Review: HENS REUNITED by Lucy Diamond ***

"Katie, Georgia and Alice were at each other’s hen nights but now the chickens have come home to roost: their marriages have fallen apart and their friendships have been tested to the limits.
Control-freak Katie has become a commitment-phobe – there’s no way she wants to get married again. Is there?
Ambitious Georgia always puts her career first. If anyone gets hurt, it’s their look-out – right?
And faithful Alice wants to make a fresh start, but can’t get over her cheating ex – and Georgia’s betrayal.
Hearts have been broken, and feathers ruffled … can the hens ever be reunited?"

I was kindly sent this book to review after I said somewhere that the story seems interesting, but I don't like the cover - and I still don't. The whole concept is nice and simple, but I'm afraid I just cannot get past *those horrible clothes and shoes* the women on the cover are wearing! No offence to the designer, but I shudder every time I look at them and I'm afraid those outfits for me ruin what could've been a really nice cover.

But let's not dwell on that, shall we? The books are (mostly) not about the covers, it's the plot that matters! Speaking of which, I'm afraid I wasn't completely blown away by the story in this case either; I thought there was not much going on and the plot was quite simple, at times even a bit predictable. There's this thing that I've noticed in far too many chick lit novels and it sort of bugs me - I mean, the first guy who shows up (in this case in the hospital or on the doorstep) on the scene is bound to be The One by the end of the novel and real life just isn't like that - plus that would really take all the fun out of life, hehe.

The hens were all lovely women, but I'm afraid I just couldn't relate to any of them, possibly because I'm about 10 years younger than them and haven't been terribly wronged by men *touch wood*. Nonetheless, I can't deny that the characters were nicely developed and I found it interesting to read how they've changed since their hen nights and how they progressed throughout the story. My favourite character was probably Georgia - goodness knows I wouldn't really dream of being her friend, but her sassyness was fun to read about and I enjoyed reading about her soft side too. In the end, you could see that she was still a caring person deep down, despite her ruthless attitude at the beginning. I didn't particularly like Katie personally, but I could really feel for Alice, I thought her situation was by far the worst and actually worth moaning about.

What I really liked about the novel though was the writing itself, minus the third person narrative, which I'm generally not a fan of. As I said, I may not have been amazed by the plot and the characters, but I still enjoyed reading the book because it was nicely written and witty and fun to read. I can tell the author can write and I attribute the lack of enthusiasm about the story and the characters mainly due to my youth and thus the inability to relate to them enough to appreciate them properly. Personally, I also like my books a bit more complex, but I'd definitely recommend this one if you're looking for a nice, easy read.

overall rating: 3/5
plot: 3/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 3/5 | cover: 2/5


ps: If you'd like to read more about this novel, then you can also read two other great reviews over at Chick Lit Reviews and Book Chick City. If you'd like to learn more about the lovely author, then head over to Novelicious and Book Chick City to read the fantastic interviews they've done with her. The author has written two other books under this nom de plume and I'd definitely like to read Over You sometime in the future - the plot sounds like something I could relate to more, hehe.