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A review by hannahmaybookreviews
The Perfect Life by Nuala Ellwood
3.0
Title: The Perfect Life
Author: Nuala Ellwood
Publisher: Penguin Fiction
Pages: 400
Rating: 3/5
A huge thank you to Penguin Fiction and Netgalley for allowing me to review this book!
Synopsis:
Vanessa Adams has been fragile ever since her mum passed away suddenly when she was little. Supported by her older sister Georgie, Vanessa continues to search for happiness and a place she can call home. When Vanessa meets Connor, she thinks she has finally found what she is looking for. However, she also finds happiness elsewhere too, by pretending to be someone else. She begins to take on different personas and viewing houses she knows she will never be able to afford. This was all harmless fun until a man who lived in one of the houses is found dead, and every believes Vanessa to be the killer.
Review:
It was the description of this book that initially caught my eye, it left me hanging and I felt I needed to know what would happen! I was very intrigued about Vanessa too, I wanted to get to know her as I was very unsure if she would be a main character I actually liked. The reviews looked promising, but I didn’t read any as I wanted to discover this read for myself.
The story is told through present day and through past events, I found this clear to follow and I really enjoyed how the story was told like this because I felt like I was getting too stories in one.
Straight away I was left wondering who actually could be trusted in the story and I feel like the author did a fantastic job at keeping you on your toes with this. I was very unsure about Vanessa at the first and as for Connor, despite a few flaws he seemed genuine, but then I questioned if the author was doing this on purpose, leading me into a sense of security.
Throughout the story the author does a fantastic at changing your mind about the characters, she does a very good job at twisting things to make your judgements wrong which I find is very true to real life, we judge others before we know the full story.
I adored Georgie however she was such a sweet natured likeable character and I loved the bond she had with her sister Vanessa. I didn’t give Vanessa a break at first, I was very quick to make my mind up about her. However, as the story went on, I began to understand her and her actions, her need to escape from reality. I felt awful for judging her even though she is just a fictional character.
I was very fascinated to see how this story would unfold as the storyline is quite complex, there is lots going on and lots to get your head round. There was never a dull moment to say the least. The author did a fantastic job at touching on sensitive subjects too such as emotional abuse and mental health.
This was not the storyline I expected, but it had some very important messages in there. I loved how tense the atmosphere got in places and the twists and turns were definitely unexpected. I definitely didn’t expect what was coming! My one negative about this story was that it didn’t overly excited me, I was hooked in but it would have been easy to put the story down too, I love a read that I find difficult to put down because it puts a fire in my belly. This didn’t spoil it for me though, I was still engrossed with the storyline!
Author: Nuala Ellwood
Publisher: Penguin Fiction
Pages: 400
Rating: 3/5
A huge thank you to Penguin Fiction and Netgalley for allowing me to review this book!
Synopsis:
Vanessa Adams has been fragile ever since her mum passed away suddenly when she was little. Supported by her older sister Georgie, Vanessa continues to search for happiness and a place she can call home. When Vanessa meets Connor, she thinks she has finally found what she is looking for. However, she also finds happiness elsewhere too, by pretending to be someone else. She begins to take on different personas and viewing houses she knows she will never be able to afford. This was all harmless fun until a man who lived in one of the houses is found dead, and every believes Vanessa to be the killer.
Review:
It was the description of this book that initially caught my eye, it left me hanging and I felt I needed to know what would happen! I was very intrigued about Vanessa too, I wanted to get to know her as I was very unsure if she would be a main character I actually liked. The reviews looked promising, but I didn’t read any as I wanted to discover this read for myself.
The story is told through present day and through past events, I found this clear to follow and I really enjoyed how the story was told like this because I felt like I was getting too stories in one.
Straight away I was left wondering who actually could be trusted in the story and I feel like the author did a fantastic job at keeping you on your toes with this. I was very unsure about Vanessa at the first and as for Connor, despite a few flaws he seemed genuine, but then I questioned if the author was doing this on purpose, leading me into a sense of security.
Throughout the story the author does a fantastic at changing your mind about the characters, she does a very good job at twisting things to make your judgements wrong which I find is very true to real life, we judge others before we know the full story.
I adored Georgie however she was such a sweet natured likeable character and I loved the bond she had with her sister Vanessa. I didn’t give Vanessa a break at first, I was very quick to make my mind up about her. However, as the story went on, I began to understand her and her actions, her need to escape from reality. I felt awful for judging her even though she is just a fictional character.
I was very fascinated to see how this story would unfold as the storyline is quite complex, there is lots going on and lots to get your head round. There was never a dull moment to say the least. The author did a fantastic job at touching on sensitive subjects too such as emotional abuse and mental health.
This was not the storyline I expected, but it had some very important messages in there. I loved how tense the atmosphere got in places and the twists and turns were definitely unexpected. I definitely didn’t expect what was coming! My one negative about this story was that it didn’t overly excited me, I was hooked in but it would have been easy to put the story down too, I love a read that I find difficult to put down because it puts a fire in my belly. This didn’t spoil it for me though, I was still engrossed with the storyline!