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Divorce for Beginners
As Lizzie juggles running a failing women's magazine with bringing up a young family she ponders on whether you really can “have it all”. The answer comes sooner than she expects when her husband's actions turn her world upside down...
Alison should be looking forward to a quieter life with David now that their youngest has flown the nest. But David has other ideas and his increasingly bizarre behaviour leaves Alison wondering if she really knows her husband at all...
Karen has managed to hold her family together since leaving her husband Paul many years before. That makes her the perfect person to start The "How to Survive Divorce" Club, to help others on their own. But as the burden of past secrets unravels, Karen realises she needs help too.
Ed really believes in marriage. So much so that he's done it three times already. But as his work and home life get ever more complicated, will he ever be able to find “The One”...?
Add in mysterious diary entries, an overbearing sister, a troublesome stepbrother, the surprise return of faces from the past, grown up kids with their own problems, and ageing parents who've discovered the ups (and downs) of internet dating and you have a gripping and entertaining tale of modern life as our foursome struggle with... Divorce for Beginners.
Alison should be looking forward to a quieter life with David now that their youngest has flown the nest. But David has other ideas and his increasingly bizarre behaviour leaves Alison wondering if she really knows her husband at all...
Karen has managed to hold her family together since leaving her husband Paul many years before. That makes her the perfect person to start The "How to Survive Divorce" Club, to help others on their own. But as the burden of past secrets unravels, Karen realises she needs help too.
Ed really believes in marriage. So much so that he's done it three times already. But as his work and home life get ever more complicated, will he ever be able to find “The One”...?
Add in mysterious diary entries, an overbearing sister, a troublesome stepbrother, the surprise return of faces from the past, grown up kids with their own problems, and ageing parents who've discovered the ups (and downs) of internet dating and you have a gripping and entertaining tale of modern life as our foursome struggle with... Divorce for Beginners.
- GenresChick Lit
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
7 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Sophie King
38 books42 followersI've written six novels, including the bestselling The School Run, and The Wedding Party, which was nominated for Love Story of the Year by the Romantic Novelists Association.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 16, 2013
This book was OK. Took me a long time to get into it and I found it hard to keep up with who the people were. It was a good book but for some reason I found it hard to get into fully so was reading it bit by bit so lost track of the plot.
February 25, 2013
Here we meet a group of people, newly single for one reason or another who have joined the 'How To Survive Divorce' club. Karen who runs the club left her husband 10 years ago, she believes that her experience can help others so she opens the club.
The other members are Lizzie, editor of Charisma magazine, her husband Tom has left her for her best friend. Alison, her youngest child has just left home, at the same time her husband David has left her and she's left quite a bit bewildered by it all. Ed, after numerous relationships which includes 3 marriages, all he wants is to find the right girl, settle down and have a family.
This book follows the trials and tribulations of their lives, how they are coping with singledom! Each chapter is devoted to a main character, I love stories told in this way rather than a conventional chapter one, chapter two etc.
Six sentences into the story I found myself belly laughing. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, would the book keep the fun all the way through it or would it deflate like a balloon? I'm glad to say it did keep the fun, the writing flowed easily, making it an easy book to pick up, put down.
I really enjoyed this book, told in the third person narrative it explores every characters lives, it delves really deep and I felt I had a good understanding of how every character worked. There were plenty of other characters in this book which could have got a bit confusing but as each were related to a main character, I didn't have to stop and read back to find out who was who. King has included an introduction in the book to the four main characters and names of their children, friends. I loved all the characters but I feel that Lizzie's Mum and Dad must have a deserved mention for being fantastic, what a pair and I really enjoyed reading about their exploits!
This was good chick lit reading but with plenty of drama, every chapter ended on a cliffhanger, just like a soap opera, pretty hard to do because you have to keep that pace right through the book but King managed it. I swear at the end of each chapter I heard the opening bars of a well known tv show!
I'd highly recommend reading this book, a five star read for me.
The other members are Lizzie, editor of Charisma magazine, her husband Tom has left her for her best friend. Alison, her youngest child has just left home, at the same time her husband David has left her and she's left quite a bit bewildered by it all. Ed, after numerous relationships which includes 3 marriages, all he wants is to find the right girl, settle down and have a family.
This book follows the trials and tribulations of their lives, how they are coping with singledom! Each chapter is devoted to a main character, I love stories told in this way rather than a conventional chapter one, chapter two etc.
Six sentences into the story I found myself belly laughing. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, would the book keep the fun all the way through it or would it deflate like a balloon? I'm glad to say it did keep the fun, the writing flowed easily, making it an easy book to pick up, put down.
I really enjoyed this book, told in the third person narrative it explores every characters lives, it delves really deep and I felt I had a good understanding of how every character worked. There were plenty of other characters in this book which could have got a bit confusing but as each were related to a main character, I didn't have to stop and read back to find out who was who. King has included an introduction in the book to the four main characters and names of their children, friends. I loved all the characters but I feel that Lizzie's Mum and Dad must have a deserved mention for being fantastic, what a pair and I really enjoyed reading about their exploits!
This was good chick lit reading but with plenty of drama, every chapter ended on a cliffhanger, just like a soap opera, pretty hard to do because you have to keep that pace right through the book but King managed it. I swear at the end of each chapter I heard the opening bars of a well known tv show!
I'd highly recommend reading this book, a five star read for me.
February 4, 2013
I love this authors style of writing, and although I am not usually a chic lit type of girl, I have really taken to this author and her other books.
This book was the tale of several women and a couple of men, who's lives had been turned upside down by their partners leaving or them leaving their partners. Each character had their own story to tell and they were all very different.
Karen and her Husband had separated and she had an idea to set up a club for people to get together and chat about Divorce and separation, and help each other work through it. A club where people had someone to talk to. She soon got people to join. I loved the characters in the book and their quirky ways. It was lovely to see how they all developed throughout the book and how they managed to turn their lives around. The author manages to write the characters in such a way that you really warm to them.
At the beginning of the book there is a section called "Who's who in Divorce for Beginners". To start with I had to keep referring to this as I was getting confused as to who was who. There are a lot of characters in this book; from the persons attending the group to their friends and family members and I sometimes found myself getting confused as to who belonged to who, especially if I had put the book down for a couple of days due to having no time to read. I don't know if this is a problem with me and my memory as this has happened to me with a couple of books now. If I don't keep reading a book with lots of characters in it, I soon lose the thread of who is who. This is the only reason I dropped it a star. I had a picture of them all in my head, it's just they got jumbled as to who lived with who and who was married to who.
There is certainly enough to keep you interested in the book, and out of pure feminine nosiness, where you feel like you are intruding into their lives, you just have to keep reading to find out what happens to everyone. It's not all plain sailing but that again helped to keep your interest.
I will certainly continue to read more by this author, and look forward to her next book.
This book was the tale of several women and a couple of men, who's lives had been turned upside down by their partners leaving or them leaving their partners. Each character had their own story to tell and they were all very different.
Karen and her Husband had separated and she had an idea to set up a club for people to get together and chat about Divorce and separation, and help each other work through it. A club where people had someone to talk to. She soon got people to join. I loved the characters in the book and their quirky ways. It was lovely to see how they all developed throughout the book and how they managed to turn their lives around. The author manages to write the characters in such a way that you really warm to them.
At the beginning of the book there is a section called "Who's who in Divorce for Beginners". To start with I had to keep referring to this as I was getting confused as to who was who. There are a lot of characters in this book; from the persons attending the group to their friends and family members and I sometimes found myself getting confused as to who belonged to who, especially if I had put the book down for a couple of days due to having no time to read. I don't know if this is a problem with me and my memory as this has happened to me with a couple of books now. If I don't keep reading a book with lots of characters in it, I soon lose the thread of who is who. This is the only reason I dropped it a star. I had a picture of them all in my head, it's just they got jumbled as to who lived with who and who was married to who.
There is certainly enough to keep you interested in the book, and out of pure feminine nosiness, where you feel like you are intruding into their lives, you just have to keep reading to find out what happens to everyone. It's not all plain sailing but that again helped to keep your interest.
I will certainly continue to read more by this author, and look forward to her next book.
February 11, 2013
This is my first book by Sophie King and I can say that it is not the last one, for sure.
Although it was not an easy read because of all the dramas, it WAS a super book with many heroes with deep characters, people who lived a lot and could share their experience. You can't for sure stay neutral to them, I was experiencing all the emotions, pain but also the happy moments.
What I particularly liked about this book is the fact that it was full of twists and surprises. When I thought that something is going to happen, there happened something totally different, and so it had me always in anticipation, waiting for what's going to happen. And although the thing that happened were not exactly this what I thought is going to be, I am not at all dissapointed.
This book is moving, I have fallen for the characters, I have kept my fingers crossed for them and wanted everything to end good for them. I liked them and disliked some of them very much, I couldn't stay neutral. It is about normal people, people like us who are fighting to have their ends meet, to have a proper family but learn that they must have their dignity as well.
Would really reccomend this book.
Although it was not an easy read because of all the dramas, it WAS a super book with many heroes with deep characters, people who lived a lot and could share their experience. You can't for sure stay neutral to them, I was experiencing all the emotions, pain but also the happy moments.
What I particularly liked about this book is the fact that it was full of twists and surprises. When I thought that something is going to happen, there happened something totally different, and so it had me always in anticipation, waiting for what's going to happen. And although the thing that happened were not exactly this what I thought is going to be, I am not at all dissapointed.
This book is moving, I have fallen for the characters, I have kept my fingers crossed for them and wanted everything to end good for them. I liked them and disliked some of them very much, I couldn't stay neutral. It is about normal people, people like us who are fighting to have their ends meet, to have a proper family but learn that they must have their dignity as well.
Would really reccomend this book.
November 9, 2015
Dit boek was beter dan haar vorige (De bruiloft), daarom vier sterren. Het duurde even voordat ik in het verhaal zat, maar daarna kon ik het boek maar moeilijk weg leggen. De hoofdpersonen zijn erg sympathiek en ondanks het onderwerp (scheidingen) is het een hartverwarmend boek. Net als in Sophie Kings andere boeken wisselt het perspectief steeds van de ene naar de andere hoofdpersoon. Daardoor blijft de spanning erin. Als je de andere boeken van Sophie King ook met veel plezier hebt gelezen, dan moet je deze ook zeker gaan lezen.
January 1, 2016
Eigenlijk sloeg ik die boek gisteren al dicht, maar het leek me verstandiger om het direct voor mijn reading challenge van 2016 te laten gelden.
Uitgelezen, maar niet meer van dat. Het boek kon me niet meeslepen en ik had het erg moeilijk om de personages uit elkaar te houden.
Neen, dit was geen hoogvlieger.
Uitgelezen, maar niet meer van dat. Het boek kon me niet meeslepen en ik had het erg moeilijk om de personages uit elkaar te houden.
Neen, dit was geen hoogvlieger.
January 21, 2013
Loved it!
February 26, 2013
Disappointing. It jumped between characters too quickly and it was ages before it dawned on me that the extra passages were relating to the wife of Caroline's ex-lover.
May 25, 2013
I like her books but they always say they are witty I don't think that they are witty.I think they have very good characters and plots though.
February 1, 2015
Cute book. I like the way Sophie tells a story.
July 3, 2015
Samengevat een boek vol huwelijksellende waarvan ik hoop dat ik het nooit mee ga maken. Toch is het weleens fijn om de ellende van een ander te lezen.
May 8, 2016
just the perfect feel good book...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews