Breakfast In Bed

by Eleanor Moran

[Leah]

Eleanor Moran is the author of three novels (well, she will be when this one comes out) and I got my first taste of her books last year when I read Mr Almost Right. I enjoyed the book, it wasn’t perfect but it was a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a day or two. So when I heard Eleanor had moved publishers and there’d be a new book in 2011 I was thrilled and I loved the sound of it. I was incredibly happy to find a bright pink (why they haven’t used the pink for the official cover confuses me, it’s much more eye-catching than the pale blue) proof copy in the mailbox one day. With all my other (more urgent) review books firmly out of the way, this was my first book I wanted to read.

As I was reading Breakfast In Bed I was wondering, constantly, what I’d be typing once I’d finished the book. Sometimes a review writes itself, sometimes I struggle, it all depends how much I feel for a book. Unfortunately Breakfast In Bed didn’t make a particularly good impression on me. I can barely remember what I read and I only finished it half an hour ago; it’s not a book that will stay with me long after it’s onto my book shelf. The novel started well enough, I liked Amber immediately and I was very much taken with the fact the novel revolved around a kitchen, it’s such a rare occasion for a female character in a Chick Lit novel to be a chef (and we all say sexism isn’t rife in Chick Lit?). I very much enjoyed the frantic pace of the kitchen and felt Moran covered it well, and I definitely wouldn’t have minded had every single scene in the novel been set in the kitchen because it was frantic and fast and it definitely kept me reading.

I would hazard a guess that part of my problem to really feel the novel is the fact that besides Oscar and perhaps Amber, the cast aren’t that well fleshed out. Oscar is a Gordan Ramsay clone, but beautiful (although I did find it hard to banish imagining Oscar as Gordon) with his swearing and his fiery temper (is there no such thing as a mild mannered chef? Clearly it’s an oxymoron). Oscar’s ex-wife Lydia is the slim, svelte, beautiful woman Amber could never hope to live up to whereas Oscar’s daughter Tallulah is a spoilt brat, desperate for her parents attention. Milly, Amber’s best friend, is the rich girl with not a lot happening in her life at all. None of the characters took me by surprise, they were all conveniently placed. Dom, Amber’s ex-husband is a slime-ball and no matter how much Amber tried to tell me that he was sweet once upon a time, I just couldn’t believe it, because he just seemed horrible. I know it sounds like I’m balling the book out (there’s worse to come, sadly) but I just found myself disappointed by the fact the character’s all fit the Chick Lit check list.

Despite all of that, though, I was enjoying the novel. I liked the way Oscar and Amber’s relationship was progressing, I liked the way they were hot and cold together, how Oscar called her Fish Girl. There were small issues that bugged me, but they were easy to brush away, and for the most part the book was an OK read. It didn’t blow me away, nor did it set my world alight or anything, but I didn’t want to stop reading it at all, it wasn’t bad. Until the ending. Notoriously, it’s hard to get an ending just right. My main parameter for the ending of a novel is that I believe the two characters who end up together are believable in their love. I believe in them, I believe that when I close the novel they’re going to ride off into the sunset. Sadly, the ending of Breakfast In Bed ruined the rest of the book. I was peeved. I didn’t like the ending, I didn’t believe Amber ended up with the right person. I thought it was fifty massive steps back and I still can’t believe the turnabout. Just no. Many will probably love the ending, and perhaps I can’t truly see why Amber chose who she chose because I’ve never been in that situation, but I just couldn’t see it. I didn’t see them riding off into the sunset, I saw heartbreak in Amber’s future.

Am I wrong to say the ending ruined the book for me? I don’t think so. In a novel the beginning, the middle and the end must all work together in tandem for me. Most of the novel was OK. But the ending was horrific. To me, anyway. It felt like I had to try too hard to like the book. There’s a big (supposed) rivalry between Oscar and a man named Angus with whom he used to work, but I felt the rivalry wasn’t properly focused on. It was just there, and Moran could have done so much more with it, it just felt like an empty plot line hanging there. I’m quite disappointed, the bare bones for the story were there and I enjoyed the kitchen action and Amber and Oscar’s relationship but I never really felt for the characters and the ending make me want to be sick because I just couldn’t see it. Moran has potential, no doubt about it, but I felt disappointed once I’d finished Breakfast In Bed. I can understand the ending, a tiny little bit, but well I don’t agree with it, I don’t agree with it at all and it kind of ruined everything I’d read up until then, so sadly I wouldn’t recommend it though I’m sure there’ll be many people that love the book. I just wasn’t one of them.