Strings Attached

by Mandy Baggot

[Leah]

Mandy Baggot is a self-published author and one I’ve tried a couple of times before. I wasn’t such a big fan of the two books I read, mainly due to them being a bit overlong for me, but after seeing the cover for her latest book Strings Attached, I really wanted to read it. Yup, I wanted to read a book because I really liked its cover. Always a fabulous reason to read a book, I’ll have you know. It became available for Kindle at the end of September so I downloaded it as soon as I could and decided to give it a whirl.

Strings Attached is miles better than the two Baggot books I read previously. The cover, the writing, the plot, it all seemed to be on a higher level than her other books I’ve read. The plot isn’t necessarily one that rubs me up the right way – George embarking on a relationship with the very much engaged Quinn Blake, but excusing my distaste at George’s complete lack of self-respect and feminism, and putting the whole affair thing to one side… Well, I enjoyed it. I mean, I didn’t agree with it. I don’t like it personally. But the plot is very enjoyable, despite my personal feelings. I may not agree, but I’m perfectly capable of reading a book about an affair and I felt Baggot got it right.

One thing Baggot likes to do is to make her novels a bit more over the top than most Chick Lit writers. I mean that in a good way. There were some plot lines that I saw coming and some I didn’t and one thing that connects them all, is that they’re all very soap-opera-ish. Mandy Baggot likes her drama and Strings Attached was filled with it. The biggest plot twist that came, I didn’t see coming at all. I’m not entirely sure it’s realistic per se but for the sake of the plot and because it was such an awesome twist (that I did not see coming!!!) I am well able to just believe in the magic of it all. I mean, I rarely get beaten by a plot and I usually have it all mapped out perfectly, so kudos to Mandy Baggot for surprising me. I even think I may have gasped out loud.

I found the characters fascinating. Despite the fact George is a disgrace to women – really, she is; she quite happily sleeps with a man who’s engaged, using the excuse that it’s “his problem not hers”(!) – I liked her. That probably makes no sense, but I dunno, part of me wanted George to just carry on, although another part of me wanted her to grow a pair and give an ultimatum. It was like a see-saw, was my relationship with George. The other members of Finger Food, the catering company George owns, were awesome. I loved Marisa, George’s employee and her mum Helen. I liked Adam, George’s brother, too. Quinn was more complicated. At times, he was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character. There were times he was nice and lovely, then there were times he went completely nuts. Swearing, getting angry… I mean, wow. It was strange at times and it did seem that his anger was a bit OTT at times and it really should have been dealt with. He needed anger management.

Strings Attached flowed nicely. Sure, some of it was a bit over the top and very Dallas-like/soap-opera-like with its pronouncements and the way things were uncovered, but overall I enjoyed the read. Strangely, in my Kindle copy, all the swear words are starred out which kind of… Well, it’s very strange. If you want to swear in a novel, you should either just do it or you just shouldn’t do it. Starring the words out is not going to cut it and I did rather inwardly cringe every time a swear word was uttered. I would fix that. But, yes, I really liked Strings Attached. Much more enjoyable than the other Baggot books I’ve read and it seems her writing has definitely gone up a level. I will be keeping an eye out for her next book and I’d definitely recommend Strings Attached.