, her best friends Mirabella and Beatrix and newcomer Fleur. Mirabella and Beatrix both live in the ‘close’ – Mirabella works with Tami’s husband Scott and Beatrix is like a member of the family and Tami’s oldest friend. And Fleur pops up out of the blue one day, revealing secrets to Tami about one of her best friends, but is it too late to change things?

Tami, like so many of Dorothy’s leading ladies, is a strong, fiery, heroic woman, a true protector to all of those that she loves and someone that I think so many people can relate to. If I were faced with situations like Tami, I would hope that I could be just like her and handle the grief, betrayal and deception with that much dignity.

The Rose Petal Beach does fit into Dorothy’s usual genre of ‘Chick Lit’ but with the fast pace, edge of your seat, page turning, roller coaster that you get from a crime thriller. The chopping and changing from character to character really keeps the story going and left me wanting more after each chapter, I even stayed home on Saturday reading until I had finished the book as I needed to know how it ended!

One thing I love about Dorothy is her ability to create such interesting characters. In this book each of them change, some more dramatically than others, however they are all believable. She develops them over time and in a way that you can believe. Take Scott for example – he starts off as a kid from the wrong sort of background, he grows up and takes a different direction from his family, he is then a loving husband and father who would do anything to make his family happy, he then becomes a career focus, his ego takes over causing his marriage to suffer and the rest you will find out about in the book. Scott goes from one extreme to the other, but I didn’t think at any point that it had been taken too far.

The ending isn’t all happy and jolly, where everyone kisses and makes up, like most chick lit’s, but it is fair to all of the characters. It must have taken a lot of time to decide what to do with each of them, but I think it was fitting and believable.

I cannot recommend this book enough, The Rose Petal Beach is a story that be read by both men and women and I can really see that being made into a TV drama.

I LOVED this book and cannot wait to read more from the lovely Dorothy Koomson.