This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
This book is about three middle-aged friends and starts with Bea, who, tired of being single for so long, has signed up with a dating agency and is on her way to a lunch date. She works in publishing and is having to deal with a new boss and many cut-throat changes going on all around her. She's forced to make decisions about her staff that she'd rather not have to , but in order to keep on the right side of her new boss, doesn't really have too much choice. Bea's divorced and lives with her teenage son, who is suffering from all the teenage angst you'd expect from someone whose father has left to start a new life with a much younger wife and baby daughters.
Kate is a GP, her husband of thirty years seems to have something troubling hi and is more distant to her than usual. She begins to worry that he may be seeing another woman, which is something she's had to deal with in the past. Her children have left home and her so, who is away in Africa working for a charity hasn't contacted her to let Kate know he's okay, so she's worried about him as well as her marriage.
Ellen is a widow with two teenage children. In the ten years since her husband's death, she's built up her art gallery and is self-sufficient and happy with her life, until Oliver, a handsome stranger enters the gallery and subsequently her life. Her children are away with family in Devon for their annual summer holidays and Ellen is free to begin an unexpected love affair with this passionate, exciting man.
Oliver is soon living with Ellen and when her bestfriends find out about him they have different views. Kate is happy her friend has found someone to seems to make her so happy. she's thrilled that Ellen looks so well and is obviously enjoying her new-found romance. Bea, on the other hand, has her reservations about him and the changes he's so obviously making to her friend's life, so in between coping with her work issues, discovering that one of her dates isn't quite what he'd at first seemed and coping with her son's reaction to his distant father, Bea starts to delve into Oliver's mysterious past.
How will Ellen react to Bea's interference? Can the women's friendships survive Oliver's presence in Ellen's life, expecially as he seems to have made so many differences to it?
I liked the three main characters in this book, although there was one incident that I couldn't imagine Ellen reacting to in the way she did. However, the further I got into this book, the more I cared what happened to the three woman and their circumstances. It's a pleasant read and one that would be perfect for lazy days lying in the sun.
Rating 7/10
Fanny Blake is a journalist as well as an author and What Women Want is her debut novel
You can follow Fanny Blake on Twitter: @FannyBlake1