Review ~ Rules for Thursday Lovers by Yana Stajno

Clink Street
July 2015

Angie and Fiona are two school friends who meet up years later whilst attending a time share event evening on a Thames barge. Both are rather tipsy and as they bond over discussing their individual personal lives, they realise that they still crave the excitement of their youth. Bonded by their enthusiasm to spice up their lives, they decide to embark upon an adventure; namely, that of time-sharing a lover, which seems, on the surface to be infinitely more exciting than their current boring lives. In order to keep some semblance of control, Angie and Fiona draw up a series of rules; hence the title of the novel.

What the follows is a witty and rather wry look at the complexities of modern relationships and even as the rules are drawn up, you can’t help but realise that all too soon, perhaps, these rules are just going to be broken. I must admit that it took me a little while to get into the story. I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters, and for some reason, I found most of them unlikable for quite different reasons, but I think that the author cleverly manipulates the narrative, so that it’s not necessary to feel any sort of emotional connection to any of them. The story is almost farcical in places, so much so, you could almost imagine it as theatre slapstick where everyone gets hopelessly mixed up, and I think therein lies its charm.

Overall, I thought that the story was well written with a fast moving story line,  which, after a shaky start, kept me entertained. 

Amazon

My thanks to Kate Appleton at Authoright for my review copy of this book.

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