Gin and Tolstoy (Summer 2018): Book 8

[KeithLeMonde]

Discussion thread for group 1, book 8

[KeithLeMonde]

@justcheese this is your thread :)

[KeithLeMonde]

I feel awful as I am the first one to review this book and I didn't like it :( I know it's been hugely popular with others but for me the characters were too clichéd - the hunky gardener, the girl with Down Syndrome who happens to have second sight. I don't mind a sentimental book but it needs to have rounded characters and that was where this fell down for me. Sorry, hopefully others will enjoy more than I did.

[Badtasteflump]

Have just finished this - I have to admit I skim-read the last couple of chapters as I realised I had run out of time to finish it!

I hate being negative but after reading Keiths review I thought oh sod it

I didn't really enjoy it in the end. I liked the first couple of chapters and did find the way the book was written interesting - I always like a bit of time hopping, and the added little stories relating to the lost items gave it a nice twist.

But overall I found the story a little contrived. Why oh why did it have to be the gardener? I always get a sinking feeling when I start to read a book and it's screaming out at me that two people (one of whom is always 'standoffish' or 'distant' are going to end up getting together. I would love to read a book where I think that but then I'm wrong - but it's never happened (yet!).

So I didn't hate it, and generally I love a bit of Chic Lit, but this one was a little bit too sweet for me - sorry.

[Badtasteflump]

Btw though - the mint chocolate was absolutely gorgeous - I made myself feel quite sick eating it in two sittings

[diamantegal]

Oh dear, I feel pressure to dislike this book! Actually, I didn't mind it - I'm not going to claim it was a work of literary genius, but then I never expected it to be. I did think it was all a bit contrived, but that's fairly normal for this genre so it didn't bother me.

Work is horrendous at the moment, so it was nice to have something fairly simple to read. Maybe not the kind of book I'd want to read all the time, but it definitely wasn't my least favourite of the swap so far. And variety is the spice of life, after all!

[RosehipHoney]

I didn't mind this, it wasn't badly written, but it was just a bit twee, and nice. Middle aged but failing in life divorcée redeemed by working as housekeeper to troubled writer and hoarder, who dies and leaves his oasis to her, along with the hunky gardener and well meaning vulnerable adult next door. Sometimes this kind of writing is reassuring, but I found it a bit irksome, and silly, with too obvious plotting. There were some quietly comic moments amongst the cliché, so it was far from dreadful - a bit like midsomer murders - instantly forgettable.