MY SYNOPSIS
Imagine This: You are in your thirties––and as one
rival puts it, single, lonely, bitter. You are the only female president in a
male-dominated environment. You are a workaholic. The only home you know is
your office. It’s always jetting to have a meeting in Zurich, having lunch with
some potential investors in Paris, and reading the Financial Times on a flight to Vienna. All in one day.
At the peak
of your fast-paced career as a hedgie, you are about to make it to the
board––the peak that blunts all other peaks, and standing in your way is just
this one account you’d have to secure. Except these clients are Chinese and
traditional, so although they see, your brilliant pitches and you nursing the
strains in your neck every time you curtsy, they are not moved the slightest.
So when on a
flight to meet with these clients at Zurich, you encounter a devastatingly
handsome guy who you would love to ram against a wall and do all sorts of dirty
to. Yet all you can think of is, I can’t
afford to be distracted.
Zurich was
good. Fun. The meeting with the clients went well. You’re back in London,
thinking what happens in Switzerland, stays in Switzerland.
Until a work
crisis leaves you haunted by your immediate past. And suddenly all you have
worked so hard to achieve is about to fall into the hands of this immediate
past. But there’s no way you are going to allow Immediate Past to shatter all
you have worked for, you are never going down without a fight. Only the
universe can’t think of a right timing for you to receive a call from Swiss
police…
And
suddenly, you have more skeletons (meant literally) to deal with this Christmas
than a one-night-stand turned messy.
Allegra Fisher’s dilemma summed up
for your enthralment.
MY REVIEW
I have never
really been a fan of festive holiday reads. I am terrified to open them because
if I do end up not liking them so much it would put a damper on my festive
mood. But… but who am I kidding? You
sensed a ‘but’ even before I started this review…
I loved,
loved, loved, loved, loved this book so, so, so much! So you know in my review
I’d be yelling at you to go tell the nearest Barnes and Nobles shop that if they
do not have it they should contact their insurance company since they rarely do(because
you would be slamming your head against the glass windows)!
(I actually
snorted when I read the blurb, then flipped the book to see Karen Swan’s name big
and red on it, then I knew I was going to fucking like the way Karen presented
an old storyline) I mean, who hasn’t read a book blurb about dark, family
secrets and voiced teasingly, “Ooh,
spooky.”? But the way Karen wrote this was off the hook! Dark, family
secrets my arse! This book was way more than something old. It was something
old made refreshingly new and leaving the reader to free-fall into uneasiness
and wonder, ‘Oh, when do I break my spine yet?”. Amazing old storyline with so
many twists and turns (most reviewers use these two words lightly but I do not)
you are marvelled all the way through. And isn’t it amazing a book about dark,
family secrets isn’t all about
(not-so) dark family secrets? A star! ── ★
(I watched
the second instalment to that Spartan movie and I have always fantasized about
rough sex––I am human I have needs too!––with
cold-blooded ice-princess women) I loved, loved Allegra Fisher. Never have I
wanted a character to pick me so badly since watching Angelina Jolie in Mr. and
Mrs. Smith. There’s something so sexy about women who have it all under control
and are fiercely independent and won’t settle for less (or even settle at
all!)… but sometimes I find that majority
of my audience are women and do not understand a thing I am saying at all(?) You
would love her! Love how she’s a die-hard feminist and wouldn’t stand for the
slightest discrimination at her workplace or anywhere (much like you!). Love
her whiplash attitude and how brutally blunt she is. Even if you do not, you
would understand her reasons for being who she is and show some show sympathy
towards her (as I show some sympathy
towards you). It’s just so fun that
you realize everything she does is what someone who is totally like her would
do and no action of hers is really out-of-place. You would realize Karen Swan
really did her What Would Allegra Fisher
Do? Homework well. A star to the characterization. ── ★★
I love that
this book is out of the norm of festive reads. You know, I pictured Karen Swan
sitting in that Festive Reads conventional train with her laptop and jumping
out when that train was always going there (––no stress on the word, you would
have noted the difference if I meant, ‘there’).
And I was thrilled she jumped out of that train to produce something totally different!
A star to being a nonconformist and succeeding at that! ── ★★★
Oh, the
other characters in this book? You might give up thinking there can be no
perfect book! (But if you already think there is a perfect book why don’t you
pick this title and rate it again when Karen releases another?) All the
characters played roles in synchrony to help this title achieve a solid,
unifying plot! You would love Isobel, the sister who criticizes Allegra for not
owning a toaster and not being homely. You would love Cinzy, the personal
stylist who always silently tells Allegra to dress like a woman (with ruffles
and feathers––Allegra’s worst fears) with her (Cinzy’s) choices for her. You
would love Maasi, the billionaire Italian who went to Harvard yet makes millions
out of a shocking trade and gives salient advice from the words spilling out of
his mouth at rate of a thousand per minute. There’s also Pasha who’s as
thick-headed as the bottle blonde wife of a millionaire would be. Pierre, who
reminds you of the boss you admire so much. Lots and lots of characters I
really wished I could go on and on about. (But if you corner me too much I
would… thanks for your persistence)
Julia, Allegra’s Alzheimer’s mum. Barry, Julia’s nurse. And other characters
you would love to hate like Sam*. A star to all the characters. ── ★★★★
Humor––sometimes
laugh-out-loud, most times
find-what-you-should-laugh-out-loud-about. This book isn’t what I’d tag a
downright laugh-out-loud read (and you know how particular I am about humour in
a title). But I can tell you it’s a downright suspenseful book. I really did
take a slight hatred to Karen for this feature. I mean, what’s a book that
could give you coronary thrombosis when such disorder isn’t genetic in your
family? I don’t quite understand why an author would put so much effort in
making your heart stop beating when she needs you to revere the ending of her
novel to pieces. It’s not how Karen drops an OMG Moment in this title. It’s how
she presents the OMG Moment that makes the OMG Moment actually say an OMG to
its OMG Moment. A star! ──
★★★★★
Yet if I do
give this book a four/five star-rating you would be so shocked. Because it’s a
six/five star-read (and please I have had enough education to assure you this
grading oversight is an emphasis of how phenomenal this book is!)
Karen Swan’s
latest, Christmas in the Snow is available on amazon. (And you know I am only
providing the link just in case B&N in your area runs out of copies AND YOU
DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO DRIVE TO ANOTHER STATE TO GET IT).
I recommend
this book to anyone who loves not only a good book (because that would be the
biggest understatement of the year for this title) but a goooood, goooood book. Anyone who wants something adrenalin-pumping
should grab this title too. And just anyone, anyone who wants to read a book
about dark family secrets that actually have dark family secrets alongside a
sub-plot that brutally competes with a main plot to thrill the reader. Plus if
you are ski demon this is your perfect book.
Hurrah (I find
this more bourgeois-irritating than ‘hurray’)! I am so glad this book ended
2014 for me. My work not done here. Off to post my review on goodreads.
Sigh...I need Christmas in the Snow to take me away.....
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