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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 June 2013
First of all...wow!
What a book.
I'm a bookworm and usually I don't read anything outside of romance and all the sub-genres that accompany romance but something about this book spoke to me. I read the blurb and thought "huh, I've had enough bad experiences with awful neighbours, perhaps this will a good read."
I was not wrong!
The plot is brilliant and well thought out and the writing style is just so *real*! I hate it when books are too formal to seem like real life or too colloquial to make sense, but this book is just so...*right* in how it depicts everything within the story.
As soon as I started, I was hooked. It honestly just makes you feel so comfortable with it because its a nice, just rightly paced story and you just know that things will gradually build up to the point where you're desperate to see what happens next...
And I was. I absolutely was. If it wasn't for the fact that I started it at 1pm one day and had to get a few hours sleep to function even a little the next day, I would have definitely finished it in one sitting!
The characters are likeable, and I really took to Jamie and Kirsty. They wanted a perfect start in a new home, then marriage and then babies. I mentioned before that I only usually read romance, so of course those two words -marriage and babies- definitely spoke to me! Lol
Their friends Heather and Paul are cool too. Heather was sweet, had good intentions and was a nice secondary character but once Paul had kind of changed in the story (I don't believe in spoilers so you'll have to read to find out what happened to him! ;)) I really disliked him. There are other neighbours too. Brian and Linda and Mary with her cat Lennon. They are all good characters, ones that you don't mind hearing about and for me, I was glad that their characters provided the perfect opportunity for Jamie towards the end. I was a bit indifferent to them at times, but in the last chapter you'll see what I mean. I really liked them because they *listened* which was ultimately what poor Jamie needed.
Once getting into the book, you realise early on that Chris and Lucy, the 'garden flat neighbours' are the evil individuals. Dont worry, I haven't spoilt it by telling you who the perpetrators are.
Honestly? I. HATED. Their. Guts! Seriously. I have SO much HATE for those two!!
What they subject Jamie and Kirsty to made me annoyed, it made me seriously angry, and eventually it made me cry! My pent up emotions had gotten the better of me just like it had done to J&K. I felt so so sorry for them. No one should be subjected to the terror and pain they went through.
There were a few times I wanted to slap Kirsty, and few times I wanted to grab hold of Jamie and slap and shake him until he saw sense. But you could definitely see what the writer had done. He wants you to realise Jamie's thought process and just how far C&L have pushed him to the very edge of sanity. My heart went out to the poor couple.
!!!SPOILER ALERT...I know I said I don't believe in them, but...SPOILER ALERT!!!
I was disappointed that K&J didn't get back together, I was so hoping that they would do what the previous couple had done and just move away to start anew but alas, I'm not in my usual happy land of romance books now so they can't all have the perfect ending.
However, saying that, I was so glad that Jamie wasn't penalised for what happened and he was getting his life back on track and of course it was nice to have learnt that Kirsty was living a happy life, however much I wished that it was with Jamie :(
All in all, a spectacular read! I'm glad Ive come out of my comfort zone a bit and read something daring (to me it's daring okay? Lol) and the writer has definitely given me confidence to more than likely read another of his books!
4 stars!!
What a book.
I'm a bookworm and usually I don't read anything outside of romance and all the sub-genres that accompany romance but something about this book spoke to me. I read the blurb and thought "huh, I've had enough bad experiences with awful neighbours, perhaps this will a good read."
I was not wrong!
The plot is brilliant and well thought out and the writing style is just so *real*! I hate it when books are too formal to seem like real life or too colloquial to make sense, but this book is just so...*right* in how it depicts everything within the story.
As soon as I started, I was hooked. It honestly just makes you feel so comfortable with it because its a nice, just rightly paced story and you just know that things will gradually build up to the point where you're desperate to see what happens next...
And I was. I absolutely was. If it wasn't for the fact that I started it at 1pm one day and had to get a few hours sleep to function even a little the next day, I would have definitely finished it in one sitting!
The characters are likeable, and I really took to Jamie and Kirsty. They wanted a perfect start in a new home, then marriage and then babies. I mentioned before that I only usually read romance, so of course those two words -marriage and babies- definitely spoke to me! Lol
Their friends Heather and Paul are cool too. Heather was sweet, had good intentions and was a nice secondary character but once Paul had kind of changed in the story (I don't believe in spoilers so you'll have to read to find out what happened to him! ;)) I really disliked him. There are other neighbours too. Brian and Linda and Mary with her cat Lennon. They are all good characters, ones that you don't mind hearing about and for me, I was glad that their characters provided the perfect opportunity for Jamie towards the end. I was a bit indifferent to them at times, but in the last chapter you'll see what I mean. I really liked them because they *listened* which was ultimately what poor Jamie needed.
Once getting into the book, you realise early on that Chris and Lucy, the 'garden flat neighbours' are the evil individuals. Dont worry, I haven't spoilt it by telling you who the perpetrators are.
Honestly? I. HATED. Their. Guts! Seriously. I have SO much HATE for those two!!
What they subject Jamie and Kirsty to made me annoyed, it made me seriously angry, and eventually it made me cry! My pent up emotions had gotten the better of me just like it had done to J&K. I felt so so sorry for them. No one should be subjected to the terror and pain they went through.
There were a few times I wanted to slap Kirsty, and few times I wanted to grab hold of Jamie and slap and shake him until he saw sense. But you could definitely see what the writer had done. He wants you to realise Jamie's thought process and just how far C&L have pushed him to the very edge of sanity. My heart went out to the poor couple.
!!!SPOILER ALERT...I know I said I don't believe in them, but...SPOILER ALERT!!!
I was disappointed that K&J didn't get back together, I was so hoping that they would do what the previous couple had done and just move away to start anew but alas, I'm not in my usual happy land of romance books now so they can't all have the perfect ending.
However, saying that, I was so glad that Jamie wasn't penalised for what happened and he was getting his life back on track and of course it was nice to have learnt that Kirsty was living a happy life, however much I wished that it was with Jamie :(
All in all, a spectacular read! I'm glad Ive come out of my comfort zone a bit and read something daring (to me it's daring okay? Lol) and the writer has definitely given me confidence to more than likely read another of his books!
4 stars!!
