Love Me or Leave Me

by Claudia Carroll

[Leah]

Claudia Carroll has long been an author who I have enjoyed to read. And it seems like it's been ages since her last release, the rather fantastic Me & You. So I've been on tenterhooks all year for her newest release Love Me Or Leave Me. It's been out in Ireland since April, but is only just releasing in the UK in October (I don't know why, I'm afraid). I loved the idea of the novel - a hotel where you arrive married, and leave divorced; I've never heard of something like that before and it was super interesting and I was very keen to see how Claudia wrote it, how she made it work and if it would be something I would enjoy.

Right off the bat, let me say that this is not a bad book, but for me I just didn't love it. I liked it good enough, but it didn't blow me away, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Me & You. But the premise is fascinating, absolutely fascinating - I just expected it to be done a bit differently. I thought it would focus on the hundreds of couples who would move through Hope Street Hotel's doors, and instead it focuses on just three or four. All of them have reasons for being there, but it takes literally forever for us to be made privy to them. I absolutely hate that, in books. Why keep the suspense up? It's not a suspense novel. Just tell us and get it over with - it's like ripping off a band-aid. Dawn was always alluding to some big, massive thing that made her leave Kirk, but it takes her so long to actually spill the beans that I just didn't care. I like immediate gratification.

I didn't really care for the couples who went to Hope Street Hotel - except Lucy and Andrew. The rest were far too highly strung and I just felt I didn't know them enough to care about them. I did, however, care about Chloe, who was the only characters whose narrative was first person. I liked her so much (although I wish she doubted herself less) and I loved getting to know her, and felt sad reading about what she went through (which thankfully we learn right at the very beginning - there's no teasing on that front). I liked her tentative exchanges with her boss, Rob and it was super nice to see a woman in charge of a hotel, and Chloe did it with charm and warmth, and lots and lots of enthusiasm.

So while I didn't exactly fall head over heels for Love Me Or Leave Me, it was surprisingly warm and fuzzy, considering it dealt with divorce and it was hardly a bad read at all. I do really enjoy Claudia's books, I think she's a fantastic storyteller and her plots are always spot-on and interesting, I just didn't fall in love with Love Me Or Leave Me, which was a shame. I'm excited to see what she does next, and I hope the concept is even half as good as this one was, because it was great. I just wished I had loved it more, but it is what it is sometimes....