hoodeh

** spoiler alert ** I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I read this book, but there were mitigating circumstances. I had finished the only novel I had with me on holiday and was shopping in a store that was nominally a bookstore but didn't have much of a selection. I was looking for something light (from an intellectual point of view) but long. This book was in a so-called omnibus with another book by the same author and so looked very bulky, and the price was right, and the first page didn't seem horrible, and the blurb almost suggested that the plot was intriguing, so I bought it. The plot as described was something like friend of virgin decides to give virgin a push into the arms of the man she (the virgin) fancies and then wishes she hadn't. On the first page the virgin unexpectedly runs into the best male friend of the man she fancies, thus setting the stage for at least one love triangle. I envisioned a happy ending in which the virgin ended up with the best friend and the pushing friend ended up with the fancied man and everyone is happy and suitably matched. But then there is a huge amount of description about how much the virgin is cosseted and admired by her circle of female friends because they attach a sort of mystical quality to her virginity and beauty and worry that she cannot stand up to the things in life that are often called vicissitudes, and there are pages and pages where the pushing friend (who is really a friend of a friend) is maddened by the adoration of the virgin and yet simultaneously aware of her perfection, and I was convinced for at least half a chapter that the pushing friend and the virgin would wind up together. But then the pushing friend (who had her own boyfriend) started to fancy the fancied man, and then realised that his willingness to be fancied made him unsuitable for the virgin. There are no interesting plot twists or dramatic emotional revelations -- the virgin and the best friend of the fancied man (who it turns out hasn't really been friends with the unworthy fancied man for years, and of course has been pining for the heroine without taking action ever since he first saw her) gradually drift together. He and his father breed roses and it turns out that because it takes a really long time and he's (coincidentally) had a really long time in which to pine, he has been able to breed a rose which he has named after her and I'm sure it's all very romantic. The heroine has a romantic notion that she would like to open a shop in Cornwall -- ridiculously, she has no actual overwhelming desire to sell anything specific, just a vague idea that she has seen very sweet little shops selling stuff and she fancies herself in just such a little shop with a fanciful name she has picked out but I forget. Of course she does suddenly make up her mind to just do it and puts the wheels in motion with the bank and rents a perfect shop and makes a deal with a very wonderful and coveted jeweler in Switzerland or someplace else one skis. Only thing worthy of note: the unworthy fancied man's ex-girlfriend, Nessa something (who is only mentioned, not seen in the book) was named for someone who won or bought at auction the right to have her name used as the name of a character in this book.

2023-01-27 09:01