Suddenly Single

by Carol Wyer

[zooloo1983]

This is a different kind of romantic book by Carol and in general. Yes it is a romantic comedy but this had a different feel to it, it is wrong to say it wasn’t light and fluffy because it was but it felt more….mature. I say this because while Carol is not afraid to tackle all types of subjects this one focuses heavily on social anxiety and it just didn’t feel fluffy. Nothing wrong with fluffy, I love it, so easy to read but for me, there was something more to it.

The story covers a year in the life of Chloe. I adored Chloe, she is already suffering from this horrible debilitating disorder but her ex-to-be husband William is the 100% jerk-off that you could imagine. He reminded me of my ex, just stripped Chloe of all confidence and made her feel everything was her fault, just like my ex. It can destroy you or it can make you stronger, or it can do both. For Chloe, it does both. When we meet her, she is low, she can’t talk to people bar her best friend Faith, she wants to faint, be sick, sweats profusely when she meets people and she panics. I have been there and at times still there. My heart is with Chloe, she is coerced into attending the singleton events by her new neighbours but that is where the fun really starts.

Every event has made Chloe step out of her comfort zone and while she is not completely cured, she has spunk and she has sparkle plus she makes the most amazing friends. Yes, this book is all about Chloe but we have a lot of focus on other characters and two that I loved the most were Sean and Jacqueline. They all had their own stories and we got to see a small glimpse of them and they were just so loveable! Plus, of course, we have to love Alex, he is just insecure and nervous about everything, lacking in confidence due to an ex, again we watch him shine a light. I found all the characters to be engaging and fun, only one character I struggled with, and they made the story flow. They all aided Chloe in different ways without even realising it. All the characters have shown the mantra of this book in buckets – I am stronger than I think!

I do love this side of Carol, the calmer, lighter more comical side, which we don’t see in her detective books. She is a dab hand at this writing, she has yet again created characters who you want to love and who you would want to be friends with, she won my heart with this book. The singleton’s club sounds like so much fun and an awesome way to meet people, now if Carol set this up you know it would be a hoot!