Not her best. I found it tedious.

n  Critique complète sur mon blogn

Tara, Katherine et Fintan sont copains depuis des années. Ils ont quitté ensemble l’Irlande et leurs familles respectives pour venir s’installer à Londres et vivre à fond leur vie de trentenaires. Alors que Tara la romantique s’enfonce dans une relation vouée à l’échec avec l’affreux Thomas, Katherine l’éternelle célibataire envoie balader tous les prétendants potentiels. Mais tous ces soucis leur semblent soudain bien triviaux, quand elles apprennent que Fintan est atteint d’un cancer et qu’il obtient d’elles une étrange dernière promesse…

Une jolie histoire, pure chick lit, pleine d’humour et de bons sentiments sur l’amitié, l’amour et la maladie. Quelques longueurs, mais on passe un très bon moment.

n  Critique complète sur mon blogn

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my first book by Keyes, really enjoyed it!!!!

I had a dilemma whilst reading this book. Though I enjoyed reading it, and I sped through it despite it being around 600 pages, I found that it compounded a lot of problematic tropes of the chick-lit/contemporary fiction genre. 

Although at points this did remind me of Bridget Jones' Diary, I felt that it didn't hit the mark with the humour or the writing; some sentences had to be reread because they just didn't make sense! Also I feel that the main crux of the plot, Fintan getting diagnosed with cancer and demanding his friends fix their lives in certain ways, was a cheap and over-used device that didn't seem necessary. I would have preferred the characters come to their own conclusions about things so that I felt they had a little more of their own agency within the story. It just seemed to me that using a cancer diagnosis, that is eventually fixed, was a cheap shot to further the other characters' stories whilst simultaneously taking Fintan out of the main plot.

Also, Lorcan as a character was detestable in an almost cartoon-villain way. He felt like a character that was there solely to link everyone even though there was no need, and a vessel for all of the lessons to be learned through. The fact that there were several instances of sexual abuse that were never described as such within the book was also problematic. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book as I was reading it but there are so many issues with it. I feel like these characters could have been handled in much better, less stereotypical ways, and the book would have been better for it.

One of my favorites by my favorite author!

Took this to the lake with me looking for some light beach-reading. I got through the first chapter and wanted to toss it in the lake.

Borrowed my husbands book of essays on sports and music because even reading about junior college basketball games from the 1980's was better than this.

I am so happy that I'm finished with this book!! I love Marian Keyes but this book left me with an agonizing desire to throw it across the room! But I was determined to finish it no matter what. I just couldn't get into this story. Perhaps, it was just too long and therefore, became quite boring. Or perhaps, it was because I couldn't seem to like the characters, with the possible exception of Tara. It had a good premise...live life to the fullest. I liked that, so that's something positive. Something that's even more positive....the book is FINISHED!!!

Cue music while I do my happy dance:)

Fabulous book! I Read it in almost one sitting and stayed up to finish it. The characters you could relate to or connect to even if and when you didn't particularly like them.

The book follows the life of 3 friends and jumps back and forward every now and again from the present to events that shaped who they are today.

Funny, sad and even cringe worthy at some points but a total fantastic light read, I loved it 5/5 for me.

I cannot understand how this book is getting such rave reviews. I could barely finish it, I wanted to pull my hair out with boredom!

The characters were so silly and stupid that you just want to smack them in the head, especially Tara. Give me a break woman, how is it that you accept living with a man who dotes on his cat while spewing verbal abuses at you in the same second? Ridiculous.

And really, Marian Keyes, all the unnecessary detail...you're killing me. I was skimming through passage after passage after passage of text that meant absolutely nothing to me and added absolutely nothing to the story. I mean, this is a BIG book - 600 pages - for a story that could have been cut down to about 270-300 pages! I could not wrap my head around all the chapters that I could've literally torn right out of the book and still had a complete, full story intact.

And Lorcan...WHO THE F**K is Lorcan?! I spent more than three quarters of the book reading random chapters about this man who disgusted me to no end, only for his "purpose" to be revealed in the last few chapters of a 600 page book. REALLY?! Are you kidding me right now? He is unbelievably sickening, I cannot even begin to imagine how stupid women need to be in order to fall for this man based on looks ONLY. I mean really, nothing...NOTHING...else is redeeming about him but his looks, and even that, I find hard to believe that he's so good looking you lose sight of everything else. Shoot me now.

The only thing that kept me going at one point was the interaction and later, relationship, between Katherine and Joe. Finally, something worth reading in this book. Something sweet, and pure, with the regular ups and downs, but at least realistic and normal in this great spectacle of a book Keyes wrote.

I do not recommend this book to anyone, and I am disappointed at the amount of rave reviews it's gotten that fooled me into buying it and wasting my time.

I had wanted to read a book by Marian Keyes for ages. I love chick lit and I love it when those stories are set in the UK.

This book however was a trial to read.

Seriously, chick lit should not top 500 pages, unless the plot is super exciting and fun.

This one wasn't.

Here's why this book was such a hard read.

90% of the characters were unlikable.

Tara, a miserable woman who has to have a man, even one that is totally nasty, who treats here and all her friends like crap. Lady, there was no reason to stay in this relationship.

Katherine, who seems to have it together, but is really scared to get involved.

Liv, who was having an affair with a married man, who is barely there in this story.

Then their's Fintan, their token gay friend. He's the one you like, until plot twist, he gets deathly ill and his personality undergoes a complete change.

Most of the time I was frustrated with all of the characters. It was only when Fintan got sick that they showed any real emotions that were close to kindness and loyalty

I give Tara some credit at the end for trying to get her life together. Katherine...my mind boggles at the plot twist at the end of the book that made no sense at all.

I thought this was going to be a somewhat fun book about friends, but it was often depressing and it angered me more often then not.

I can deal with stories where you have characters you don't necessarily like or identify with, but this went beyond that.

If it weren't for Fintan and his boyfriend and family I probably would have given up on this book, and that's something I hate to do.

What a great read. Classic chick-lit with something every reader can relate to. I must say though that I would’ve enjoyed it more without the cameo’s of peripheral characters and a bit more of a rounded-off finish! But as they say...one can’t get everything one wants all the time!

Tara, Fintan and Katherine have been good friends for a long time ever since they were teenagers in Ireland. The three of them now live in London with only Fintan who has what could be called a love life. Tara is staying with her verbally abusive, penny-pinching boyfriend because she feels that he is the last chance that he has for marriage and children. Katherine who was heart broken from a past relationship keeps her single life organized and is happy being single. Fintan is in a long term serious relationship and the two of them are happy together. When Fintan is diagonsed with cancer he gives both Tara and Katherine an ultimatum that causes the two of them to reevaluate their own lives. When a ghost from Katherine’s past reenters her life she is forced to face the demons from her own past. Through flashbacks we learn about Katherine’s past and the trio’s friendship from a long time ago. This gives a pretty realistic view of women in their thirties where there are some women who desperately want marriage that they are willing to settle for any guy that comes along that they feel can fulfill their need for marriage and children. There are also other single women who have been burned from past relationships where they aren’t interested in pursing new relationships.