Review: 'A Certain Someone' by Ali O'Donovan (2015)

After losing her college sweetheart and her job, ex teacher Annie hides out in the wilds of West Kerry in Ireland to get her act together. But despite vowing to win back her ex boyfriend, she soon finds herself entangled with two different men in the tight knit local community. Mart, a washed up soap star falls off his barstool into her arms and decides she is the perfect tonic for his flagging ratings. And Scott, a hip American photographer on assignment in the area who has a talent for finding her in embarrassing situations (usually in her greyest underwear), who she decides she loves to hate.

But it is the arrival of an old college contemporary, and former rival for her ex-boyfriend Rory’s affections, that really forces her to get a grip on herself. Social climbing glamazon, Philomena “Grotty’ Crotty is now married to one of Ireland’s richest men and is busy re-making herself as a society philanthropist. While helping to raise funds for a children’s hospice, Annie is forced to go begging to her old university "frenemy".

Philomena has designs on both Mart and Scott and will use anyone and anything to get even with Annie. The scene is set for a collision course that forces Annie to confront what she really wants out of life and ‘that certain someone’.

Ireland is definitely one of the countries I want to visit someday. I've been on a city trip to Dublin, which I really enjoyed, but I'd really like to visit places in the countryside. I've heard and read many things about the beautiful Irish landscapes and think it is a place I will fall in love with as soon as I'm there! Today I have a review of a book that is set in Ireland to share with all of you, and it wasn't just because of the setting of the novel that I was quite excited to give this read a try. I liked the description of Ali O'Donovan's 'A Certain Someone', which was released by Oak Grove Publishing in March 2015, and which promises an enjoyable romantic comedy read, so I looked forward to stepping into the Irish countryside with this book!

Thirty-something Annie Hussey isn't quite sure where her life is going, if it is even going anywhere. After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend Rory and losing her job, she gained a lot of weight and doesn't know what she's going to do with herself. She decides to go back to Ireland where she gets stuck in the village life of a tight-knit local community in Kerry. All of a sudden Annie has two guys who are interested in her, her own goal of trying to get her ex-boyfriend Rory back, and she finds herself in an ongoing battle with her college frenemy Philomena Crotty. Will Annie be able to finally find what she has been looking for in Ireland or are things really only going to go downhill from now on...?

I think the main storyline in 'A Certain Someone' is a classic one and one many readers will be able to relate to in one way or another; that point in your life when you're not quite sure what you're doing and you just want to run away from it all and start anew. That is the situation protagonist Anne Hussey finds herself in and she decides to travel to her home country, Ireland, to hopefully find what she's looking for. I was excited to join Annie on this journey and curious to find out what would happen to her. The novel focuses on Annie's search for a new purpose in her life, which was quite enjoyable, and a nice romantic element is added to this search as well.

While the book has a good storyline, I personally thought it was all quite detailed and long-winded, without a good dose of dialogue to mix things up a bit. I found myself wanting to skip certain passages, craving more excitement and more things to happen to the characters. I felt like much more could have been done with the different characters and the storyline, and in the end I didn't enjoy the book as much as I had initially hoped I would. Overall, 'A Certain Someone' is a descriptive romcom read that follows the life of Annie Hussey; a promising novel that unfortunately didn't completely live up to my hopes and expectations. I do think there are readers out there who will really enjoy this novel; it just wasn't the read for me.

Rating:6,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.