5. Gatecrasher

The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham

Summary: Fleur Daxeny considers her life perfect because she goes through more rich men than she has designer hats. She successfully crashes funerals to find wealthy men whom are distressed from sorrow. Fleur wastes no time in seducing her latest conquest, the rich widower Richard Favour. His children become caught up in a whirlwind by their father's new girlfriend. Fleur generally tries not to fall in love with her conquests, but she soon finds herself embracing Richard and his family. But just as Fleur contemplates ending her crashing funerals days for good, a long-buried secret threatens to destroy her new family.

Review: I do not normally read chicklet books, since most of the conclusions are predicable and the characters are stereotyped. However, Wickham has designed set formula for the creation each story, which makes the plot predicable but interesting at the same time. For me, knowing where a story is going does destroy my enjoyment value. In fact I find discovering how the events lead me to the conclusion the best part.

For reading something out of my preferred genre, I was impressed. The book held my attention with its multiply points of view and intriguing characters. Wickham continuously switches the point of view between all the relevant characters. This allows for more depth and understanding into each characters personality and background, making them and story loveable.

I had thought this book would be a brainless beach read, something to mindlessly read for pleasure and expect no substance. I was proven wrong. The story blossomed into a world where people are not who they initially seem. It was interesting to discover how little the characters knew of one another, until the secrets exploded like fireworks in the afternoon. It makes one wonder ‘where did that come from because I did not see it coming’.

Wickham has a habit of concluding her books with a climatic ending. This left me in suspense until the last page, were it all fell apart. The climax I thought was coming did not; in fact another climax had surfaced all together. Thou it was surprising and unpredictable, I was slightly disappointed. The ending was less desirable then the climax I had anticipated, but the beginning and middle were fantastic. I enjoyed the core of the book more than the ending.

In conclusion, the book was like eating mousse that is only 50 calories, but still tastes good. I enjoyed every bite until I became depressed over its end. I find it useful to try new things and this was defiantly a good experience.

<3 Kitty