Leah
I have to say right from the off, Some Girls Do is probably Clodagh’s raunchiest book to date. I’m not a fan, I admit, I think there’s a time and a genre for that, and I don’t always like it in my Chick Lit. I could have probably done without some of NiceGirl’s blog posts, but as it’s the basis of the story, I can’t really complain too much, but I wouldn’t have missed them. But, apart from that minor complaint, I actually really loved the book. Some mind find the premise a bit daft; Claire, who is really NiceGirl, decides that she needs to spice up her bedroom life when an offer from a publisher comes in, for fear he’ll think she’s a fraud, but it works, mostly because it gives us Claire and Luca, who is going to do the spicing. That, for me, is where the book really hit gold, Claire and Luca’s relationship is super amazing. Right from the moment she picks him up out of the rain to save him getting pneumonia and offers him a bed for the night, I loved their chemistry. Sometimes when you’re reading a book you just know two people are perfect for each other, and Claire and Luca totally were.
That was, of course, complicated since y’know, Luca was helping Claire impress another man, but sometimes that’s how it is. Also, Luca was a bit of a playboy. But I felt all of that was incidental and I just yearned for more of Claire and Luca’s interactions whenever they were apart from each other, because, for me, they got on sooooooo well. I also really loved Claire’s mum Espie. She was a right character, and I wanted to go around to their house during their Friday night get-togethers. I do a MEAN triangle, just saying. But it was definitely Luca who stole my heart, which I didn’t expect, because he’s basically a bit of a scruff, with no real job, a flat that has no electricity for most of the year, but he sort of pulls it off. Amazing. I wanted one of his paintings, as well. I also enjoyed reading about his life as a kid, having been saved from a Romanian orphanage, and having had to deal with his mother publishing a rather all-too-personal book that should never have been made available to the public. Despite the fact he told Claire not to fall for him, I totally knew he had deeper layers than the facade he projected.
I really, really enjoyed Some Girls Do. Clodagh Murphy is one of the most talented Chick Lit writers around and I find her novels are always such a pleasure to read. I whizzed through Some Girls Do in a matter of hours, because she just has the magical touch that keeps me reading and reading and reading, all day long. I was totally hooked, and the ending was magical. It’s been a while since an ending to a book has made me feel all happy and giddy inside, but Clodagh has done it, as I knew she would, she never lets me down. I’m actually really disappointed it’s now over, because I’m feeling a bit bereft. Again, that rarely happens. I will be waiting on tenterhooks for Clodagh’s next book, because I enjoy her novels so, so much. She’s so talented, and deserves way more recognition than I feel she gets. She should be top of the list of all Chick Lit fans’ must-read piles. I personally promise that you won’t be disappointed, as Some Girls Do is so fun, and it even nearly had me in tears. It made me feel all sorts of emotions, and most of them were good ones!