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.
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 3rd 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!
* Thanks to
Simon & Schuster UK for sending me a copy of ALWAYS ON MY MIND for review!
