Holly Would Dream by Karen Quinn

Holly Would Dream by Karen Quinn
Buy Holly Would Dream by Karen Quinn at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: A lively and wicked look into the very uptight world of fashion museums, this book takes a fish-out-of-water tale onto a Mediterranean cruise ship with brilliant consequences.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 4321	Date: June 2008
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN: 978-1416527657
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I took a bit of a gamble buying this book, having loved Quinn's first title, The Ivy Chronicles, but been disappointed by the subsequent Wife In The Fast Lane.

As a child, Holly would dream of living her own Hollywood dream, preferably set in the fifties, complete with wonderful fashions and debonair gentlemen. Now an adult, she has submerged herself in the world of old Hollywood glamour. She may not have the breeding and background many of her contemporaries have, but this poor girl done good is getting by quite nicely. She has a job she loves as fashion historian at a New York museum, is engaged to a handsome actor and finally feels life is turning out as it should.

Just as she begins to relax and feel her future is sorted, things change in an instant. Gone are her future promotion, her future husband, her future income, her home. Before she can flutter an eyelash, Audrey Hepburn style, she finds herself ensconced on a cruise ship in the Med, hunting a potential millionaire donor in a bid to redeem herself. There are a few obstacles along the way – she has some insanely randy octogenarians to keep track of, the only way people will attend her lectures is to strip off and appear clad solely in chocolate body-paint, and she might just be falling for one of the crew – but Holly doesn't feel too out of her depth, for now.

Things change when an idea that was, ok, slightly below the table to begin with, turns into the crime of the century, at least in Holly's mind. With Interpol now tracking her across Europe, and Holly unable to leave the ship, she is forced to enlist the help of one of the butlers in getting her and her cargo safely to Rome. Throw in some snotty socialites, a handful of cruise veterans, a dead Italian mother, a case of mistaken identity and an increasingly attractive billionaire, and you have a brilliant page-turner with a new revelation on every page.

Readers familiar with Quinn's previous two books, may find this story somewhat similar. Though the storylines are completely different, the heroines in all the books share certain qualities, rely on certain phrases, have certain views on life. The stories always have various twists and turns (some predictable, some much less so), and there's always a smattering of Yiddish slang thrown in for good measure. That said, I really enjoyed this book and thought it was fresh and new, even with the same basic formula beneath it. it is a fabulous read, light-hearted and funny, with some hilarious twists. It's a really nice feel-good book that is perfect for summer, though you might want to take some other titles with you on any planned holiday since you'll finish this one so quickly in an effort to find out what happens at the end – who gets the guy, who gets the cheque, and who gets sent directly to jail.

For another delicious look at the Med, you might enjoy The Gypsy Tearoom or the brilliant Tell Me Something.

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