Seven Sunny Days - Chris Manby

.../> So out it came, Seven Sunny Days by Chris Manby. Reading a little about Chris Manby, she has written six other books; Flatmates, Second Prize, Deep Heat, Lizzie Jordan's Secret Life, Running away from Richard and Getting Personal. All sound a bit 'Chick Litty' to me and the praise on the inside cover was all from women’s magazines so that was that, I definitely was not going to enjoy it.

The Plot

In a nutshell, Seven ...
...three friends and the relationships they have with each other and others they meet while they are there. They find out about themselves and each other and more that just a holiday, this period in time allows them all to move forward in their lives by dealing with their various pasts. And obviously, we learn a bit about the men in their lives too.

The Characters

It's Rachel's hen week, marrying the love of her life and ... more

First of all, I must point out that I would never have bought this book for myself. I am a reader of all things bookish, most genres but it must be said, I am sick to death of so-called 'chick lit'. It's not that I've not tried it, I enjoyed Bridget Jones and several of the others that emerged after that but that was years ago. Why can't people find something new to right about other than single women of a certain age who eat, drink and smoke too much (or think they do). And yes, I am one before you ask.

So when my friend bought this book for me for Christmas I was a bit peeved as now I would have to read it and tell her I enjoyed it which I obviously wouldn't as I hate chick lit. I thought if I ignored it for a bit I might start reading it in a desperate moment when then ASDA top ten bookshelves were a bit bare. So there it laid, unread for probably a couple of months, a record in this house. Then it happened, the inevitable. One miserable weekend in early March I woke up early on a Saturday morning and Shock! I had nothing to read.

So out it came, Seven Sunny Days by Chris Manby. Reading a little about Chris Manby, she has written six other books; Flatmates, Second Prize, Deep Heat, Lizzie Jordan's Secret Life, Running away from Richard and Getting Personal. All sound a bit 'Chick Litty' to me and the praise on the inside cover was all from women’s magazines so that was that, I definitely was not going to enjoy it.

The Plot

In a nutshell, Seven Sunny Days is about a Hen week in Turkey with three friends and the relationships they have with each other and others they meet while they are there. They find out about themselves and each other and more that just a holiday, this period in time allows them all to move forward in their lives by dealing with their various pasts. And obviously, we learn a bit about the men in their lives too.

The Characters

It's Rachel's hen week, marrying the love of her life and determined to enjoy herself in Turkey on the final Club Aegee girly holiday as a single woman. She's in love and exited about getting married. A 'nice' character she's constantly bullied via mobile phone about wedding arrangements by her soon to be Mother -in law- and exactly the kind of friend you do not want to spend a week with when you have just gotten divorced. Which is were Carrie Ann comes in.

Just emerging from a painful fifteen-year relationship and the ink barley dry on the decree nisi Carrie Ann was also along for the ride. Painted as a bit maudlin and sad in the beginning, as you would be I suppose, she was my favourite of the three friends by the end of the book. I hate all that joy and happiness stuff, she was much more my cup of tea.

Yasslyn is the supermodel type that you do not want to be on holiday with because she looks so much better than you in a bikini. Has a great boyfriend but won't commit, lots of emotional baggage, quite needy. I didn't care for her very much. I did come round to her a bit by the end I suppose.

While in Turkey we also meet 'the couple with marital problems', Marcus and Sally, believable characters and pivotal to the way the book works really. Everyone who has ever been in a serious relationship can identify with some of the things that these two go through. I liked Marcus as he sounded like someone I could see myself going out with. I liked Sally because, although she is initially quite rotten to Marcus, I could see where she was coming from. For me these two make the book, the will they or won't they split up question looms until the closing pages but I don't want to give too much away so I will shut up about them.

There are a couple of Male reps, Axel and tennis rep Gilles who have their own sets of 'issues' and help the plot along nicely when required. I'm not sure how believable the Axel character is, he's painted as the sensitive type, but Gilles is a randy sod and I've met plenty of reps like him so although I'm not so keen on him for most of the book I can see what he's about.

There are a few locals in the story and some other guests but the above characters are the ones we really get to know.

The Verdict

I have read the other reviews of this book on Ciao and they both mention that this book is hard to get in to and I would agree, although I think the time spent in getting to know the characters is in the end the reason why this is such a good book. (There, I said it!)

The plot has a couple of good twists near then end of the book and I don't want to spoil it for anyone but they are worth holding out for. All the ingredients of a good holiday yarn are there (Sun, Sand and the other one!) The book wraps up all the loose ends of the plot in a very tidy way. It is well constructed and I have to admit a very enjoyable way to spend a cold weekend in March. I could not put it down when I got into it and literally read it over the two days.

It is perfect easy reading for holidays or for the many occasions in this country when it is far too cold to go outside and do something and you want to be transported somewhere warm for a while.

Yes, it is chick lit but it is well written and funny, I cannot do a review with out sharing one of the best lines of the book. "Gilles was the human equivalent of a burger, momentarily satisfying but ultimately cheap, nasty and not very good for you". This is the kind of book you catch your boyfriend reading when he thinks you won't notice, like they do with the women’s magazines.

The RRP on this book is £5.99 not bad value for 438 pages. I know though if you shop around a bit you will get it cheaper. Although this was a present, I have seen it on sale in WHSmiths and ASDA and of course, there is nothing Amazon doesn’t have.
The ISBN no. is 0-340-81900-6
 

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