Play it Again?

by Julie Highmore

In the wilds of Norfolk, Dylan is mending his broken heart by rebuilding his house. Next door, Ellie gazes longingly at him over the fence, while her mother Fliss contemplates a school reunion. Should she risk an encounter with her first crush?

Meanwhile Dylan's once-famous father Alex, arriving a little late in his son's life, is also recalling the perils of first love - but will Marie return Alex's renewed affection? Can an old rock star recapture the magic of his first hit?

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

After having her three children, Julie became a mature student at first Westminster College, then Oxford Brookes University, where she gained a degree in English. As part of the course, she studied creative writing with Philip Pullman, who encouraged her to continue with her writing after graduation. This she did, and her published work includes nine rom-com novels, and more recently, a crime fiction series for The Book Folks. The Missing American - the first in the series - features the somewhat flawed, Oxford-based private investigator, Edie Fox; a single mother and very young grandmother who inadvertently gets her precious family caught up in her first big case. Although her recent novels have ventured into some dark places, Julie manages to inject humour into the stories without diminishing the danger of situations Edie finds herself in.

Between graduating and becoming a published author, Julie taught English as a foreign language, and for several years was a reader for Oxford University Press’s Children’s Books.

She enjoys music, binge-watching a good TV series, country strolls, doing the New York Times crossword, and hanging out with her husband and ever-expanding family. With two Edie books now in production and a third following in Spring 2023, Julie is hoping to continue with the series while also exploring other crime-fiction paths.

Reviews

[Rachel Brand · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing I remember about this book is that there was a kidnapping in it, and it seemed to be like it came out of nowhere, just to make the story more interesting. Much like the one in 'The Ballroom on Magnolia Street.' Is this a habit of chick-lit writers, to add random kidnappings to their novels when they get boring? Either way, this book obviously wasn't earth-shatteringly amazing as I can remember very little about it and I only read it 3 or 4 years ago!

[Karschtl · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story itself was not really good and quite unrealistic. Even more annoyed me how several ppl switched from one love-interest to another (and back again) so easily.

But the worst was the ending: seemed like the author had reached her target regarding the length of the story (bit more than 300 pages, but large font) and just stopped writing. The loose ends were not properly tied at the end, which left me as the reader very unsatisfied.

[Richard Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

There"s open-ended and just cutting a book off halfway through. This is the latter. A bit of a laugh but nit much more than that.

[Jo Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this from the library's endangered bookshelf. ( books people have not borrowed for a while) and there is a reason why this book has been languishing on the shelf. All the characters were so fickle and shallow that I could not connect with them and felt they deserved little happiness. The kidnapping plot and subsequent dealing with ten kidnappers was so ridiculous that I laughed out loud. At first I thought the author was trying to be funny with it ) and to be fair at times it was very funny here), but as the rest of the book was not comedic in any way this was unlikely. A disappointment all round.

[Ruth Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable page turner, but I was a little disappointed in the ending.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed some of her other books but I couldn't get into this and gave up half-way through.

[Nefret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wenig sympthatische Figuren, die sich nicht unbedingt durch Beständigkeit und Treue auszeichnen.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very light reading - almost a nothing book that just sort of ended.