Playing Away - Adele Parks

Advantages: all the write ingredients...
Disadvantages: none

The front cover reads "the closest you'll get to an affair withoug actually having one" Oh so true, this story, is one you won't want to put down. Basic Plot Connie, is a 20 something, happily married (for a year) to Luke, the perfect good looking husband. She has a great job, circle of good friends, what more can she want? Follow Connie as she meets one of the sexiest men she has ever met, first time around she shuns him, but he makes her excited. ...
...her husband isn't, he takes her to cheap bars, they get drunk, have wild sex, he is disrespectful, but funny, and he turns her on like she thinks she has never been turned on before. But the secret weighs heavy, and it is not long before she confides in her friends, what are their reactions? They all think she and Luke are the perfect couple. Meanwhile one of her close friends marriage is going through a bad patch, can Connie deal with this aswell, ... Read review

Advantages: It's chick lit, so you don't need to have won the nobel science prize to understand it
Disadvantages: The main character is selfish and needs a good slap.

Playing Away was one of the first of a long series of Chick Lit genre books that I read (and am still reading)and I was so disappointed in it that I have shunned everything else that Adele has written since. Her central character is a girl called Connie and Connie has been married to the pityable Luke for a year; the reader is led to believe that everything in the garden is rosy until the John Harding, the Corporate Lothario arrives on the scene ...
...the murky puddle of an affair. What Adele's first outing has in common with most author's first outings is that you get the distinct impression that the main character is modelled on themselves - an understandable trait in an author; I mean, you have to start somewhere... and sticking with what you know is fairly safe. But because Connie is such a self serving, irritatingly designer label conscious, mall-rat I feel that this story leaves you with ... Read review

Advantages: amazing written, gripping, entertaining
Disadvantages: you won't be able to put it down

i have just finished reading this book and will no doubt be compelled to read it again. Although i wasnt really expecting it to be a particularly intellectually written i was so wrong. It's funny, witty but does actually make you think about your own life and your own relationships. Basically, as stated on the cover, the book mainly circles around connie and luck who seem to be the perfect couple. Both are funny,clever, good looking and have loads ...
...live in amazing london house. Everything is blissful and contented in this marriage until connie meets another rather different man who takes her off tracks. The books explores all the trials and tribulations of this with some well thought out, indepth characters who seem like real people. i came to care for them and worry about what was going to happen to them more than any other book i have ever read. the sub plots of the book looks at the differing ... Read review

Advantages: A modern book that is true to life
Disadvantages: Strong crude language

Once again Adele Parks has written a brilliant book that you will not want to put it down. Basically Connie is happily married for one year when she meets John Harding. Following a work trip away & lots of flirting they fall head over heels in lust & can not keep their hands off each other. Once home they can not stop thinking about each other & dirty text messages & phone calls lead to passionate fast sex wherever & whenever they get the chance. ... Read review

Advantages: a good read, great characterisation
Disadvantages: not compelling enough

...Playing Away is a novel written by Adele Parks, a young British author. I had not heard of her before, but the book was recommended to me by a friend, and the cover declares the novel is the closest you will get to having an affair, without having one - so it sounded interesting !! It is the story of Connie & Luke's marriage, told from Connie's viewpoint. On the surface she has it all - a good job, nice home, perfect husband and it is early on in their marriage. They are the envy of their friends. But when Connie goes away to a conference and meets John, a handsome flirt, why is she tempted to stray ? This is a light read and a fairly good book, but not one I would rave about. One of Adele Parks' best qualities is how well she writes about the other characters in the book, Connie & Luke's friends - Rose & Peter, Daisy, Lucy... Read review

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Advantages: Entertaining, nice writing style
Disadvantages: Crude language was a shock at first

...A while ago, whilst looking on amazon.co.uk, I came across a special offer for 3 books (Larger Than Life, Game Over and Playing Away) by northern author Adele Parks. The first one I read, is this one, 'Playing Away'. The book promised to be a close up look at having an affair, but the design of the book did not make me think that it would be a serious look into the pros and cons of affair. I had an image of a Bridget Jones style character as the lead, only this time she is married. The main character is a management consultant called Connie Green. Connie seems to have it all, a gorgeous loving husband, Luke, a good job (even though she hates it), and a wide supportive network of friends, who we are introduced to almost immediately. First, there is Sam, Connie's work colleague, an incurable romantic desperate to find Mr Right. In my... Read review

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Advantages: Easily readable
Disadvantages: Contains nothing you'd really want to read!

...Over the years, I've become quite a fan of the chick-lit and bloke-lit genres. It's one of those guilty pleasures, in which you know every time you pick the book up that you should be reading something with a bit more depth but you just don't quite have the will power to let go. Fortunately, I think I may just have found the book to cure my addiction to the genre. A couple of years ago, I was given a free book on the purchase of a travel guide. This book, Adele Parks' "Playing Away", sat unwanted and unloved upon my shelf until a friend who has similar reading tastes to me mentioned she was a big fan of the author. Given that our tastes coincide in so many ways, I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try. If only I had known then what I know now. Connie is married to Luke and has been for the last year, she believes happily... Read review

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