Some Kind of Wonderful by Giovanni Fletcher starts with Lizzy and her boyfriend of ten years Ian taking a trip to Dubai. Everyone is telling her that he is going to propose on this holiday. She is trying to manage their expectations and inwardly cringing at the lack of proposal that has yet to come. As the holiday goes on she is losing hope that he is going to ask the question. Each day seems to bring a new beautiful location which he doesn’t propose in, everywhere the perfect spot. Until the last night of the holiday. A candlelit private dinner in a dream setting. She’s thrilled. He’s going to propose. Only, he gets drunk, half falls onto one knee, pulls out a ring and then can’t ask the question. Instead he tells her that he doesn’t want to marry her. Even then she doesn’t really understand what he’s saying. Ok so he doesn’t want to marry her. Actually, he wants to break up.
Heartbroken she makes her way home to London with the worst journey as the man who jilted her mid proposal has to travel back with her, to the house they own together. Things seem worse and worse the more she thinks about it, right up until she gets to her best friend’s doorstop only to find her out on a date. Foetal on the floor with her luggage in a cold November night she waits for her bestie to come home.
Her best friend and her Mum rally around her over the coming days. They’re there with wine, music and absolutely all her favourite treats. They listen to all her worries of whether she is really herself anymore or a version of herself that she built around Ian. They tell her to cry her tears, get mad and that this will pass. That she’s wonderful as she is. It’s a sad start to the book but there is so much love. She is so well liked and cared for.
It’s a joy to watch Lizzy not crumple under the weight of her broken heart. The person she thought was the love of her life leaves her but she throws herself straight into trying new activities and getting back into being social. It feels a lot more realistic than a lot of portrayals of break ups from television, film and books. She is absolutely broken hearted and devastated but she’s taking steps towards something better. She does it when she can and some days she can’t and things knock her back. It’s a brutal and real view of having your heart broken that excellently holds the reader’s interest.
It’s lovely sometimes to read a story about someone finding out who they truly are. It’s something that a lot of people struggle with at some point in their life. It’s easy to wonder about where we are in life and if we should be in the same situation as other people are in their relationships, careers or having a family. Big life events like break ups and birthdays do bring these questions up naturally.
This book brings a look at one person making their way through the questions of how much other people influence our lives and how sometimes our decisions are made with other people in mind. How much of ourselves we may lose in a relationship or parts of our if bits of our personality become subdued. Which things are truly our preferences as opposed to compromises for a partner?
It’s a nice story about families and relationships and what makes us who we are. A pleasant light read. I enjoyed reading it and found I was looking forward to hearing what would happen next since it wasn’t obvious. It does of course have many pieces of good luck in it and advancement into a new life which would not realistically happen to most people in this time frame but it is pleasing to read about good things happening to nice people.
A fun read with nice characters. Some comedy to keep things light and managing to avoid becoming a sad book. An uplifting story and a pleasant reminder that we don’t all need to be in a relationship to be happy (even if it is nice if it eventually works out that way).
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