Changes

Vicky's husband has found faith and since he's working as a curate now rather than a plumber Vicky has been dragged into church life whether she likes it or not. She's struggling to raise her family whilst dealing with her own grief when suddenly into the mix come her irritating big brother and his little boy. As Vicky's patience is stretched paper-thin the lies woven within her family begin to unravel and she struggles to keep everything and everyone together.

Not all the characters worked for me though and I struggled even with the main character, Vicky. She was irritatingly messed up, and not really likeable enough to make up for it. Almost all of the novel is from her point of view, including her annoying 'Thoughts for the Day' at the end of each chapter, but by the end I found I had grown used to her, though I don't think I'd want her for a friend! My real bug bear was actually her three year old daughter, Olivia, who behaves like a precocious five year old, is entirely unbelievable as a three year old and even, at one point, makes her mum a cup of tea by herself and brings it up to her in bed! But then even though I found some characters annoying, others in smaller roles seemed to work well, and I did feel she captured a lot of the chaos of family life and injected humour into the story very well.

I don't think this book worked as well as her debut novel, but it still held my attention and is certainly worth a borrow from the library if you don't think it's something you want to keep on your shelves for a re-read in the future.

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