... But the moment I started reading "Lucy in the Sky", I was hooked. I finished it in two days, which is a record for me at the moment, and I loved every minute of it.
I didn't realise this until I bought the book but Paige Toon, the author, is actually the reviews editor of "Heat". I love ... Read review
Advantages: chick-lit at it's best, unputdownable, good characters, well written, funny, not too predictable Disadvantages: you'll be sad when it ends
...In an unusually long prologue, Lucy realises she hasn't switched off her phone and as she is about to do so, notices she has a text from her lawyer boyfriend James. But while the text is coming from her boyfriend's phone, it doesn't appear to be from him - for it begins "Hi Lucy, just shagged James in your bed..." Cue extreme emotional torment and the most embarrassing flight of Lucy's life.
James reassures her it must be ... ...if I got to know Lucy well, possibly this was down to it being written in the first person narrative, so everything was told from her point of view. I came to empathise with her from the outset, as she mortified herself on the flight to Australia, having to run up and down to the toilet to be sick due to her state of shock, accidentally making herself into a nightmare passenger that the cabin crew were obviously bad to see the back of... Then, as ... more
Now, if you're someone who has read a lot of my reviews, you'll know I'm a big reader normally, although it is mainly chick-lit that I really read with any regularity - I can usually go through anything from one to four books a week in my spare time. Recently though, I've not been reading as much. I'm not sure why. I kept BUYING books, but they were starting to pile up. I think mainly it's due to me discovering bebo about three months ago now. I've spent a hell of a lot of my usual allotted "reading time" looking up old friends, choosing videos for my flashbox, posting blogs and uploading pics of myself to show everyone how cool I am. Reading took a back seat to that. Then add to that the whole getting-dumped thing and I lost my concentration span too as well as my motivation. I think I started reading a book about a week before me and my man split up, and was still reading it three weeks later when I met up with him and he asked me what I was reading these days. The book was only about two hundred pages long so I was pretty embarrassed to admit I was still reading the same book I'd been reading last time he asked!
So I know this sounds completely irrelevant but there IS in fact a point to this little story I am telling. For I HAVE read a few books in the last few weeks but with little enthusiasm. I've not even managed to read the new Harry Potter book, which has been sitting on my desk for the past two weeks now. But the moment I started reading "Lucy in the Sky", I was hooked. I finished it in two days, which is a record for me at the moment, and I loved every minute of it.
I didn't realise this until I bought the book but Paige Toon, the author, is actually the reviews editor of "Heat". I love that magazine so if I hadn't already been sold on the idea of the book, that fact would have convinced me. She also has lived in Australia for parts of her life, where some of the book is set, so this also made it seem more real to me, like she had a proper understanding of the heroine's Australian upbringing.
Lucy, our heroine, is a girl who seems to have the perfect life. Great job in PR (she gets tons of freebies - enough said! bitch...), great flat in London, great boyfriend. And now she is heading back over to Australia, the country she left when she was a teenager, to see her two best friends Molly and Sam get married.
And this is where our story begins - on the plane to Australia, moments before the flight takes off. In an unusually long prologue, Lucy realises she hasn't switched off her phone and as she is about to do so, notices she has a text from her lawyer boyfriend James. But while the text is coming from her boyfriend's phone, it doesn't appear to be from him - for it begins "Hi Lucy, just shagged James in your bed..." Cue extreme emotional torment and the most embarrassing flight of Lucy's life.
James reassures her it must be one of his mates' ideas of a prank but Lucy can't help but wonder if he's telling the truth - he has told some pretty tall (and hilarious) tales in the past. So when she reaches Oz and runs into Sam's younger brother,surfer dude Nathan, she's already a little confused. And things are about to get much MUCH more complicated as the book progresses...
Okay, so this is standard chick-lit, you have the normal(ish) girl who is torn between two guys. James is older, a professional, charming - and potentially cheating on her. Nathan is younger than her, a surfer without a stable income, living in a different country and potentially has a girlfriend in Amy. Although both have their good and their bad points, the choice still seems fairly clear-cut. But somehow we're kept guessing as Lucy's mind constantly swings between the two, and as the story unfolds, her mind becomes more and more muddled by her decision. Does she stay in a three year committed relationship or throw it all away for a crush on a guy two years younger than her who lives half a world away?
The book is brilliantly written and I quickly felt as if I got to know Lucy well, possibly this was down to it being written in the first person narrative, so everything was told from her point of view. I came to empathise with her from the outset, as she mortified herself on the flight to Australia, having to run up and down to the toilet to be sick due to her state of shock, accidentally making herself into a nightmare passenger that the cabin crew were obviously bad to see the back of... Then, as she struggles to decide who she wants to be with, I genuinely wanted her to make the right decision - but I too wasn't sure what the correct decision should be.
Both James and Nathan had their appeals to me as well - i could see why she would be interested in both of them, but I trusted neither of them, and personally spent a lot of time wondering if EITHER of them were the right choice. The characters were all drawn well because they had their good points AND their flaws - even Molly and Sam, who seemed to have the perfect relationship, had their odd little secrets. And don't even get me started on Nathan's possible girlfriend Amy - psycho!!!
The other good thing about this book was that it was full of jokes. Ones that would make you laugh out loud AND ones that would just make you cringe. Long ones and one-liners. (I don't have my copy of the book to check but one example of a crap but funny joke I remember off the top of my head is "What's green and turns red at the touch of a button? A frog in a blender" Sick but it still made me laugh I'm sorry to say!) I should say all these jokes aren't just in there randomly - it's actually part of the storyline!
Thanks to "Lucy in the Sky" I've finally got my reading mojo back - unfortunately now I'm gonna be comparing every other book I read to it. Probably even "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows"!!!
I doubt this book is gonna really appeal to any dudes who have actually went as far as to read this review. But for any girls (and the very few guys) who are into chick-lit books, and are fans of authors such as Marian Keyes or Maggie Alderson, this is definitely a book that should appeal. Just make sure you put aside a couple of days where you plan to do nothing but read - because you won't want to put it down until it's done. And THEN you'll be sad you finished it so quickly... :)
400 pages
RRP £6.99 (available £3.99 from amazon.co.uk or from 1p amazon marketplace)
*I'm not sure why this has come up with categories about audio books underneath but I have answered these questions as if they are just asking about readability and so on
Advantages: Funny, witty, well written, good likeable characters Disadvantages: The character of James!
...a character, not surprisingly called Lucy McCarthy. Lucy is about to head on holiday to Australia for the wedding of her two best friends Sam and Molly for 2 weeks when the whole thing is jeopardised before she even takes off from British soil. When turning her mobile phone off in the cabin of the plane, she notices she has a new text message, and decides to quickly read it. However, the text isn't the text she was expecting to receive...it is from ... ...James in her bed. Obviously Lucy is stuck on a plane and can't do anything about it, but has James been faithful? And will it ruin Lucy's holiday completely?
I found the book incredibly fun, and a very easy read! It starts off with quite a long prologue, which takes place on the plane just before and after Lucy receives the dreaded text message. It lets you get to know Lucy's character really well as she is the only character we focus on for those ...
mummy2harry 04.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
Advantages: Brilliant reading in every way Disadvantages: None at all
Lucy left Australia when she was 16 and now, nine long years later, she is returning for the first time to go to a wedding. It's been too long since she last saw her friends and now Molly, her best friend, and Sam, her first love, are getting married - to each other. But Lucy is now happy with her life living in a beautiful flat in London with her gorgeous lawyer boyfriend, James, and with a job that she couldn't love more. But just as the plane ... ...Sam's very sexy surfer brother, Lucy can't help wondering if she'd be happier elsewhere. === My opinion ===
After reading and absolutely loving my first book of Paige Toon's, Cashing Daisy, I was quite excited to start on the second of her books that I had, Lucy in the Sky. The book is split between Lucy's holiday in Sydney and her life at home in London and it does feel like a very big line of distinction between the two, so much so that it actually ...
frankiefromings13 09.11.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
Advantages: Great read , romantic , sad and happy all at once! Disadvantages: couldn't put it down it was soo good!
As a child Lucy lived in Austrailia.But when Lucy's mum meets a British man , they return home to England to live.
Lucy's two Austrialian best friends Molly and Sam who she had a major crush on when she was there , who she hasn't seen since she left Australia nine years ago , are getting married to eachother.
So Lucy is on her way to Sydney to attend her best friends' wedding.
Lucy is PR.She's 25 , owns a flat and lives with her gorgeous boyfriend ... ...Lucy recieves a text message of James saying 'Hey Lucy.Just shagged James.Nice sheet'/
Lucy is devasted.She has a go at James who says it was probably his mates.Throughout her stay in Austrailia , Lucy falls madly in love with Sam's younger brother Nathan.There is chemistry.
Lucy is dreading the day she has to return home to England.Now that she has fallen in love , she does not know how she's going to cope without him.
A few months go by in England ...
xdonzx 25.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
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This book is perfect beach/commute reading. I've read this book about 20 times now (no joke) and it gets better every time. Lucy recieves a text while she's on a plane. It's from a girl claiming she slept with Lucy's boyfriend James. Is this the case? Well, we never really find out, but it sure messes up Lucy's life. While she's contemplating her relationship, she meets an old friend who she falls for. It's all about Lucy's choice.
The only thing about this book is that we never really find out the truth about James. And the Epilogue was really annoying too! I also didn't see Lucy as a young person, she felt more like a woman in her 30s. Which made me lose some appeal. ...
About_a_Girl 19.02.2009
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
Advantages: A beautifully romantic and entertaining novel Disadvantages: Just that it ends!
...journey from London to Australia, Lucy discovers a text on her phone from her boyfriend, but with a woman's name on the end. Why would a woman be texting from Lucy's boyfriend 's phone to tell her "nice sheets"? This makes for a hellish journey out to Australia, with a stop off in Singapore, for Lucy to mull over what has just happened to make her world come crashing down. Once off the plane in Singapore, Lucy heads to a bar where she has little ... ...and having been confronted by Lucy about the text, we are left wondering how he is feeling, and whether there really is another woman. After the wedding, and after Lucy and Nathan share a special moment, Lucy returns home and not long after goes on a trip to Spain for a couple of days with James and his work colleagues. But Lucy is only left wondering more about James and his fidelity, or lack of, and with more horrible thoughts by the end of the ...
x_smiley_x 13.04.2008
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Advantages: Addictive , Unpredictable Disadvantages: Some Parts Predictable
Meg is living the life other girls can only dream of. She is personal assistant to the rock star Johnny Jeffersson. Her life is perfect ?or so you would think right ? Find out how Meg copes with the positives and negatives that come with working with a famous musician.
Johnny Be Good is the second book by PaigeToon (Heat Magazine's reviews editior) , her first being LucyIn The Sky. Johnny Be Good was released in 2008. I had already read LucyIn The Sky and absolutely loved it , so when I heard PaigeToon had another chick-lit book out , I immediately logged onto play.com and bought it for a reduced price of £3.99 instead of the recommended £6.99.
Being slightly celebrity-obsessed , this book was a useful source to me , providing me with interesting information as to what goes on in the world of celebrity.There were so many ...
Advantages: Fantastic story, great characters, update on her previous novel! Disadvantages: The way it ended!
Sometimes, an author releases a superb debut novel, so much so that I go out of my way to pre-order their next release, because I'm so hopeful it'll be as good as the debut. PaigeToon's debut 'Lucyin the Sky' was one such book, and when I discovered her next release on Amazon, I quickly pre-ordered it for a bargain price. It was delivered on the day of release, and I excitedly set about reading it, looking forward to the book to come.
Johnny Be Good is all about Meg Stiles. Meg was a PA for a smalll architect in London, until her boss found her the job of a lifetime..PA for Rock God Johnny Jefferson in LA. Meg happily accepts the job and moves her life over to LA. She's star-struck at meeting Johnny but soon settles in to her job. Johnny introduces her to a life of glitz and glam, and her best friend, the English-gent Christian ...
Advantages: Great, easy to read story, perfect for when you don't want to think too much Disadvantages: The cliff-hanger ending!
Johhny Be Good is the second release from PaigeToon, who had a hit last summer with LucyIn The Sky, and it's a really enjoyable read like the first. In fact, I grabbed it in a 30 second dash through an airport bookshop on the basis that I'd really enjoyed her first book.
Meg is a 20-something living in London, enjoying her job as a PA. However when her boss has a business dinner with some friends, everything changes. Johnny Jefferson, the British bad boy of music needs a new assistant, and she's just recommended Meg for the job. Within days, Meg is flying out to LA where Johnny now lives, and trying to come to terms with life in the shadow of one of the beautiful, famous people.
Life's a bit different in La La Land, and Meg soon finds out that in addition to her old duties of organising meetings and co-ordinating diaries, she ...
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