Diana Lively Is Falling Down

by Sheila Curran

Trained as an architect in England, Diana Lively accompanies her second husband, Ted, on a trip to Arizona to assist in an American billionaire's project to construct a King Arthur Theme Park in the middle of the local desert, and finds her life transformed forever. A first novel. Original.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2005

About the author

Author of Diana Lively is Falling Down, a comedy of manners set somewhere between the London Bridge and the Marriage From Hell.
Sheila's second novel, EVERYONE SHE LOVED,is about four women who band together to protect their late benefactor's husband and children from interfering relatives, legal entanglements and the alluring certainties of one perfect stranger. The novel was published June 16, 2009, by Simon and Schuster and reached #34 on Amazon's mystery/suspense rankings. Its paperback release date is March 16th, 2010.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this book but i still love it..

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars 🌟

[Kricket · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was totally bizarre.

[Sharon Bettinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, a bit of chick lit and a bit of mystery. I usually love any novels about the English or set in England and this certainly didn't disappoint.

[AJ Birch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very awkward phrasing. Unbelievable characters. There must have something that kept my interest because I read it to the end. Go figure!

[Madelynn Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5 really. Ted is just the worst and made the book hard to read because he sucks so bad 😅 I wasn’t a fan of the whole Dolores/Mary Kate story at the end, Wally was a good man and didn’t deserve to be done dirty like that. Good book with decent level of interesting plot to keep me wanting to read, just not fabulous!

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved loved this book! Need to get more from this author.

[Sheri Radford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light, fun, enjoyable novel.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyable but an odd last few chapters and ending. Great characters though.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man oh man. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I thought it would be just another mediocre chick lit book - which is honestly about the level of brain power I wanted to expend - and it didn't disappoint me in being an easy read. But it was so much more clever and well-written than I generally expect from the chick lit genre.

I felt so much for Diana. I couldn't identify with her necessarily - I don't have kids, haven't given everything up for my kids, didn't lose my first husband and love of my life, didn't marry a douchebag as a second husband. But I felt her SPIRIT in there, and I was just rooting for her the whole time to come out and be herself! And her son, Humphrey - man was I cheering for that kid. He was really, honestly too good to be true, but I loved him anyway.

And then there was Ted, her jackass husband. It was so much fun to HATE him. He was a character written expressly to BE hated, and Curran makes it so much fun to do so. I have rarely had a better time watching such carefully laid evil plans unravel...

So, again - easy on the brain, fast to get through, totally chick lit, but a higher quality than what you might expect. And such a good time to read. 5 stars for this one just because I had a blast reading it!

[Sandy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel that's hard to categorize: not exactly chick lit., not exactly a mystery. I was trying to think of what else is reminded me of, and the closest I could come was Carl Hiassen. Except the main character is a middle aged woman who is married to an Oxford University don who gets an offer to consult on a "King Arthur" theme park in Arizona.

Lots of interesting stuff on business, green companies and environmental politics, teenagers and being gay, and alcoholism.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

NHS library

I just started this novel. I already like the main character Diana Lively. The setting is England now, but I think it will move to Arizona. I think her current husband is probably going to be a jerk--spendthrift and is having an affair(?).

The husband is a jerk. Placing an educated British family in Arizona is interesting. Lots of twists to the plot because so many people are plotting.

[D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a little hard to follow at the beginning. And then as I got further along, things started to fall into place. There was one part where I couldn't get the connection to the rest of the story until about half way through the book. After the half-way mark, I couldn't put the book down. It was riveting adn very enjoyable. I need to finish the book to find out the outcome and it was very good with a lot of twists and turns. Definitely a good read!!

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, if I knew ahead of time that this book was definitely not a romance novel, I would have probably enjoyed it more or not read it. I would say this is a drama about a middle-aged mother and wife rediscovering who she is and what she cares about in the wake of realizing she has sacrificed everything that made her who she was for her marriage.
It was an interesting story but had an odd ending that left me wanting.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because of the characters. They were fairly mulit-dimensional despite the fact that you definitely knew right away who you were supposed to like and who was a pretty slimey guy. It was set in Oxford England and somewhere in Arizona and that contrast was unique too. It's light reading, but not fluffy.

[Suziqoregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

My blog post about this book is at this link .

[Rob the Obscure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ladies, you will love this delightful story

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fun quick read. Not very taxing on the brain.

[Susan]

I'm pretty sure I read this but I can't remember if I liked it...

[Pattie]

I gave myself 100 pages in, and I just didn't care about most of the characters. Sorry, Sheila Curran.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anatomy of a bad marriage gone bad with a lot of humor. Uplifting.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This was fun, a bit poignant and overall romantic, with dollhouses, and co-dependents, and all sorts of strange mixes of things, even if somewhat predictable.”

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A library choice for a light read. Better than expected as it's a bit unpredictable and goofy.

[Kathy Gilliland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think anyone's husband could be that bad and get away with it for so long. Story went on for too long.

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a light read with some funny moments and a few entertaining characters. It has a "vacation read" kind of feel about it.

[Jackie Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want a book to bore you to death