This month our book club book is Our Holiday by Louise Candlish. This is the first Louise Candlish book I have read and I’m looking forward to discussing it with others at my book club in a couple of weeks time.
The Blurb
Charlotte and Perry long for summers at Cliff View, their gorgeous holiday home overlooking the turquoise waters of Pine Ridge. And now that city friends Amy and Linus have bought a property nearby, they plan lazy weeks of sun, sea and sipping rosé on Charlotte’s summerhouse veranda.
But there’s trouble in paradise…
A rising tide of resentment towards second-home owners is heading their way and small acts of criminal damage are escalating into something more menacing. By the end of the summer, families and friendships will be torn apart and Pine Ridge will be known for more than its sun-drenched beaches.
It will be known for murder…
My Review of Our Holiday
I did actually enjoy this book although it wasn’t exactly to my taste. I found it a little over complicated with so many characters and written from several points of view. Although the narrator appears to be Robbie who starts the story with a cliff hanger, literally.
Not only do we have a lot of characters to contend with, there is also a jump in the timelines, from present to past, but all activities happen over the summer holiday. As I was reading I thought the story would be better as a television series. I’ve a feeling this might be something that happens in the future.
The story touched on a lot of relevant issues, second home buyers that only use their home in August, homelessness for the locals, Immigrants being given hotels to stay in and protests
It also has it’s fair share of family feuds, rivalry, affairs, teen troubles and murder.
It is definitely a page turner, although I do think it could have been condensed a little more, that’s probably why I think it would work a bit better as a television series. The writing is really good but there is too much going on and it’s a little too far fetched in my opinion. I’d still give it a 4/5 because I didn’t want to stop reading.
Overall, I think my main gripe is that there was not a character that the reader could side with, all of them had their own faults, some worse than others, but it would have been nice to have someone to root for.
Thank you for the review. Always good to hear about new reads. #MMBC
Hello, visiting from #MMBC!
I’ve not read any Louise Candlish before but this sounds like a book I would enjoy – another to add to my wishlist 🙂
#MMBC
Sounds like an OK read, but not an essential read! I’ve read one Louise Candlish – Our House. That was probably rather similar – it was a page turner, but it wasn’t an essential read for me. It was made into a short TV series!