A woman WRONGED
PREPARE FOR A ROM-COM NOVEL WITH ATTITUDE
Decent chick-lit seems a bit thin on the ground at the moment, which is tough luck if you’re longing for an entertaining romp rather than a twisty-turny thriller. So hooray for Jane Fallon and her latest novel Faking Friends! It’s a fun, amusing and undemanding rom-com, a bit far-fetched but not completely ridiculous, and it’s all about friendship and revenge.
Amy Forrester is an English actress who’s finally had her big break working on a TV series in New York. But disaster – her character has just been killed off. Still reeling from the news that she’s out of a job, Amy decides to cheer herself up by flying back to London for the weekend to surprise her fiancé Jack and go to her best friend Mel’s 40th birthday party.
But more disaster, Amy gets home to find another woman’s belongings strewn around her and Jack’s flat. Before too long, she realises that this mysterious woman is none other than her bestie Mel.
Rather than throwing the world’s biggest tantrum (what
I’d do), Amy plays the long game. Pretending she’s still living in New York, she quietly goes about wreaking revenge on the faithless pair, interfering in their lives in sneaky and treacherous ways.
While you can’t help cheering for Amy – and the true friend who colludes with her – some of the things she does most definitely cross the line. Before too long, she’s got a lot more than she’d bargained for.
The path of life, career and love doesn’t run smoothly but Amy’s ups and downs make for a gobble-it-up read. None of us would respond to infidelity the way she does (I hope!) but the story is still relatable enough. Haven’t we all had friends who turn out not to have been 100% on our side all along? And haven’t we all dreamed of revenge on someone at some point?
This is the liveliest chick-lit I’ve come across in ages.