Customer Reviews

It Had to Be You

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book just wasn't good. I really enjoyed another one of the author's books, Always the Bridesmaid, and I had a hard time finding her other books in the US. So, I was quite pleased when I found this one and I was looking forward to a great read. Talk about a letdown. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. The story really dragged, and the trajectory of the characters was very predictable. It could have been a great story about three women, but instead it was a boring, mundane chick lit novel that can be described as average at best. The struggling mother was not convincing or well written, nor were the two single gals. I would not recommend buying this book - check it out from the library if you feel so compelled.

I am not going to go into the details of what this book is about because you can read about it in the product description.

Here's the cliff's notes version: It's about three women in an Irish Village. Molly is the shy book shop employee, who yearns to be a writer but can't figure out what to write; Paige is the mother of a spoiled brat and is also running for political office; and Kate is the "dummy dater" that teachers single people how to date.

Let's see, where do I begin?

Frankly, I had a hard time getting into the story. I felt like the characters were not fleshed out enough so that they became real people.

I often found myself skipping chapters just to get through it, especially for Paige and some of Molly. I think this book could've done well without those two.

To make this book better, I think the author should've focused more on Kate, who was the most interesting part in this book. I would've loved to have learned more about Kate and her world in "dummy dating." Just showing some of her disaster clients would've been funny. But it wasn't. There was only one client: Angus, who is a dork, but sweet as can be. I like that Kate starts developing a crush on Angus and gets torn when her ex-fiance comes into town for a fling with her.

Now, if the book had focused only on Kate, we would have learned more about her and Angus, her and ex-fiance, her and her past and history with her parents' bad marriage, and how she became so cynical about men and relationships.

This book would've been far better if only Kate were the star. If the writer really had a need to put Paige and Molly in there, then they could've been minor secondary characters. Although, I think she had enough of them already. A lot of the people in this book were totally forgettable. I'm serious, I couldn't remember any of them. Normally, I would like to go back to re-aquaint myself with the character, but I just wanted to get through this boring book.

Overall, there was just one question: what was this story really about? It had nothing, really. There was no humor or wit. There were no memorable characters. I kept yawning through the whole book.

It was just very DRY! It desperately needed a lot of flavor.

This book is definitely going in the recycling bin.

I really liked this book - it was fresh, funny and sweet - just how I like my chick lit novels. It's set in Ireland and features 3 great women characters and tells you all about each of their lives - friends, family and love lives too.
Very enjoyable.

In Burnaby, Ireland, Molly Harper manages Happily Ever After bookshop that caters mostly to readers of romance. However, she is stunned when owner Anita Vickers informs her she sold the store to Milo Devine. Molly is unhappy as Milo reminds her of a used car salesman who will make radical changes for the bottom line's sake and not the customer. To her chagrin Molly feels an intense attraction to his son Sam.

Close friend Kate Bowan is so busy selling designer shoes and running Dublin Dummy Dates matchmaking service that she has no time for herself though she feels lonely. Her current matchmaking client Angus Cawley is driving her crazy as she is attracted to him, but refuses to act on her feelings.

Molly's other close friend; Burnaby County Councilor Paige Brady is happily married with two children, Alfie and Callum. However she has problems as the Little Orchard that watches her rugrats is closing for the month, her opponent on the proposed Crescent Refuge Center Connie Calloway attacks her on a personal level, and she is pregnant.

The story line rotates as each of the three amigas rotates front and center for a chapter at a time. However, though incidents cross the subplots, the audience actually have a trio of novellas that focus on each of the fully developed females; ergo the rotational perspective format comes at the cost of momentum. Sarah Webb provides a wonderful contemporary look at Ireland through the eyes of modern day women.

Harriet Klausner