Saturday 18 August 2012

A Write Review!

It’s been a busy week with one thing or another, but I have found enough time to continue with my latest book, The Summer of Sixty Five and I am now writing the last chapter. It’s exciting and exhausting in equal measures, though today, I feel my energy reserves renewed thanks to the wonderful five star review I have just read on Amazon for Sometimes It Happens…


So I apologise in advance for adding this review, but it captures so much of the story and I wanted to share it with you, well to be honest I want to shout from the roof tops how happy I am. It makes all the hard work worth while when you receive lovely words like below. Because for all of us, sometimes it happens!


Sometimes it Happens by Pauline Barclay - reviewed by Francine Howarth


Sometimes it Happens is one of the funniest - and by that I mean hilarious - books I've read in a long while. The protagonist, Doreen Wilkinson, is a down to earth working class mum who has won the lottery, and when you got a whole load of dosh you might just as well enjoy it in style and that's what she does. But when Doreen and her daughter descend on Villas Bonitas, a place where the pretentious middle-classes take their holidays within a luxurious gated villa complex, Doreen feels a tad out of place. A little daunted by her good fortune she can nonetheless smoke and drink herself to oblivion if the fancy takes her, but how can she capture happiness and hold onto it?

Whilst Doreen comes to terms with the reality of...
wealth her daughter is getting down and dirty with local talent, which in turn draws a rather observant nosey character into play. Tensions, snobbery and secret assignations abound as the villas fill with an array of occupants of differing moral standards. As individual cameos and sequences begin to play out a reader quickly gains insight to the lives of Doreen's neighbours. And it's not long before Doreen is faced with the reality that she may be a long way from England but the World is merely a global village, and as blasts from the past step forth she has to face up to a past mistake that needs righting: but how?

Sometimes it Happens is a light fun read but a few of Doreen tears are shed along the way, and each villa has a story to tell all of its own. Ms Barclay plays on the senses as she paints a delightful paradise setting with words, and the characters are bold, sometimes brassy and cheeky with it. A recommended read to brighten any miserable day (meaning English weather).


I admit to shedding a tear or two at this great review... sniff!

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day.

4 comments:

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

Well done, Pauline! A great review! And best of luck with the latest book - I'm sure it will be a huge success...

Pauline Barclay said...

Hi Pat, thank you. The latest book is gettting there... I think!

Rosalind Adam said...

Yay! That's brilliant :-)

Pauline Barclay said...

Hi Ros, whoa! Thank you :) x