Everyone Else's Girl - Megan Crane

...life. Or so she wants everyone to think . . . She fled her hometown and disfunctional family as soon as she could and is now living a comfortable distance away with her boyfriend. But she works so hard at BEING perfect, at pleasing everyone, that's there no way she can POSSIBLY be happy . . . is there?

On a trip back home for her future sister-in-law's bachelorette party, she realises just how glad she was to escape . . . especially ...
...who seems eager to please everyone else, it seems slightly odd she seems to have made enemies.

Unfortunately her dad being injured in a car crash upon returning from dropping her mum off at the airport to go on what she considers to be the holiday of a lifetime results in Meredith somehow being bullied into caring for her father. Meaning she is going to have to stay in the place she longed to escape and confront all her issues. Her ... more

I always love is when I coming across an author I really like and then discover they have a few more books I can read. After all, it's all very well having your favourite authors like Marian Keyes or Jill Mansell . . . but it utterly sucks having to wait anything from six months to several years for their next book to be published.

When I discovered Megan Crane about two months ago, I was happy to discover she had FOUR books published already. Now, however, I have read them all and like all my other favourites, I'm going to have to wait for god-knows-how-long for another . . . :(

"Everyone Else's Girl" is the story of Meredith McKay who seems to have the perfect life. Or so she wants everyone to think . . . She fled her hometown and disfunctional family as soon as she could and is now living a comfortable distance away with her boyfriend. But she works so hard at BEING perfect, at pleasing everyone, that's there no way she can POSSIBLY be happy . . . is there?

On a trip back home for her future sister-in-law's bachelorette party, she realises just how glad she was to escape . . . especially as the other girl in question, her former best friend, is someone she clearly now has a history with. But why? For someone who seems eager to please everyone else, it seems slightly odd she seems to have made enemies.

Unfortunately her dad being injured in a car crash upon returning from dropping her mum off at the airport to go on what she considers to be the holiday of a lifetime results in Meredith somehow being bullied into caring for her father. Meaning she is going to have to stay in the place she longed to escape and confront all her issues. Her problems with her family. Her feud with her ex-best friend. And feelings she didn't really know she had for the former guy-next-door Scott . . . Quickly it becomes quite clear that Meredith is not QUITE the nice girl she thinks she is. And that perhaps everyone else apart from her knew that all along.

I wasn't sure about this book at first - it was the second Crane book I had read and it did take me a couple of chapters to get into it. But then, as I got to know Meredith's family, and Meredith herself, I found myself becoming immersed in her world. Outraged on her behalf as she was basically put upon to be the sensible one. And falling in lust with the guy who apparently wanted revenge on Meredith. Like I've always said, one of the marks of a great chick-lit book for me is when I fall in love (or mild lust!) with at least ONE fictional man in it. Is that wrong of me? I don't care!!!

The book is written in first person narrative which means we see the development of the other characters through Meredith's eyes, but as the book progresses we are still somehow allowed to draw our own conclusions, perhaps realising the truth before the heroine herself can. It's immensely readable and infuriatingly hard to put down once you have started. Each character is well-drawn out and seems REAL - perhaps because their flaws are so apparent. Meredith in particular goes through a journey as she discovers a lot of things about herself she doesn't necessarily like. But that just makes her more likeable as a result, because she ISN'T so perfect after all.

If you like chick-lit, I would definitely recommend this book. It's entertaining, interesting but it's not complete fluff like some chick-lit admittedly is. I would also wholeheartedly recommend Megan's other books too, in particular "Frenemies".

"Everybody Else's Girl" is published by Warner books and costs 6.99 from amazon or is available on amazon marketplace from 33 pence. 

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