Review: LOVE LIES by Adele Parks ***

"Fern is glaring thirty in the face and can't ignore the love lies any longer. Life with Adam was amazing once - although these days swinging from the chandeliers means D.I.Y not S.E.X. She believes a romantic wedding should be the next step but Adam just won't go down on one knee. Then a chance meeting with Scottie Taylor - the UK's sexiest pop star - lights fireworks in Fern that won't stop exploding. It's mind-expanding love at first sight for them both so when he proposes in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium, there's only one answer. Yes, yes, yes! Before you know it, Fern is living the celebrity dream in LA and a wedding planner is arranging designer shoe fittings. But isn't it all happening a little too fast? Why is this modern day Cinderella homesick for a rented two-bedroom flat in Clapham? How do you know whether love is telling the truth? Fern must choose which version of this fairy tale is hers."

(summary)

I've been excited about this book for months, but sadly it didn't quite deliver. The beginning was kind of boring, but the story quickly picked up once Fern was whisked off to Scottie's world. I admit I nearly drooled over the descriptions of his fabulous house and his wealth - hey, that's what dreams are made of (mine especially, hehe). Reading about the life of the rich and the famous really was the best bit, possibly because I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff (I wonder how the author researched it though?). I found it quite fascinating, especially since you quickly learn that their lives are not all rainbows and butterflies and that they basically lose their identity, quite tragic. I found it quite creepy how fake and staged and manipulated everything was, but it's easy to see how one could get lost in that world.

The story is narrated mostly by Fern with occassional narrations by Scottie. I quite enjoyed the latter as they gave important insight into his mind, which was important for the story. Fern really idolizes her, but Scottie himself presents himself as the bastard he really is, no pretense. And while I appreciated that, I can't say that I liked him as a character, he was just too selfish and seriously lacked backbone - he couldn't think or speak for himself, everything was done for him by other people. I didn't like Fern either, I thought she was a silly girl since she actually thought a man like Scottie was marrying her for love. She wasn't annoying all the time, but mostly just too naive to my liking and I found it hard to feel her "pain".

Despite the surprisingly very average writing, I quite enjoyed the book, especially the middle part where Fern (what kind of a name is that btw?) was sucked into Scottie's crazy world. But what really ruined the book for me was the ending (if you're interested, you can read it in the summary linked above) - I felt like the author was taking the softest possible option and wasn't even trying to end the book properly. The "discovery" is supposed to be this twisty twist, but it just made me roll my eyes, I mean come on! And then it just gets worse with a big cliché and lots of cheesyness and then the book ends in the middle of nowhere. As a reader, I'd expect at least an explanation on how all the people took the news and what the consequences were (they're bound to be huge in a situation like that), but the author just closes the curtain halfway through and expects us to believe that everyone lived happily ever after or what? Maybe it's just me, but I thought the ending was an incredible rip-off.

This was my first Adele Parks book and I can't say I was overly impressed. I've already got two of her previous books (Still Thinking of You & Husbands) waiting to be read so I'm hoping those will be better. But wahey, at least the cover for this book is stunning and the ads are pretty gorgeous too (clever, huh). ;)

overall rating: 3/5
plot: 3/5 | writing: 3/5 | characters: 3/5 | cover: 5/5