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La Damigella D'onore (2009)

by Jane Costello(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

8804584645 (ISBN13: 9788804584643)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Mondadori

review 1: This novel had a lot of potential but very meagre delivery, sadly. Its strap line is "Four Weddings without the Funeral" but actually having a funeral might have been a good idea - as it would have inserted some much-needed gravitas into the general veneer of fluff.I think one of the main problems is I really didn't like the heroine, Evie, who's obsessed with appearances, not terribly bright and acts like a 12-year old most of the time. She's supposed to be 27.The big motif of the book and the thing that's supposed to make it excitingly different is the fact that Evie has never been in love or been in a relationship of more than a few weeks, and wonders if she ever will. I'm sorry?? That's a key issue when one is 27 years old?? Hey ho, you can see what I mean about Evie's ... morelow intelligence rating …Anyway, when she does finally meet Jack, who turns out to be The Man, it's really not much of a relationship and actually I found it both dull and unbelievable. Jack could very well do better. The cliched ending and the culmination of their 'love story' is teeth-grindingly bad and I groaned and skipped over it. There's also a friend Charlotte whose sole characteristic is that she's overweight, another friend Valentina, who is obsessed with money and appearances (but at least, unlike Evie, she's honest about it), and a couple of other friends whom I could never confidently differentiate between. Oh and the chapters are ridiculously short - so short that there are 121 of them, plus an epilogue! Lordy.The only good parts of this book are Evie's wonderful mother who is a delight, and the very funny scene in the disco with the vibrator. That's it, really.Verdict: 2 stars. Shallow nonsense.
review 2: I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to reviewing Jane Costello's books, but I can't help it, because - to borrow an English phrase - they're just SO BLOODY GOOD!I love ALL the characters in her books. Like ALL of them. Yes, there's always a bad guy and a good guy - and by guy I refer here to possible male and/or female characters - but even those, you tend to love - in a love/hate sort of way.Who couldn't love Valentina, who is self-obsessed, and hilariously charming in a Scarlett O'Hara sort of way? Or Charlotte, who I bet so many women shared a connection with as she went through her inner turmoils, ups and downs, and endured so much talk from so many people, which pushed her into committing the one mortal sin that could break the sister code? Or Georgia? Modest, funny, down-to-earth Georgia? Or last, but certainly not least, Evie? Good old Evie, who thought she suffered from commitment issues, when her only ailment was the fact that she just hadn't found the right guy yet...that is until Jack. Sigh. Jack. The embodiment of perfect male sculpted into a fictional - of course - character in a book, making it absolutely complete.The only part I really didn't like and found unnecessarily silly was the scene when Evie felt forced to make up that boyfriend story for Jack's benefit in a moment of panic. Honestly, it seemed childish and a little immature for a twenty-seven year old. It also felt like Costello was trying to create a conflict for no reason, when the Beth thing was way better executed in my opinion.All in all, Jane Costello has yet to disappoint me with one of her books. And my only regret is that I've finished reading all of them, and now have to wait for her next novel to come out - which won't be until 2012. less

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