View source for Love...Under Different Skies by Nick Spalding

{{infobox1
|title=Love...Under Different Skies
|author=Nick Spalding
|reviewer=Zoe Morris
|genre=General Fiction
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1444767070
|pages=384
|publisher=Coronet
|date=December 2013
|summary=Will a change of country be enough to restart Jamie and Laura's relationship? Only time will tell.
|cover=1444767070
|aznuk=1444767070
|aznus=B00AJP25QS
}}
Jamie, Laura, and baby Poppy have had a few mishaps here at home, so when the opportunity comes to flit off to the land down under, and start a new life in Australia, they’re more excited than they are apprehensive. It might get them out of the rut they’ve fallen into, and it will definitely give them the sort of warm glow that comes from living under the, erm, warm glow of the sun. There’s really no reason not to go.

This is a two person book, told in alternating voices of Jamie and Laura. The voices are quite nice and distinct, so you generally know who is talking, but then they spend most of their time slagging off the other, so it’s really not difficult to keep up. Each one has their moments – I really liked the way Jamie came to leave his job in the UK, for example – and switching voices and viewpoints definitely held my interest for longer. 

It’s a bit clichéd and a bit slapstick, but I can see why people like it. Lots of things happen to Jamie and Laura in this book – almost too many things to happen to one couple, really. Nothing is simple, everything is a drama, even almost non-situations like their accommodation when they first arrive. It’s definitely a comedy of errors, and every time something seems to be going ok, something else comes along to derail it all. After a while I found this irritating and the characters to be whinge bags. The couple come across as the sort of people who would rather put up with something and just moan incessantly, than actually take it upon themselves to change things. That’s not to say it’s not an amusing story, just that I didn’t warm to Jamie or Laura, and ultimately began to feel they were asking for it in some ways.

I was a bit disappointed that their life in Australia seemed so foreign compared to my life when I lived over there, but then for the most part it’s written for people who haven’t made the jump yet. I think this would make great escapist fiction for those who dream of a different life abroad but, on finishing this novel, will feel more content than ever at home, and see the grass isn’t always greener, especially if you go out there with Jamie and Laura’s mindset.

This is the third and final book in a series, a fact I was unaware of when I started it and indeed when I finished it. Online buzz tells me people were very excited for this last installment, so I feel I missed out a bit by only coming in at book 3. There’s nothing quite like the anticipation of knowing your favourite characters are coming back out to play soon, and counting down to the day they do. Having finished this one though, I didn’t love it quite as much as fans of the whole series seemed to, so I’m not rushing out to buy the earlier two just yet.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

Set in a more familiar (to me) Australia, [[The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty]] is highly recommended.  You might also enjoy [[Siracusa by Delia Ephron]].

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