Wonder Women

by Rosie Fiore

[Leah]

When I put a Tweet on Twitter asking for novels with stronger roles models (after seeing one too many Chick Lit characters running back to vile exes) Rosie Fiore replied telling me that in her new novel Wonder Women, all of her women were strong women. Women who didn’t let a man define them. I was thrilled. I loved the sound of Wonder Women and I was chuffed to be offered a copy to review, and I started the novel full of glee that finally, finally I was getting a novel with characters I want to read about, and let me tell you, Rosie Fiore wasn’t just tooting her own horn to get me to read the book, all three of the females in Wonder Women are amazing characters, with strength and determination to make their lives better. To get what they want. And I loved it.

Wonder Women is an amazing novel. When Jo wakes up one morning having dreamt up the idea for a kids clothes shop with a difference – a shop that caters to boys, without the regulation blue/black fayre, with designs boys will want to wear; with a jungle play area that allows the kids to play while the parents browse, she knows she’s hit a winner. She knows this is her Big Idea. Her way back into the working world on her own terms. Her husband Lee is super supportive of the idea and gives it her full backing and soon Jungletown comes to life in ways Jo couldn’t have ever imagined. When she recruits clothes designer Holly, who has recently returned from South Africa, and shop manager Mel, who’s bringing up daughter Serena alone, the girls band together and soon Jungletown begins to take on the world, but with the three women’s personal lives intruding, and the momentum of Jungletown propelling them all forward, will they be able to cope with the demand?

I thought Wonder Women was a total and utter delight. Jo’s idea for a clothes shop – which, by the way, is totally amazing and is probably something that someone could do in real life – the execution of the shop, Jo’s determination to make it succeed, the backing of her husband, Lee, who by the way, is the most amazing husband, ever. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is for there to be a marriage in a Chick Lit novel that doesn’t suffer the normal marriage cliches – it’s stale, they’re going through the dreaded x-year itch, they’re not happy etc. I loved Jo and Lee’s marriage, and yes, there is a bit of an incident at the end of the novel, but I didn’t feel it was forced and it felt natural, after both parties had changed their careers so drastically. I loved Mel and Holly, both of whom are suffering with their own issues. Holly having fled South Africa finds herself worse off in England when she learns her mum is ill, and Mel, trying to raise daughter Serena alone whilst fighting off her own childhood demons finds herself doing things that aren’t particularly kosher.

I loved every page of this wonderful novel. The execution was perfect, I adored the characters, Rosie Fiore is an amazing writer, managing to balance three or four different third-person narratives to allow us full scope of all the characters, and although the novel was quite long and it did take me a while to finish, I never wanted it to end. There was nothing wrong with the novel at all, and it’s very rare that you’re able to say that once you finish the book. It had the perfect blend of romance, warmth, reality, than any book I’ve read in ages. I will definitely be going back to read Fiore’s first novel which I have on my shelf, because she’s an utterly amazing writer. Utterly amazing! I adored Wonder Women so, so much. It wasn’t what I expected at all, and I wasn’t sure if Fiore was just tooting her own horn when it came to saying her women were strong just so I would read it, but she was absolutely correct. This is what Chick Lit needs – more heroines who take the world by the scruff of the neck, who have an idea and run with it, who don’t rely on a man to make them worthwhile and Fiore has knocked it out of the park. Kudos.