Review – The Lingerie Designer by Siobhan McKenna

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Take all of the usual reasons why a successful woman would want to escape from her life and discover something new and you’ve got Helen Devine. A successful lingerie designer, Helen’s creations have lit roaring flames in others love lives, however, the flame is definitely not roaring in her own life with on/off boyfriend Rob. Quirky best friend Poppy decides it’s high time that Helen takes control of her life. Taking a business trip to Hong Kong leads Helen to a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in Vietnam but will it lead her to finding The One or does everything lead back home… First published in May 2011, The Lingerie Designer has been printed with a new cover to entice its readers, something which I have been caught out many a time by -new cover-same book- and I find the whole thing a bit annoying. However, I hadn’t read The Lingerie Designer before and looking at the cover and reading the blurb I was looking forward to reading about the glamorous world of a lingerie designer and all that it may entail. The title of the novelcertainly does suggest this but the book wasn’t quite the racy garment I had been expecting… Helen Devine is a powerful main character but I found it hard to relate to her or have any sympathy for her. She tends to drink quite a lot and makes a show of herself in front of other people, and as I got to learn more about Helen’s past, in particular her relationship with her Father, I did sympathise with her but it wasn’t enough to make me like her entirely. Poppy, the best friend, is a lot easier to like, she is flighty, fun and clearly just wants her friend to have a better life, however, her views are quite imposing and I can understand how her character could become irritating to some readers. The scenes set in Vietnam are very well written and researched, at times I felt like I was in the country myself which is always a nice feeling when scenes are so vivid. But, even as a great believer in fate and serendipity, I felt that the ‘coincidences’  occurring in the book were too much. I also struggled to feel the chemistry between characters. I am left on the fence with this book, I enjoyed Poppy’s character and the writer clearly has a good grasp of character and story arc but I couldn’t warm to Helen the way I wanted to and felt like the ‘The Devil wears Prada’ meets ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ tag line didn’t belong to the book I read. As a debut novel The Lingerie Designer is good but the fact that I couldn’t warm to the main character was a deal breaker I just couldn’t get past. 4/10 More about The Lingerie Designer by Siobhan McKenna