How Will I Know | Saturday, April 08, 2006 @11:25 PM
Book 10: How Will I Know
Author: Sheila O'Flanagan
Recommended For: Anyone who has a lot of free time to read Reviewer: Etsu
Now it is my turn to write. Muahaha. I shall be writing reviews of chick lit books mostly, although I might change to something else. This is the first fiction book I have read in a long time. I was attracted by its tittle and this was truly bought on impulse.
I am afraid the tittle is the most interesting part of the book. The story is basically about Claire Hudson, a single mother raising a 15 year old daughter by herself. The opening part of the book is addictive. The book reveals that Claire's husband, Bill Hudson was killed in an accident when all three of them were on holiday. As a result of that, Claire finds herself stuck in that zone where she feels she cannot move on in her life.
What I find almost unbelievable is how Bill and Claire came together. Apparently, they were childhood sweethearts and they were each others' first love. I am rather cynical about this. How many of us actually end up being together with our first love? Anyway, since Claire is so used to being only with one man, she has problems answering her daughter's questions about boys, since she have no experience with other boys.
Therefore, for her daughter's sake, Claire signed up for an online dating thingy called 'How Will I Know'. Its really too bad that the author did not derive Claire's love interest from here. It would be intresting to see how people who met on the internet can be together in reality. However, this online dating thingy was not further explored. Instead, Claire experienced with the not-so-suitable-guys via this online dating thingy.
Also, it was apparent that Claire never really wanted to date anyone, she was only doing it for he daughter's sake. To research men, as she mentioned it. Little did she know that her Mr Right has always been around in her own house.
I must say that I read the first half of the book pretty quick, but in the middle and towards the end, the story got a little draggy for me. There were too many flashbacks to the time Claire and Bill met with the accident.
Overall, this book comes across as average to me. Its mainly about getting over your loved one, once they leave this world. Its also about opening your heart and giving others a chance into your heart. The ending was unclear, almost mysterious but not enough to keep me coming back for more.