Book Review: Always on My Mind by Colette Caddle

 

Title: Always on My Mind

Author: Colette Caddle

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK 

Publishing Date: July 2011

Length: 416 pages

Genre: Chick-lit, romance

Source: Publisher

~ The Story ~

Old flames, new temptations ...With only a few weeks to go until her Dublin wedding, Molly Jackson is happily anticipating married life with Declan, her boyfriend of four years. Her sister Laura has all the arrangements firmly in hand, from the designer dresses to the prestigious venue; and if Molly would have been happier with something a little more low-key, she can hardly complain. She's got everything she ever wanted: her perfect job, as an agony aunt for online magazine Teenage Kix; Declan, the love of her life; and, in Belle, Oliver, Rory and Laura, a loving and warm, if slightly eccentric family. Then Declan drops his bombshell: he has to go abroad, on business. The wedding must be postponed. Hurt, and reeling from the shock, Molly is seeing Declan off at the airport when she bumps into Luke Fortune. Luke, her childhood sweetheart, left the country when they were both eighteen. It's been almost twelve years, and Molly thought she had moved on. But, seeing Luke again, she realises that she has a window of opportunity, while Declan is away, to put a few of the ghosts in her past to rest.

Summary by Goodreads 

Molly is our protagonist and she is a very convenient character to listen to. She wants to help teens with their problems, is always there for her family. And since she’s recently met her first boyfriend Luke her feelings are now torn between her first love and her fiancé Declan.

At the beginning of each- rather short- chapter we are given date and time where the story sets in. They can be helpful to get an overview, but I found them more irritating than necessary.

The story of ALWAYS ON MY MIND consists of several plots. The main focus lies on Molly’s love life and her struggles of finding the way to happiness and making the right choices. The story being told from a 3^rd person narrator allows us to read what other characters and people close to Molly are doing and thinking.

Besides Molly, we get to know more about Laura’s life. She’s Molly’s elder and very different to our protagonist. ALWAYS ON MY MIND is all about Molly’s struggles in love, Laura’s way of coping with an unsatisfying marriage and then Molly also gets to solve a case for her job as counsellor that could affect all of them.

Furthermore it is about the different ways love can take in life and the various relationships developing in such a big family like Molly’s. ALWAYS ON MY MIND includes all generations which is a fact I really welcome about this novel. It features the ordinary problems and struggles of people like you and me and doesn’t need to involve extreme or insincere scenes. Its everyday conversations can be a nice change, but can sometimes feel a bit dragging, too.

Usually I don’t mention book covers, but this time I have to say that it has nothing to do with the story.

That the story is set in Ireland made the Ireland fan in me very happy, but we don’t get to experience as much of the country’s rural charm as I hoped. I imagined ALWAYS ON MY MIND to be this turbulent read featuring many romantic and sexy scenes. But unfortunately Colette’s book isn’t that mix of surprising and impulsive feelings I’d hoped for- it’s a bit too ordinary in that department. ALWAYS ON MY MIND is a constant, but not very exciting read. In general plot and characters aren’t overly spectacular. Nonetheless Colette Caddle did a decent job at describing the variety of feelings when it comes to the relationships family, friends and love have to offer.

1) sometimes girls need to go on a journey together

2) of a strong and supportive family

3) it features every day life moments that, in some way, can affect all of us

4) of the various perspectives we get on a family

5) sometimes you need to have a look at the past to appreciate your present

2,5/5  **/* ALWAYS ON MY MIND is a solid and well written read about the struggles of people like you and me.

ALWAYS ON MY MIND felt like a new- much more dignified and unspectacular- episode of Desperate Housewives. Colette Caddle fans wouldn’t want to miss this novel.  

* Check out Colette’s other books! 

* For further information visit www.colettecaddle.com

* Thanks to Simon & Schuster UK for sending me a copy of ALWAYS ON MY MIND for review!