I am the hugest fan of Chantel's first book Stuck in Downward Dog!!! so it was with huge excitement that I dug into Love Struck. I am not disclosing any spoilers that are not already on the back cover.
I love the premise of the book - a young "with it" image consultant finds out, in the most hilariously possible way" that her husband has been cheating on her. But before she can confront him, she is called by the hospital and informed that her husband was hit by lightning and can't remember what happened - over the course of the last few weeks/months - which means he does not remember the affair (or does he?).
The author chooses to walk a very fine line - in using a very delicate and painful subject matter, but twisting it on its ear with humor. I am not sure how she managed it, but it worked.While I was seriously upset, on behalf of the main character, about her cheating husband, I also found myself kind of liking the "new man he becomes" and actually finding myself willing to "gasp!" give him a second chance.
One of the things that I realized is that i was not always a fan of the main character Poppy who, through, the whole event, somehow keeps vascillating between beeing helpless and annoying but also showing some definite "I am woman, hear me roar" type of attitude.
Its interesting to see how she reacts to the affair - mainly by turning the problem onto herself and trying to look more like "the other woman" which seriously and hilariously backfires on her for the most part.
Throughout the whole storyline, I kept wondering if hubby really did not remember of if he was faking it as a way of saving their relationshp.There is alot going on here and I loved it! Nobody is exactly who they seem and nothing is clear cut and ovbvious.
There is a tone of melacholy behind the whole storyline, but there is also some seriously funny episodes.
This was a great, great read! Another winner!



Publish Post Save as Draft

I got an advance copy of this from the publisher. I was excited to get to read it before it hits store shelves next month. I enjoy chick lit and am not one to turn away a fun shallow read, but this one didn't do it for me. I liked the story line and the many references to Toronto (who doesn't love reading about their own city?), but there were a few reasons I couldn't really get into the book, so I'm going to give it a qualified 'no':

- I didn't feel anything for the characters. There wasn't any depth to their personalities and I found the protagonist extremely irritating, even as she is redeeming herself.

- I don't like plots where the character lies throughout the entire book and then it eventually unravels at the end. It's too predictable, and generally the character makes such terrible decisions it's not even believable. The one exception in my opinion, is Becky Bloomwood - but she only gets away with it because she's funny.

- The writing style is the sort where she starts saying something and then jumps back to the history of what she's about to tell you. It can make it a bit more difficult to follow and I find that distracting.

Overall, I'm sure others will like this book but I guess I need a bit more depth and characters that are more likable.