Most gripping book I have read in a while

This book is beautifully written and very relatable. I purchase around 4 audiobooks per month and this is the best yet.
I was gripped from start to finish and could relate to the mother of Cherry and Daniel.
Can't wait to read more from this author.

18 people found this helpful

Very entertaining but improbable

Enjoyed the book on the whole although I found much of the plot improbable. It also leaves me thinking there must be a 'formula' for writing this type of thriller that insists you must include some form of animal cruelty. I've come across this in several books recently and I'm starting to find it irritating. Surely the author can make you dislike the 'baddy' without having to resort to this? Just makes me dislike the author. The narrator was excellent.

17 people found this helpful

Struggling to finish this

What would have made The Girlfriend better?

The characters are all very unpleasant, you're never able to see the side of Cherry that makes Daniel like her. The story is only just plausible. I agree with the reviewer below - I've just reached the part of the book where the narrator sounds like she's got a blocked up nose.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Antonia Beamish?

Anybody who didn't sound like she had a cold.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not really.

21 people found this helpful

Is This Girl All She Seems o Be

What did you like most about The Girlfriend?

I got totally immersed in the storyline and resented interruptions. Found all the characters believable, some were annoying and I learnt that great wealth doesn't always bring great happiness.

What did you like best about this story?

The way it sucked me in and kept me wanting more and to know more and to find out if girlfriend Cherry was all that she seemed to be.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The end. It tied up the loose ends nicely.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, when Cherry bought two puppies from a pet shop. I won't say why she bought them as it would spoil the storyline for anyone who has yet to read this book, but describing those two puppies and their sad life in the pet shop and their eagerness to please a prospective buyer really tugged at the heart strings.

Any additional comments?

Much as I liked the narration, which really brought the story to life, I found myself wondering if the narrator was suffering from sinus problems. She sounded as though she needed a Vicks inhaler.

15 people found this helpful

Kept me guessing right to the end

A great story of the love of a good man. Women can be devious and manipulative and this story shows that at its worst. It certainly kept me guessing right to the very end and even now I'm struggling with deciding which character was the most evil.

7 people found this helpful

The most exciting part? Returning it!

Wow, I managed 3 hours and 30 minutes of this book. Although nothing happened, I honestly thought I'd had to endure about 8 hours.

I didn't like the narrator's voice, which didn't help. I found the first chapter very uncomfortable, as the mother talks about her son almost as if he's her lover.
Maybe it was being unable to identify with people living in South Kensington who have so much spare money they excavate for a basement with added pool (although I would prefer to identify with people that rich!), or maybe it was the lack of anything happening. Maybe it was the constant reminders the author had to give as to why the mother seems so obsessed with her son. Maybe it was the lack of characterisation of any of the main characters. Maybe it was just the sheer boredom of the first 3.5 hours....

I guess I won't have to find out which, if any, of these issues it was that made me dislike it. Instead I can celebrate the fact I don't feel I have to keep listening. Hurrah!

Clearly this book has its lovers and haters. Please put me firmly in the latter category.

31 people found this helpful

Disappointing.

I was able to skip from chapter 13 to chapter 50 and not miss much. So predictable, toe curling, at times. Shame I lost a credit on this book.

6 people found this helpful

Turgid, dreadful writing, how did it even get published ?

I,m a few chapters in and this gets the doubtful honour of being the only audiobook I have dumped unfinished and I'm getting my money back.
The poor narrator gamely tries inject some interest and she fails dismally, but it's really not her fault. You cant make a silk purse out of a pigs ear and this is very bad writing indeed. It breaks so many rules it should be used by creative writing teachers as an example of how not to write. Example ..laura looked their pleasant faces still static and knew they weren't biting. Laura was aware of feeling like a villain at her own party. What had happened down there ? When she turned to Isabella for support all she got was a puzzled smile... cherry turned her big brown eyes up to daniels, she thinks I'm after your money she sobbed ... and so on and so forth.
The idea of doting mother / new girlfriend conflict is a rich mine for an excellent story but not in the hands of this author sadly.

27 people found this helpful

Dreary

Dull, dreary boring story. I couldn't care which of the two leading women characters won out. They were both horrible people.
Don't waste a credit

2 people found this helpful

Tiger mum v gold digger girlfriend

There are a fair few pros and cons with this book, including the writing. While the story itself is climactic, filled with twists, it reeks of class stereotypes, which were very unfortunate. Not all people from working class backgrounds are gold diggers, not all rich people look down on others, and not all boyfriends are clueless hopeless romantics.

A young woman begins a relationship with a man much wealthier than herself, who she hopes to extort luxuries in the future. The man, who is oblivious to everything on earth, has a tiger mum, fiercely protective over her son, having a loveless marriage and having lost her first child. So it's a battle about who wins Daniel and how far they will go.

It is fairly obvious which way the story will lean towards, especially by half way, and there are a few pointless characters such as Izzy, a friend of the mother. And Tooting is actually a very fashionable place I'll have you know.

Some holes in the plot, and irritating generalities, but good story.

2 people found this helpful