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July 10, 2008 11:04 AM

BOOK REVIEW: A Good Girl Comes Undone by Polly Williams

A Good Girl Comes Undone is the third novel by Polly Williams after the successful Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy and the poorly reviewed here on Trashionista (ok, by me) A Bad Bride's Tale. I didn't like the bad bride book because I thought the main character was weak, other characters were clichéd and the whole plot ridiculous. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, from A Good Girl Comes Undone, but I'm pleased to say (as I actually do like to give good reviews) I was grabbed from the first page.

Annie Rafferty works as deputy editor for magazine, Glo. She lives with her boyfriend Nick in a house they splashed out on after her promotion. This means a huge increase in mortgage payments but as they are both successful, they can afford it. Then he tells her he has taken voluntary redundancy as he wants to work out what to do with his life.

Meanwhile, at work, Annie is struggling for survival after her colleague and (rather clichéd) worst enemy Alexis is gunning for her job. Then there is the fact her new superior seems to be flirting with her, her boyfriend Nick has turned to smoking drugs all day and her sister is getting married to Olly. Then her parents announce they are selling her childhood home.

Annie isn't a weak character. I liked her. She is focused, in control and accomplished. However, whenever she has a heated discussion with a man she rises from the table and grabs her coat saying something along the lines of "I can't do this." Which lets her down a tiny bit. I know this leaves the book with the page turning factor but it became irritating after a while. I wanted to shout at her to just talk to him then we'd all know where we stood. But this is a minor point. There were other minor points too which irked me a little bit, but I'll skirt over those because the book was actually a riveting read.

This is a huge leap from Polly's last book and I found it surprisingly enjoyable. I wasn't sure how it was going to end all the way through but I'm pleased with the ending it did have. The other characters were well thought out and there were quite a few surprises from them along the way. Polly did well with one of the main, male, characters, as we are kept guessing about him right until the end.

If her previous book put you off then I really recommend you give her another chance. If you've never tried Polly Williams before, then start with this one.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes

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Posted by Helen Redfern on July 10, 2008 in British Authors, Rating: 4/5, Recent Release | Permalink

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