Sometimes even Fantasy & Science Fiction can pall, and for a day at the beach, there's nothing to beat some junky contemporary romance like Adle Parks' New Wives Club
It had to happen.
I've been reading sci-fi and fantasy for nearly forty years now, and for the last few months, I've been reading it almost non-stop. As well as writing it, I'm suddenly inundated with requests for reviews.
Ever since Chloe (our Springer) had a series of strokes at Easter, we've been more or less confined to the house, and given British weather (ie rain), that's meant we've been confined in the house. Nor are we noted for our spontanaiety, so it was something of a shock when Kate suggested on Friday night that we visit her parents the following day.
The forecast was good, so I thought, 'why not?'
Off we trundled at seven a.m., and because it was short notice, I forgot to take any of my regular reading material.
Instead, because the weather was nice enough to sit on the beach, and in my in-law's garden, a mile or so from the sea, I read one of Kate's books.
New Wives' Tales by Adele Parks is the story of the stay-at-home mum whose husband has forsaken her for the office ice-queen who's perfect in every way, including bitchiness, the mum's best friend who tries to stay friends with both of them, and the various men in their lives. It sounds awful, but it was curiously addictive, a little like being presented with a large jar of roasted cashew nuts (one of my weaknesses). I ploughed through it in just over 24 hours.
What actually redeemed it was Parks' characterizeration of the men, which started off seemingly cliched, but by the end felt unsettingly accurate. Whether that was the law of cognitive dissonance at work, I'm not sure, but if you find a copy, give it a try.
Nor was that the end of my slacking. More tomorrow.
