Deborah

I thought the narrator did an excellent job. She brought the whole book to life for me. I would not have enjoyed the book half as much had it not been an audio book. Had I been reading the book, I would never have done the French accent in my head. I found the characters to be enjoyable and entertaining. I will probably re-listen to the entire book again someday.

I loved the Shopaholic series and enjoyed a few of Sophie Kinsella's other books, but even as fiction I have to say this book was shallow, pointless and painful to listen to, a real stinker. I couldn't stand any of the characters.

At one point while I was listening, I just blurted out loud, "For pity sakes, just go to a cheap motel and put me out of my misery". Luckily I was alone at home at the time.

The female characters were just whiny and dysfunctional. I even listened to the book at double speed just hoping to get it over with.

I have vowed not to pay for another Sophie Kinsella book.

Although I knew what the family secret would be before I even started reading the book, I did enjoy the book. I grew to like the characters and was anxious to get to the end of the book to see how the story ended for them.

I couldn't wait for this book to become available, but unfortunately I was disappointed by it. Very predictable. I will admit that I actually fell asleep several times listening to this book and missed hearing several chapters, but got to the end of the book without feeling like I needed to go back and listen to the chapters I slept through.

Tedious, tortuous listen about a spoiled, incredibly crude, amazingly self-absorbed individual. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I have been over weight all my life, but I guess I can give this book credit for keeping me from ever thinking about having gastric bypass surgery.

Predictable - but a fun listen

A pleasant little story, nothing exciting, but it kept me entertained. I like the way the author develops each character, and they each become a little story of their own within the overall story. I enjoyed this book enough to get another book by the author. I am currently listening to The Tea House On Mulberry Street.

I started and then dropped this book twice. The third time I finally finished it. It was not till the very end of the book that I really cared what happened to the main character. I think the book could have been half the length. There was too much time spent describing Sidney’s job, and the people that she worked with. Those parts, for me, were just mind numbingly boring.

I think the book had too many characters for me, or maybe they just weren’t developed well enough to make them memorable. For example, when they mentioned the character Miles, I had to quickly ask myself if Miles was Sidney’s brother or her brother-in-law. No, lets see, Michael was her brother-in-law, Miles was her brother.

This book was just okay, nothing memorable for me.

I thought the narrator did a excellent job.

I enjoyed this book from the beginning. I have to admit that I am drawn to anything that has to do even remotely with London.

The characters were likeable and believable, the plot was moving along at a fairly good speed for my taste. Some parts brought tears to my eyes, a smile appeared on my face on several ocassions, I actually chuckled a few times.

I thought I had the plot figured out half way through, then, WOW, things started being revealed in the second part of the book. I couldn't put it down. I was either going to stay up all night or have to miss work the next day to finish it. I will admit, had it been a printed book, I probably would have skipped to the last page, just to see how it ended up. I'm glad I didn't.

I thought the narration was excellent.

At the beginning, this book was not very easy to stay with, but I’m glad I did. It is not a nice story, It’s not a “they lived happily ever after” story. It is dark and bleak but I understood that from the beginning. The details are not pretty, and many times the descriptions were more than I wanted to hear, but I was drawn into the sights, sounds and smells of the streets by the authors words. I was taken back to a different time. I was hooked.

I empathized with the character of Gustine and her baby, and hoped for a better life for them, even though I knew it was not to be.

The end of the book disappointed me, not because of what happened to the characters, but because I don’t think the end of the book was well written. It seemed like the author “ran out of steam”. After all the extensive graphic detail that was put into the rest of the book, the end seemed to be rushed.