Oh my oh my.... so much to say about this book. I may have been at a slight disadvantage having not read the first book. Usually a sequel will provide a lot more background than this one, but all it said was that Samuel was at least a two time rapist and that Dilly had sold her baby.... and that right there provides my first bone to pick. Max is continually described as an incredibly generous, kind and thoughtful man so in NO way do I believe that he would have agreed to the whole baby selling nonsense. He would have made sure that Dilly had both a job and a way to keep her baby. Bone #2...Oscar and Olivia...who on earth falls in love with their own "sibling"? Seriously? I could believe it if they had been raised together knowing that Olivia was adopted but other than that, no way. Now, this is a much less serious complaint, but why do all these women have to be going about tripping and skipping??? Can't they just walk like a normal human being?
Dilly: I actually really liked Dilly but I didn't understand how on earth she had a dress shop with no name... that makes no sense. Then, when she did get advised by a MUCH more knowledgeable MAN (I need a sarcasm font for that) it took time to come up with "Dilly's Designs"??? What the actual hell? Good grief.
In general, this book just had too many stock characters. Feisty independent Dilly. Perfect generous Max. Disgusting dirtbag Samuel. Bats**t crazy Camilla. Slatternly but heart of gold bestie, Nell. Pompous ass, Henry. Etc etc etc.
Max was generally likable, but he really needed to grow the f up and stop being a petulant jealous little b**ch.
Henry...OMG Henry. I already said he was a pompous ass and here is the proof..."I would be more than happy to accept my wife working for a few hours a day to occupy herself and earn some pin money"..."he wouldn't force the issue, not yet anyway"... When I read a book, I like to picture the characters in my head and I usually pick actors to "play the part" so I picked Tom Hanks as my Henry but I had to stop because I was starting to hate Tom Hanks and I love Tom Hanks so, as the Brits apparently like to say, "it just wasn't on"...
There was one continuity problem... Olivia first returned to Nuneaton at the beginning of February but then she said that she wanted to return with the baby at the end of January....
Why couldn't Niamh and Samuel's marriage be annulled? I very much doubt that there was ever a single instance, other than the rape, where they were "together".
I couldn't help wondering if Hatter's Hall was a bit of a joke, as in mad hatter from Alice In Wonderland?
Anyway, I actually managed to get to page 322 before I uttered my first "Oh, for f's sake", so I guess that's something.... not much, but something.