Wrapped Up In You

by Carole Matthews

[Leah]

Carole Matthews is a go-to author for me. I devour her new releases as soon as I can and she’s one of the most prolific Chick Lit authors there is. Of her 19 novels (including Wrapped Up In You), there’s only four or five I haven’t read. She’s consistent and she’s proven that it is possible for authors to publish two novels a year as that’s what Carole has been doing for the past few years and is going to continue to do so well into the future. Wrapped Up In You is her first novel with her new publishers and I love the cover (the silver and red, the Christmassy feel), and I was delighted to receive an early copy, all wrapped up in red ribbon. It’s probably daft that I read it during sunny June, but for me I read what I want when I want, rather than reading books by season (especially since Tenerife is generally hot all year round so we don’t really have seasons).

Despite enjoying Wrapped Up In You, I’ve been thinking for a while that her newer reads aren’t as charming or as brilliant as her earlier novels. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the Chocolate club duo, no Carole Matthews book since The Sweetest Taboo has been brilliant for me. Her novels haven’t been bad, but they just haven’t been able to match the light-heartedness of her earlier works. It’s gotten to the point – for me – where although I read Carole’s books religiously, they increasingly seem to be the same. However when I first discovered Carole’s novels they had different plots to each other, brilliant characters. I did feel that Wrapped Up In You was better than the past two Carole Matthews’ novels I’ve read, mind you, but it still wasn’t perfect.

What I liked best about Wrapped Up In You was Dominic, who is one of the most unique heros I’ve ever come across in a novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact he was a Maasai warrior and I liked the way he looked after Janie when she went on her holiday to the Maasai Mara. I thought Janie and Dominic’s relationship was incredibly sweet and I found it amusing when Dominic came over to the UK and tried to make his customs fit in to the more strait-laced UK customs. Dominic really perked the novel up, and I found it incredibly sad the way Janie’s friends treated him. I found it disgusting that Janie’s so-called best friend Nina kept warning Janie off, telling her he was only after her money. I can understand being worried for your friend, and perhaps mentioning it in a friendly way, but Nina was continually horrible and continually dismissive of Janie and Dominic’s relationship and it really really annoyed me. I thought Janie was spineless for not telling Nina exactly where to stick her so-called friendship.

Despite the fact that I liked the way Janie was so protective over Dominic and so sure of the fact he wasn’t just saying he loved her for her money, I did find her to be a bit annoying. At the beginning of the novel she agrees to go on a blind date and when she meets him, the horrible lech Lewis, she doesn’t like him at all but instead of going home, she goes to a bar with him and then she’s surprised when he keeps calling her and pestering her when any sane woman would have left him the moment she lay eyes on him, quite frankly. Like I’ve already said, I loved Dominic. I sort of fell in love with him a little bit and it’s rather tempting to head to Africa and find my very own Maasai warrior. Janie is a hairdresser, working at a salon called Cutting Edge, and I didn’t like any of her colleagues. They’re all absolutely horrible about Dominic, let by the loathsome Nina, and I just wanted to punch them all. Another character I enjoyed, though, was Mike, Janie’s next door neighbour, he was incredibly sweet and was the only one who didn’t ridicule or belittle Janie at any point.

Wrapped Up In You is fairly well written, told entirely from Janie’s point of view. I wasn’t a fan of the way Janie continually refers to Dominic as “my lover”. I understand it’s a logical thing to call someone who is undoubtedly your lover, but I personally found it very cringe-worthy when she said things like “I looked over at my lover”, especially since we knew he was her lover. I also wasn’t a fan of the way she talked to her cat, Archie, it was rather sad-old-lady-ish. I did however find the parts set in Africa to be fascinating, I love learning about new cultures and I liked the culture in the novel. I liked how proud Dominic was of his Maasai warrior heritage and I loved learning all about it. I did enjoy Wrapped Up In You, but it didn’t blow me away. Of the 14 or so Carole Matthews novels I’ve read, Wrapped Up In You would be somewhere in the middle, with novels like the Chocolate Club duo, With or Without You, For Better For Worse and The Sweetest Taboo above it. The romance was definitely the best part of the novel, and a lot of people would love it but the novel was only OK for me and my insanely high standards.