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Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Madeleine Wickham Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2006-03-07 ISBN: 0312349998 Number of pages: 304 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Book Reviews of Cocktails for ThreeBook Review: Hold the cocktail umbrella Summary: 3 StarsI was happy with this book until the very end, then I though it wrapped up far too neatly. The struggles and turmoil that took center stage throughout most of the book just dissipated, leaving me with that empty feeling you get when a sitcom wraps up everything in the last two minutes. Such pain was taken to write very real, very raw, and very good scenarios for the main characters (most specifically Maggie) and then to have it all rainbows and kittens at the end was very disappointing. Sure, there was tragedy along the way. There were some surprises and a lot of heartache. But at the end, when it all seemed to be swept away, it felt as though it had never happened. I lost touch with the characters I felt I had grown to know over the course of the book.
I suppose people do like resolution and happy (ish) endings, but for me, the book would have been far better leaving some ends dangling, some 'what ifs' for the reader to fill in. At least some lingering bit of doubt and questions! But the last chapter read like an epilogue, laying out everything for you on a silver platter.
I'm torn on giving this book three or four stars - it's really three and a half. I can see where a lot of people would very much enjoy it, and not be as put off by the ending as I was. I can also see where some of the characters (specifically Candice) could be quite annoying. I think it would be a very good book to read and talk about, as a character study for a group, but not as great as a Sunday afternoon pleasure read. It's a book that pulls you along (it grabbed me from the beginning) but leaves you strangely unsatisfied. In the end, I think it's an average book, and I'll give it three stars.
Summary of Cocktails for ThreeRoxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover -- a married man
Maggie: capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with -- motherhood
Candice: honest, decent, or so she believes -- until a ghost from her past turns up
At the first of every month, when the office has reached its pinnacle of hysteria, Maggie, Roxanne, and Candice meet at London's swankiest bar for an evening of cocktails and gossip. Here, they chat about what's new at The Londoner, the glossy fashion magazine where they all work, and everything else that's going on in their lives. Or almost everything. Beneath the girl talk and the laughter, each of the three has a secret. And when a chance encounter at the cocktail bar sets in motion an extraordinary chain of events, each one will find their biggest secret revealed.
In Cocktails for Three, Madeleine Wickham combines her trademark humor with remarkable insight to create an edgy, romantic tale of secrets, strangers, and a splash of scandal.
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