The State We're In
Ratings2
Average rating3
What are the odds that the stranger sitting next to you on a plane is destined to change your life? Especially when they appear to be your opposite in every way... The perfect read for fans of Ruth Jones, Jane Green and Sheila O'Flanagan, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Lies Lies Lies. Don't miss Adele's gripping new novel, the No. 1 bestseller Just My Luck, out now! Acclaim for Adele's compelling, twisty and acutely observed novels: 'Tightly plotted, brilliantly conceived and totally gripping' Lisa Jewell 'Twisty, unputdownable and utterly engrossing' Jenny Colgan 'Brilliant storyline, great characters, very clever, loved it!' B A Paris 'Addictive and perceptive' Lucy Atkins Jo is a hopeless romantic. Worried she let her soulmate slip away, she's chasing her past all the way to Chicago to break up her ex-fiancé's wedding. Dean is a resolute cynic. After a brief (but not brief enough) trip to London, he's returning to Chicago, where he moved to escape his dysfunctional past. In the time it takes to fly from London to Chicago, each finds something in the other that they didn't even realise they needed. But it's only when they get off the plane that their true journey begins... What readers are saying about The State We're In: 'This book is full of surprises and twists that keep you guessing until the end. It is one of those books that I was absolutely devastated to have finished' 'You will laugh, you may cry, but on the whole it is an extremely heart-warming tale that delivers a generous dose of optimism' More praise for Adele Parks: Dark, funny and observant' Cosmopolitan 'Guaranteed to keep you hooked until the end' She magazine 'Deliciously down to earth' The Times 'Wonderfully absorbing' Stylist 'Will captivate you from the first page' Closer
Tags
Genre
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
I have been an avid reader of Adele Parks for many years and after reading her last novel Whatever It Takes and finding it somewhat lacking it's usual sparkle I so wanted The State We're In to be good.
This was an unusual story, we start off in 80's London with the stories of Clara and Eddie, both of whom are young married and unhappy. We are given the outline of a brief affair between them and from there we jump forward to 2005 where we meet Jo.
Jo is a romantic and single 30 something who having failed to find her happy ever after decides to jet off to Chicago to stop the wedding of the fiancé she jilted at the altar many years before. On the flight she meets Dean and decides to open her heart to him.
It is such a difficult book to critique because it went through peaks and troughs but for me there were too many slow moments. I just couldn't get into this book. I had to keep forcing myself to go back to it. I'd read a few pages then lose interest again, this continued until around 70% of the way through then I finally found my groove with the book and from there to the end I really enjoyed it.
It had a very good ending but I won't give any hints, it is a trawl though to get to the ending and I can't say it's left me feeling overly positive towards the work of Adele Parks, she seems to have written a heroine who lacked any real depth of emotion for much of the book. She came across as too flighty, too flimsy and that made it difficult to fall into the story with any enthusiasm.
I liked it but I'm glad I'm finished as it did feel like a long slog.
I have no idea how this ended up on my kindle. Maybe I bought it by accident? Anyway, it's not my genre – but I read it anyway. Romance. Barf. I've given it three stars because it was reasonably well-written romance, and it's not really the author's fault I'm allergic to novels like this...