Spare Brides by Adele Parks

 review by Maryom

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll remember me singing the praises of Spare Brides when it was first published back in February. Now, for anyone who missed it or read and loved a library copy, it's out in paperback!

Beginning on New Year's Eve 1920, Spare Brides is the story of four very different friends; of how, in a world radically altered by the First World War, their lives, hopes and expectations have changed too. All come from privileged, wealthy backgrounds but there the similarities end. One is a widow, one rather dully married, one not interested in the marriage market and one desperate to find anyone to love.

 "Spare Brides has got everything you expect from a conventional romantic novel - glamorous parties, gorgeous clothes, an enigmatic hero and a passionate love affair - but it's far from a piece of light fluff. Alongside the glitz and glamour lies the heartbreak and devastation of the War, and it's continuing emotional impact. The story also takes a shrewd look at the changing roles and expectations of women in this period. All four women have been brought up to believe that their role in life will be as wife and mother, nothing more. But times are changing; husbands are few and far between, and women have more freedom and possibilities; hopes and ambitions need no longer be confined to the drawing room and nursery.
It's another great, absorbing read from Adele Parks. One that once started you won't want to put down, I certainly didn't.
The ending might be a little predictable but so what? Show me a Jane Austen ending that wasn't obvious a mile off!"

If you're intrigued, you can find out more on the author's blog

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - Adult, historical romance,

Spare Brides by Adele Parks

 review by Maryom

It's New Year's Eve, 1920 and four friends are getting ready for an extravagant ball to usher in the new decade. There's hope that it's now time to move on to happier, more hopeful times, but the shadow of the War still lingers in the horrendous loss of so many lives and the guilt felt by the survivors.
Spare Brides is the story of four very different friends; of how, in a world radically altered by the First World War, their lives, hopes and expectations have changed too. All come from privileged, wealthy backgrounds but there the similarities end. Ava is the daughter of an industrialist, made richer by the War; glamorous and fashionable, she turns heads where-ever she goes and can get away with almost anything but her life of parties and shallow love affairs is beginning to pale. Lydia, married to the Hon. Lawrence Chatfield, is sheltered and cosseted, living a life where harsh realities rarely intrude except for her one big disappointment, that after 8 years of marriage she remains childless. Sisters Sarah and Bea live very differently; after the death of first their parents, then Sarah's husband, they are now dependant on their crippled brother for house and home. Sarah with a war-widow's pension and two children is slightly better off but feels that life is over for her. Bea's life never really got started - all her dreams of marriage and a home of her own went out of the window with the death of her only suitor; she's too tall and too plain to find another in a world where eligible bachelors are in such short supply and so poor that she has to alter her old dresses to fit new fashions, . Their pre-war connections still see the sisters invited to fashionable parties but only out of sympathy and as favours to their richer friends.
What does the new decade hold for them? These are desperate times, when a woman needs to catch at every chance of happiness no matter where it may lead, so a chance meeting with a mysterious, extraordinarily attractive soldier shouldn't be overlooked.

Spare Brides has got everything you expect from a conventional romantic novel - glamorous parties, gorgeous clothes, an enigmatic hero and a passionate love affair - but it's far from a piece of light fluff. Alongside the glitz and glamour lies the heartbreak and devastation of the War, and it's continuing emotional impact. The story also takes a shrewd look at the changing roles and expectations of women in this period. All four women have been brought up to believe that their role in life will be as wife and mother, nothing more. But times are changing; husbands are few and far between, and women have more freedom and possibilities; hopes and ambitions need no longer be confined to the drawing room and nursery.
It's another great, absorbing read from Adele Parks. One that once started you won't want to put down, I certainly didn't.
The ending might be a little predictable but so what? Show me a Jane Austen ending that wasn't obvious a mile off!

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - Adult romantic historical fiction

The State We're In by Adele Parks

"THE STATE WE'RE IN is the stunning, emotionally powerful new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Adele Parks."

review by Maryom

Jo and Dean meet on plane from London to Chicago. Could it be love at first sight? Well, it certainly doesn't appear that way. Dean is tired and depressed, returning home after visiting his estranged father who is dying in a London hospital. Jo has decided that at 35, after one too many mornings of waking up with yet another unsuitable man, that her only chance of happiness is to fly to Chicago and break up a wedding and steal her ex-fiancé back! Neither seem in the right place to be starting a new relationship yet by the time they reach Chicago everything has changed....
Meanwhile, back in London, things are also changing. Dean's father starts to face the idea that maybe life wasn't just about him and having fun, and Jo's mother decides enough is enough and, after nearly 40 years of seemingly blissful marriage, it's time to leave her husband.

The State We're In is a wonderful engrossing read - the sort that I can completely lose myself in. I wanted to know the answer to so many questions that I could barely put it down and quite rattled my way through.
How to describe it without giving away too much is a bit of a challenge though; it's a family drama played out over two generations; it's about falling in love, living a lie, the meaning of family and the sacrifices a woman might make for the sake of her children.
It's the kind of book that too often attracts the 'women's fiction' tag, but it's a perceptive insight into family life, both idyllic and dreadful, and the individuals that are part of it. The characters are all people that you can believe in whether it's the ever optimistic Jo with her long line of one night stands - each one a potential prince to rescue her from spinsterhood but each turning into a frog come the cold light of morning - or Dean's irresponsible dad, only ever concerned with his own pleasure and happiness, and totally disregarding the needs of others.

...and the ending? It's an absolute stunner!

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - Adult


 Buy The State We're In from Amazon