The Start of Something Wonderful,  Jane Lambert

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: romance, women's fiction

Gah! Women's fiction – how I hate that we have a whole genre for women, why dismiss books as being of interest to men....what price equality when we segregate ourselves. Rant over ;-0

So, I really wanted to like this book, its got a lead character who's older, and as someone older myself that's always interesting to find. Choosing a huge career change too was going to be interesting to read I thought.
Sadly though I felt sorry for Emily I just didn't like her, found her friends gossipy, the humour felt forced and trying a little too hard and her trials on the way to acting were just plain hard going. What should have been fun to read became a chore for me and I didn't finish. Sorry. I can see from Goodreads that others love this, and that's great, but for me it wasn't one that worked.


 Stars: Two, DNF, some stories I love and others just don't fit my taste, sadly this was one of those. Perfect for many readers, the story was fine it just wasn't one that suited me.
Arc supplied for review by Netgalley and Publishers

Sadly I didn't like this book...
I was aware the story was going to be a cheesy, light, contemporary read however I was expecting a different thing! I though the story was going to deal with self-discoverment, the pursuing of a lost dream, work hard for that thing you want the most...
Instead of that I got a story with woman who has no idea what she wants, gossip everywhere, a amount of people I don't know where they come from and their presence didn't add anything to the story. Obviously she became an 'actress' but at the end I got the sense that she wasn't happy...
I got Sophie Kinsella and Sex and The City kind of vibe so there may be an audience for this book but not for me

Sigh. I admire Emily for opting to follow her heart and go for it as an actress but this would have great benefited from a strong edit to pull the strings together. The odds, btw, of Emily managing to get roles as a "mature" newcomer are slim so it's especially impressive that she achieves her goal. Of course there's a new romance with Francesco and new friends. There's some laughs too. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a light fast read.

I really wanted to like this book but the writing and story were just too messy for me. The plot was all over the place introducing new characters and bit characters all the time. One thing that bothered me is at one point in the story Emily mentions regretting having recently shaved off her hair (before playing a part as a mermaid?) but I went back through the book and the hair change is never mentioned prior to that scene. So how was the reader supposed to know that the character got cast as a mermaid but had recently shaved off all her hair? Just messy all around.

Emily and Francesco rarely see each other or communicate but the reader is supposed to believe there is some big underlying love story? While Emily is off on location for a play or some such for 3-4 months at a time and when she finally gets back home then Francesco has to move back to Italy. How does that even work?

I just don't think the author thought this story through well, and I think the editor should have picked up on these problems. Emily's story could have been a fun read but because of the writing and focus on bit characters it just boiled over into a mess.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. How I could relate to some of the things in this book, great read and a real lesson in following your dreams, it is never too late

When Emily Forsythe's long-term "man-friend" ( he's too old to be a boyfriend!) dumps her, the 40-year-old flight attendant takes a good look at her life and realizes she has nothing she ever dreamed of. No husband, no children, and the dream she had a girl to be an actress has gone by the wayside. Not anymore. When Nigel walks out of her life, Emily walks out her life as well. The call to be an actress ignites within her again and she goes for it. She chucks her boring, financially stable life for an exciting, monetary-wary one and goes for her dream. Along the way she meets pitfalls, pratfalls, and any number of disappointments, but she's determined and resourceful. She even finds love again and has to make another decision about where that love fits into her new and fulfilling life.
I simply adored this book and Emily. She's not your typical 20-something having a crisis. She's a grown-ass woman who's seen life and realized the life she's seen is not for her. SO, she does something about. Despite all the naysayers she goes for her dream. Love that! This book is worth the 5 stars I'm giving it!! I was given an arc of this book from Netgalley and I'm so glad I requested it. Emily Forsythe is a heroine I could get my teeth into and one I routed fro on every single page.