Review of 'Late Blossoming of Frankie Green' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This was my experience... I'm sure many others will enjoy.
I was expecting a light read, but it took me a while to get through this one. Not because it was heavy reading, but more because I just didn't get sucked into the characters enough to fully care. There were countless missed opportunities to dig a bit deeper. I suspect it had to do with it's round-robin between the three girls, when perhaps three decent books could have been produced? Each from a different woman's POV. Just a thought. I kept reading to find out who Frankie Green ended up with, even though I didn't really care. I didn't know Jason enough to really like/dislike him (I mean, by the end, he wasn't cool, but if Frankie had changed, maybe he could, too? ... with a gentle prod). And Floyd... he had a few one-liners and the like, but I …
This was my experience... I'm sure many others will enjoy.
I was expecting a light read, but it took me a while to get through this one. Not because it was heavy reading, but more because I just didn't get sucked into the characters enough to fully care. There were countless missed opportunities to dig a bit deeper. I suspect it had to do with it's round-robin between the three girls, when perhaps three decent books could have been produced? Each from a different woman's POV. Just a thought. I kept reading to find out who Frankie Green ended up with, even though I didn't really care. I didn't know Jason enough to really like/dislike him (I mean, by the end, he wasn't cool, but if Frankie had changed, maybe he could, too? ... with a gentle prod). And Floyd... he had a few one-liners and the like, but I felt like they were hiding the real him, so I didn't fall in love with him, either. I realised by about 70% through that I just didn't care... and that made the rest a bit of a trudge.
On the plus side, I was pleased to see that this was written BEFORE Whatever Happened to Vicky Hope's Back Up Man? because that means Laura Kemp has got BETTER, and I may yet pick up another book of hers.
This was a lesson, though. I've been finding my recent Fantasy reads a bit trudgery, and thought a dip into "chick lit" would lighten the load... And it just goes to show, it's not about genre, it's totally about whether the book clicks for you. And this one didn't for me. Back to Fantasy, for now.