It's Now or Never (The Books of Babel)

by Carole Matthews

[Leah]

At their older sister Chelsea’s flash fortieth birthday party, twin sisters Annie and Lauren wonder how their life has paled in comparison to their sisters. Why is it that Chelsea has a fantastic husband who caters to her every whim whereas Annie’s husband spends most of his time fishing and Lauren’s lover is married with two kids? There and then Annie and Lauren make a vow: this year everything will be different and they will follow their dreams. Annie’s dream is to walk the Inca trail in Peru whereas Lauren wants lover Jude to finally leave his wife for her. Can the sisters make their dreams come true or is it too little, too late?

Carole Matthews is definitely one of my favourite authors and I’ve read most of her books. Since 2006 Carole has an astonishing two books published per year and for me, that’s akin to heaven. As most authors generally only publish one book a year I feel spoiled being able to read two Carole Matthews books a year, I must say! I read Carole’s latest book That Loving Feeling back in August so when It’s Now or Never came through my letterbox this week I couldn’t wait to get started on it – hours later and I’ve finished it!

All of Carole Matthews’s latest books follow the same format: alternating first and third person narratives with short and snappy chapters guaranteed to keep the book flowing throughout. When I read my first Carole Matthews book that alternated the first/third person narrative I did find it difficult to get used to at first but now I find it gives a better view of events throughout her books and I just find it a fantastic way for a book to be written.

It’s Now Or Never is kind of similar to Carole’s last release That Loving Feeling. Annie and Greg’s (from It’s Now or Never) were very similar to Juliet and Rick (from That Loving Feeling): their marriage seems to be falling apart at their ears, their children don’t respect them at all. The two marriages really were eerily similar and it was like I was reading about Rick and Juliet again (which wasn’t a bad thing – I adored Rick and Juliet). Furthermore since the marriages were similar I found Annie and Greg just as likable. I could understand Annie’s frustration and reasons for wondering if her marriage was in tatters, but I also found it a little irritating at times because the dual narratives mean we get to see the scenes from everyone’s perspective. As well as the book being narrated by Annie, we also get Greg’s point of view. It means that everything Annie tells us about Greg – and some of it isn’t nice – can be countered when we move to Greg’s point of view and everything is explained. I respected the fact Greg was ’stuck in the mud’ and couldn’t understand Annie’s sudden desire to roam the world. From his point of view it does seem as though Annie is going mad although from Annie’s point of view it does seem relatively sane. It was very conflicting and I didn’t know who to sympathise with more. I liked them both immensely and did hope they would be able to sort out their differences.

Lauren, Annie’s twin sister, was a fantastic character. I looked forward to her all the chapters told from her perspective. Her storyline was a bit tired and something that appears in every single book I seem to be reading at the moment but for me, I enjoyed it. I can’t say I was a fan of Lauren being a mistress but she seemed incredibly sweet, if a little naive. As her lover Jude keeps letting her down, I thought it was fantastic that her friend Zak was there to help prop her up. I knew early on how Lauren’s storyline would end (it’s kind of hinted at really early on) but for me the question wasn’t if Lauren would ever figure out things about Jude and Zak but when it would happen.

When I first read the synopsis on Amazon I thought Chelsea, the twins’ older sister, may have been in the book a bit more – even have some chapters about her life – but she rarely makes appearances which was a bit disappointing. It seemed that Chelsea was going through some difficult times which weren’t properly resolved by the end of the book which was also disappointing. A lot is made about how different Chelsea’s life is compared to Annie and Lauren so it wouldn’t have added an interesting perspective to see how Chelsea’s life was seemingly falling apart around her ears.

Carole’s writing is, as always, fantastic. I find it very easy to get into her books and could read Carole all day long. I thoroughly enjoyed reading It’s Now or Never and apart from a few quibbles I did find it an absorbing read. There are a few chapters on fishing as Greg enjoys fishing and I thought I would have found those chapters boring but I didn’t, at all. I found them quite interesting – which really surprised me, I never had myself down for wanting to learn about fish. Some people may find them a bit dull but they really gave us insight into Greg’s mind, which was very clever. It’s Now or Never is a must-read and I hugely enjoyed reading the book. Right – when’s the next Carole Matthews book out?…