When we meet Fiona Lemon, she hates her temp job as a PA, rants about bad dates, and is need of a new flatmate after a misunderstanding with her best friend, Ellie. Yep, it's a classic chick lit opening. Unfortunately, the situation with Ellie is quite minor, and I didn't believe they wouldn't just talk about and make up... Still, I persevered with Chinese Whispers, and I'm glad I did.
Fiona lands a job as gossip columnist for Irish Femme and the hilarious insider's peek at celebrity party-life and magazine journalism is a treat.
Fiona gains a flatmate - Bunny Maguire - who is looking for a new start after a disastrous relationship. Bunny accompanies Fiona out on the town and inadvertently becomes a 'celebrity'.
Fiona has a likeable voice and the plot zings along, but there were a couple of problems for me...
First is a personal bug-bear, so feel free to ignore my ranting if you don't share it. The text is clogged with exclamation marks, which, for me, spoils a lot of the humour. For the record: if a line is funny, the exclamation mark is redundant. If the line isn't funny, the exclamation mark is irritating.
Okay. Still with me? My second problem was the handling of one plot strand. I don't want to give too much away about the ending, but it felt very out of kilter with the light-hearted feel of the book. Also, I felt that Fiona (and Bunny's) attitude to Bunny's abusive ex-partner just wasn't believeable. They simply didn't seem bothered in the way I would've expected them to be...
Still. This was a fun, quick read and I would certainly try another of Mackle's books.
Rating: 3/5
Like this: Try: Miss Understanding by Stephanie Lessing