A Hundred Pieces of Me

by Lucy Dillon

[Leah]

Lucy Dillon is one of my favourite authors, she’s one of those authors that is a proper storyteller, meaning you can quite easily get lost in one of her books, with her wonderful characters, and all the beautiful dogs you want to keep as your own. It’s been a few years since Lucy’s last release, and A Hundred Pieces of Me has been delayed a couple of times, but it pleased my greatly when a release date was finally set for the novel. February 2014. It even acquired a cover – a sure sign a book is definitely on its way into th world! A rather stunning cover, too, which rather matches my tattoo, what with the dandelion flowers blowing in the wind. I couldn’t wait to dive into it, and dive I had to as it is a mammoth 500+ page novel, but after a rocky, slow start, I began to get into the novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Hundred Pieces of Me probably isn’t my favourite of Lucy Dillon’s novels; the slow start rather lets it down a bit and it took me ages and ages to fully immerse myself in the novel, but it did eventually get to the stage where I was fully invested. Where I cared what happened to the characters, where I enjoyed reading about Gina’s job and her life. After recovering from cancer, and the breakdown of her marriage, Gina is streamlining her life. Her new flat has no room for all the stuff she’s brought from her old house, so Gina is going to pick her top 100 things, and these will be the basis for her new life. An exciting project managing the refubishment of an old house is just what Gina needs to keep herself distracted, especially when she meets the handsome Nick, but the only trouble is, he’s kinda married…

A Hundred Pieces of Me begins each chapter with two things; the first is an item from Gina’s collection, something precious to her, even if it’s something most of us wouldn’t glance twice at. The second is a flashback to a certain point in Gina’s life, slowly filling us in on everything that’s happened in her life. From meeting Kit, as a teenager, to falling in love with Kit, to the tragedy that forced them both apart, to her marriage and relationship to Stuart, to her cancer diagnosis and everything in between. I found these flashbacks quite fascinating, it helped build up a picture of Gina. I’m still not 100% sure of the books strapline which is about living for the now, but I never really saw Gina living for the now, she never did anything particularly out there, but I do like the philosophy of the strapline. I really liked getting to know the characters, I loved Gina’s best friend Naomi, who was there for her friend in thick and thin. I loved Nick, I never knew where the whole Nick story was going; he and Gina got on so well, but he was married so I thought that was like a no-go area, which disappointed me because they got on so well and I loved how Nick used Gina as his hand model.

Lucy Dillon is a fantastic storyteller. Yup, I felt the novel started slowly, but I eventually got into it and it was a fantastic story. Gina’s hiding quite a big secret, which I attempted, and failed, to guess, and the story leading up to the reveal was amazing. I fell in love with the characters, I loved the story, and more than anyone, I loved Buzz, the rescue dog Gina acquires. I also LOVED that previous Lucy Dillon characters appeared, I LOVED when authors do that. It’s always super fun to catch up. I spotted Rachel, and Lorcan, from two separate Lucy Dillon novels and I cheered when I remembered them. It’s always nice to check in and make sure their lives are going according to plan (ie. HAPPY). A Hundred of Pieces of Me will definitely get everyone talking, it’s sweet, it’s special and once you do get into it, you really get into it and I sat reading it during a horrible thunder storm, and it was a nice distraction. I’m super pleased I got the chance to read the novel, as it was quite an amazing read. I can see why it’s being touted as Lucy’s best novel yet, though I still prefer Walking Back To Happiness, but this is a fantastic novel.