View source for Send Me A Lover by Carol Mason

{{infobox1 
|title= Send Me A Lover
|author= Carol Mason
|reviewer= Karen Inskip-Hayward
|genre=Women's Fiction 
|summary= A dull, dreary read that isn't worth the time!
|rating=1.5 
|buy= No
|borrow= No
|pages=320 
|publisher= Hodder
|date= November 2008
|isbn=978-0340932773 
|cover=0340932775
|aznuk=0340932775
|aznus=0340932775
}}

Angela is a widow in her early thirties living in Vancouver, Canada. Two years after her husband Jonathan died in a car accident, she is back in the dating game, though not necessarily very enthusiastically. Her late husband used to say to her that if he died young, he would send her a lover (hence the book's title!) and part of her wonders if this could indeed be true. 

This book began to annoy me early on. It either seems to be treading water or moving at the speed of light. Angela goes from Canada to England to Greece, then back to Canada. Every couple of chapters, a new bloke appears who may or may not be The One. But really, you don't care. You just want the book to end. 

It seemed to take forever to read this and I accompanied the gesture of picking it up with a long, deep sigh of resignation. This is ''not'' a good sign! 

There is very little right with this novel. The characters are dull and annoying, the situations are leaning towards being unbelievable and the story often seems forced. The writing style is at best average, with some parts making me raise my eyebrows at the poor choice of words, clichés and overlong details of women's outfits. Do we really need ten lines telling us what someone is wearing? I think not. 

I had very little sympathy for Angela. She didn't bring force any emotions from me, just a weary apathy. Her mother is more interesting, but soon becomes tiresome herself. The male characters are awful stereotypes, bland pretty boys and easily slotting into neat little boxes. This one's a slimy Greek; this one's good in bed but not for the long haul; this one's nice but married. Oh puh-leeze! 

Zoe Page's review of this author's previous novel [[The Secrets of Married Women by Carol Mason|The Secrets of Married Women]] comments that it felt rather like an issue of ''Take A Break'' magazine and this second novel is just the same. If I had read this as a shorter version in a women's magazine, it would have been mildly enjoyable. As a longer, hopefully deeper, novel, it failed completely. It didn't hold my interest; it didn't engage my emotions; it didn't make me care for any of the characters. 

I don't recommend you waste your time reading it.

{{amazontext|amazon=0340932775}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=0340932775}}

{{commenthead}}