Normally when I start to write a review I've already written it in my head and know exactly what rating to give it. But this one, Someone Special by Sheila O'Flanagan has put me in somewhat of a quandary. She is a great chick lit writer and I loved her previous book Yours, Faithfully but this one has left me shaking my head.
Our heroine is Romy, an Irish archaeologist living in Australia who is suddenly called home by her step brother, Darragh, because their mother is going to have a back operation. She has to leave her best friend Keith behind and then goes and confuses things by kissing him as she says goodbye to him at the airport.
Romy arrives back in Ireland and goes to look after her glamorous mother, Veronica. The two of them don't appear to get on and silences are loaded between them, issues are skirted around and each one thinks the other doesn't like them.
We also meet Kathryn, Romy's step sister, who has a very successful career and marriage out in New York. Romy is irritated and upset as her family are dismissive of her own career and she always feels like an outsider. Her father is divorced from her mother and is now married again and it feels like it is just her, Romy. There are lots of family issues to be sorted out and many of them centre around the family business, which belonged to Darragh and Kathryn's deceased father, not Romy's.
As ever with a Sheila O'Flanagan novel, the scenes are well written and the characters are well described. I wrote some notes, however, whilst reading the book. The first one simply says "frustrated by Romy". Her step siblings think she has this chip on her shoulder and she does, but she doesn't do anything to help herself. She doesn't say what she feels, just wants to escape back to Australia. Eventually she does say what matters, but by then we are towards the end of the book and my frustration with her has been steadily building all the time to the point of not caring any more. Although the characters, including Romy, are well written, I didn't warm to any of them, except maybe Keith and he was barely in it.
Many of the chapters and paragraphs within the book are used to set the scene. Past history that has happened in the family. Whilst this was useful in order to understand what everyone was feeling, I was just itching to get on with the plot.
Once I had finished the book, I looked at it lying on the floor some ten minutes later and couldn't remember if I had finished it. I'm afraid that's the sort of impact it had.
Rating: 3/5 (I rounded up as I wanted to give it a 2.5)
Like this? Try How Will I Know? by Sheila O'Flanagan - she does write some great books.
