I love Fiona Walkers previous books so when I saw this book was approx 600 pages rather than the 400 pages her other books are, I thought I was in for a real treat.
I was very disapointed though when I started reading.
The main character is called Odette,with a couple of other major characters. ... Read review
Advantages: cheap, 600 pages Disadvantages: poor story, too many characters, puntuation is compromised.
I love Fiona Walkers previous books so when I saw this book was approx 600 pages rather than the 400 pages her other books are, I thought I was in for a real treat.
I was very disapointed though when I started reading.
The main character is called Odette,with a couple of other major characters. However, it's not until 3/4 way through the book that you actually realise who the major characters are. Straightaway, you are introduced ... ...are introduced to about 10 more. There are way too many people featuring in this book, it seemed to me there were about 100 of them altogether. It's very confusing and it's extremely difficult to get emotionally attached to anyone including Odette, all the other characters take the focus off the major ones.
I really struggled to get through this book, it's so slow, around page 100 I couldn't take much more, put it down for a day before ... more
I love Fiona Walkers previous books so when I saw this book was approx 600 pages rather than the 400 pages her other books are, I thought I was in for a real treat.
I was very disapointed though when I started reading. The main character is called Odette,with a couple of other major characters. However, it's not until 3/4 way through the book that you actually realise who the major characters are. Straightaway, you are introduced to many characters and it seems with each scene you are introduced to about 10 more. There are way too many people featuring in this book, it seemed to me there were about 100 of them altogether. It's very confusing and it's extremely difficult to get emotionally attached to anyone including Odette, all the other characters take the focus off the major ones.
I really struggled to get through this book, it's so slow, around page 100 I couldn't take much more, put it down for a day before picking it up again - grudgingly. I bravely plodded on and it started to pick up 3/4 of the way through, when the plot became clearer and became slightly more interesting.
It also seems that punctuation wasn't all it could be, I often got confused where there should of been a comma and I had to keep re-reading sentances to understand what was meant. It comes across as if the author was as fed up with the story while writing it as I was reading it and hadn't bothered to make sure things came across clearly.
As for the plot, Odette is hopelessy in love with Calum but all he does is hurt her and makes her bankrupt in her new resterant venture that he is a partner of. The plot twists and turns quite a lot and we learn why Calum is the heartless man he comes across as. I'm not going to give away what happens but even the plot is quite complicated and it doesn't help with how the story is constructed at the beginning and the middle. If it were me, I would scrap the beginning and middle and re-write it!
A very poor book from a previously talented writer. Perhaps she is trying something new, if she is - go back to what you were doing before - stick with what works!
Advantages: Already familiar with many characters Disadvantages: Longer, but not as gripping as previous novels
Between Males is written by Fiona Walker. I have read all of her previous novels, and couldn't resist taking a look at this one. As I expected, I found it almost impossible to put down. I just constantly wanted to find out what happened next.
The main character of this story is a woman named Odette. She had appeared in the novel Snap Happy aswell. Many characters first mentioned in Snap Happy and Kiss Chase were featured in this story. (e.g. Pheobe ... ...Dylan, Mungo- all from Kiss Chase. Juno Glenn and Jay, Elsa and Euan Lydia and Finlay-all from Snap Happy.) Anyway, back to the plot.
Odette has packed in her job and decided to invest a lot of money into opening a restaurant. She joins together with a man called Calum Forrester to set the business up, but Calum plans to wreck it. Meanwhile all her friends are getting married. She is beginning to feel lonely and her business venture seems to be ...
aquar1us 11.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Between Males - Fiona Walker
Advantages: Cleverly thought out, lots of twists Disadvantages: The ending could be seen as predictable
Between Males is Fiona Walker's latest book and quite simply one of her best. It is a wonderfully good read and keeps you gripped throughout, i certainly couldn't put it down!!! Between Males is about a woman called odette, who decides to leave her high powered job to open a restaurant but when a mysterious bloke invests in it, she definately gets more than she bargained for. This book is not a conventional romance but odette wins over the reader's ...
cje9 21.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Between Males - Fiona Walker
Advantages: Well written, plot not over complicated. Disadvantages: too many charcters and too long!
As a huge fan of Fiona Walker I had high hopes for this book, and incomparison with her others it doesnt fare well. However this book viewed on its own is well written, intelligent, funny and worth a read. Firstly the negative points: 1) I think most reviewers agree its basically far too long, had it been around two hundred pages shorter it would have been far better!
2) Too many charcters often with not a lot of depth, Callum especially could have ... ...of why he would destroy a business and a woman for no apparent reason at the very end and then quite unsatisfactorily.
3) Pretty predictable, not always a negative for me but I think guessing the ending from a few pages in is a bit much!
4) The main character Odette is not overly likable, while at times the reader can connect with the charcter there is too much desperation about her to want to connect!!
Having said that there are also many great ...
carrieclear 05.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Between Males - Fiona Walker
Advantages: It is not a five minute read Disadvantages: It is not a five minute read
It is clear from the the outset that you are either going to love Odette or hate her and if you can wade through the mire of the first four hundred pages where she will irritate you more than a gussetful of fire ants, then you will be repaid with the calamine lotion that is the final two hundred pages.
Odette is the kind of woman who subscribes to the adage that all women in business should model themselves on the Power Dressing Ball Busters of ... ...wanted and then cried Sexual Harrassment if it all went pear-shaped! This is how Odette ends up in such a cringeworthy predicament with the loathesome and twisted Callum Forrester; a man so greasy and awful he makes you want to go and wash. You can't help feeling that she has brought it all on herself - personally, I prefer to share some kind of reciprocity with my chick lit heroines; this girl, as far as I could see, needed a damn good shake!
Regardless, ...
kerryking 07.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Between Males - Fiona Walker
This book is the most recent novel by Fiona Walker and, personally, I thought this story was nowhere near as good as her previous books. The central character is Odette, who first appeared in Walker’s previous novel, ‘Snap Happy’, as a friend of that story’s heroine, Juno Glenn. In ‘Between Males’, Odette is starting up her own club. The book follows Odette’s relationships – in particular, her relationships with Calum Forrester and Jimmy Sylvian ...
zwiggy 02.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Between Males - Fiona Walker
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Advantages: Brilliant read, very entertaining and funny Disadvantages: quite long, hard to put down
dog food by mistake.
Jay and Juno begin to ignore each other and spend most of their time trying to work around bumping into each other.
I will not tell you too much of the story as I am recommending you go out and read it for yourself. I will give you a slight insight to what the book is about though, here is a list of what you will find,
Sex
Pregnancy
Love
Fame
If you want to know more they sell this book in any good bookshop.
Trust me once you pick this book up you will not be able to put it down. It also has a very romantic ending, which made the long read worthwhile.
If you are into romantic novels with humour as well this may be the book for you.
I am reading another one of FionaWalkers books at the minute that is called ‘BetweenMales.’ This book is actually a follow on from Snap Happy and when I ...
Advantages: can't put it down, fantastic characters, extremely witty Disadvantages: i couldn't even think of one
This is one of those books that you have withdrawal symptoms from once you finish it. I certainly did. Once you reach the end, you just won't to curl up and read it all over again. It is THAT good. I have read it at least five or six times in the last couple of years.
All FionaWalker's books are fabulous (the only time she slipped at all in my opinion was in BetweenMales and even that was above average!) but this in my opinion is the best of all. She has been often referred to as the "new Jilly Cooper" and you can see why cos she's got a similar fast paced style of writing. But I believe she's even better! (sorry Jilly!)
The main character Phoebe is just your average girl - feels like an ugly duckling 99.9% of the time, constantly losing jobs, skint, doesn't know what she wants to do with her life or who she wants to be with. She ...
