This Way Up

by Paige Nick

Stella felt sick to her stomach. How could her marriage be over? She did the maths, counting it out on her fingertips - it was only eight hundred and sixty-four hours old. She hadn't even finished writing the thank-you cards yet ...'. Stella de Villiers doesn't know which way is up. Rewind forty-eight hours and she has the perfect life. Married to a great guy. A super-supportive family around her. Awesome friends. In fact, the only fly in her ointment is that her job is, well, just a bit crap. As sex column aunt Dr Dee she has to deal with a slew of correspondence about the ickiest of things when all she really wants is to be taken seriously as a journalist. And then, just when it seems like things can't get any worse on the work front, Stella's dream job - features writer - is given to the ber-cool Yolanda. Upset and disappointed, Stella calls her husband Max to tell him what's happened, but instead she tells a small untruth - just a little white lie - that slowly but surely unravels her whole perfect universe. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Poppy is on a trip of a lifetime with her best friend Buck. America, India, Holland, Germany, France - for a twenty-one-year-old Capetonian who's never been further than Hermanus it's a whole new world. But will Poppy find more than she bargains for on her travels? Is she falling in love with travelling or falling in love while travelling? How do you tell which way is up when you don't even know where you are?

Genres: Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Alison Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lotsa fun; quick easy read. For full review go to http://thebooksmithblog.wordpress.com

[Tiah]

Laughed my ass off.

[Amru · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it and I think it was a wonderful book.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Cringe voyeurism" isn't my favourite genre - being the chronically embarrassed type myself - but the main character grows a spine and is single and mostly happy by the end, so thumbs up!

[Hjwoodward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Lovely fluffy escapism. Having three sisters myself, I found a lot of the incidents resonated. For example, the way a sister will drop you in it to deflect focus on her own bombshell. Or not forgive you for weeks. And of course the way they will be there when you really really need them. This was great fun to read with a few laugh-out-loud moments! Glad I came across this in the library (and am so grateful our libraries are open again!)

[Ronel Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, it took a while before getting into the book, but once there it was all systems go. It has all the elements of a fun book, set in a city that i live in, which was awesome as i knew the places, fun to read with all the ups and down. sometimes i had to laugh silently as most times i read on the train. Have already recommended the book to a few of my colleagues at work.

[Tharina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible!! What made it more terrible is the South African setting and the South African slang "curse" words! The "heroine" is a pathetic martyr! Who in her right mind would anyway make an appointment with a male prostitute!! Aids?? STI's?? Never mind that she didn't go through with it. I didn't finish it, I stopped at the one night stand with a tattoo artist before I got the urge to throw myself of the Gouritzmond bridge without bungee cords.

[Siyamthanda Skota]

I'm only rating this book 3 Stars instead of 2 because I had the most fun laughing at some of the most hilarious incidents which take place in the book. Otherwise Stella is the most irritating human being I've ever read about. If there was no Poppy travelling somewhere in Europe I would not have bothered to finish this book. Because Stella is that annoying and I'm just too impatient! Otherwise, great fun indeed!

[Paige Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey look, it's on visual bookshelf.