Sunday 26 February 2012

Wild Water By Jan Ruth


Amazon.com

Genre romance/chicklit


As Mondays went, it was the worst Jack could ever remember. – That opening line was the hook that draw me in. Even though Jack Redman was an estate agent (or because he was!) the job title told us we’re dealing with an ordinary man with flaws of his own and I immediately liked him for this ordinariness. I could feel for him and his collapsing world.
It’s unusual that chicklit is told through the eyes of a male protagonist, and the only others I know are male authors like Matt Dunn and Carl Mason. So Wild Water, in my eyes, was fresh, and told as it was from a male perspective, utterly original in the chick lit genre.

The setting, Wales, was beautifully described, and I could strongly visualise it. It almost felt like I was there!

For the downside I did sometimes become lost in the story - one moment I was in Jack’s office, the next at home or in a hotel etc. I wanted the author to slow down and give me a chance to get a feel of the scene before moving on.

I also found the author describing Jack’s fun-loving side a surprise. He seemed much too sensible and insecure to be dressing as a woman or swimming in a reindeer costume. It felt that this aspect was added because the author remembered the tone had to be light because of the genre. Other than that Wild Water is worth reading, and I’ll look forward to more from Jan Ruth.

Blurb:

Jack Redman, estate agent to the Cheshire set. An unlikely hero? Or someone to break all the rules?

Wild water is the story of forty-something estate agent Jack, who is stressed out not only by work, bills and the approach of Christmas but by the feeling that he and his wife Patsy are growing apart. His misgivings prove founded when he discovers Patsy is having an affair, and is pregnant.

At the same time as his marriage begins to collapse around him, he becomes reacquainted with his childhood sweetheart, Anna, whom he left for Patsy twenty five years before. He finds his feelings towards Anna reawaken, but will life and family conflicts conspire to keep them apart again?

Pan Macmillan Books; “It has a good combination of humour and poignancy.The characters are well portrayed and Jan delves shrewdly into their make-up, gradually allowing their traits to become evident and appreciated.”

WILD WATER is the WINNER of the Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, 'Most Popular Self Published book' Competition. December 2011.

Wild water is Jan Ruth's first novel. Her second title Midnight Sky is now available.

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Remember my reviews are my opinion, and I am a VERY fussy reader.