JasonKoivu

*Currently reading* status update -

Yeah, I'm reading a Maeve Binchy novel, what of it?! Seriously, why do I have this guilty/embarrassed feeling like the time when my mom caught me looking at the lingerie section in the Sears catalogue?

*Read* review -

After hearing an author's name mentioned on the radio and seeing it pop up at shops and the library, there comes a point when I bow down to the coincidences of the world that are "telling me something" and finally read something by that author. Couple that with the fact that Maeve Binchy died just a month prior and if that's not enough to get one's attention, I don't know what is. I picked up Heart and Soul, it being the first thing handy. Well I can tell you, it was not the cozy Miss Marple mystery I was expecting from the things I'd heard.

It starts off with a headstrong woman taking over operations of a new heart clinic and the newly christened reader is led to believe that the plot will focus on the clinic's potential survival or failure. Not so, as the narrative soon shifts focus on to the relationships of an ensemble cast of characters and suddenly I felt like I was watching an episode of General Hospital. Will the charming doctor fall in love with the plucky nurse? Will the widower head-of-the-clinic settle for the boring guy or even relapse and take her cheating husband back? And what of that poor little ugly duckling/swan immigrant girl? Nothing too earth-shattering or even terribly titillating, but Binchy is a good enough writer to keep the reader's interest, mainly by keeping the story moving. Days and scenes pass within the brief mention of a sentence and that's just as well. No need to read the dull bits!

Will I be reading another Binchy novel? No. I have nothing against the relationship genre, but as the kids say, it's not my cup of tea....

The kids never say that, do they?