Just a so-so Kinsella book. FYI, this is not a romance, this is women’s fiction. The main character (Effie) story is focused on her family and those relationships. There is an ex (isn’t there always?) but that whole thing is not the most important part of the book. And honestly the why behind the break up was so damn dumb I refuse to award any points for shoehorning this into this book. The flow of this one was pretty awful. Effie who is almost 30 should have been aged down a lot. What she gets up to in this one didn’t read as funny, but really pathetic after a while. And then the resolution (sorta) for some stuff, but some plot threads were left dangling concerning the stepmother/father relationship that I wish that Kinsella had pursued. The ending wraps things up neatly, but getting to it was a struggle. Still, a solid three star women’s fiction book. If you are looking for a beach read that won’t strain you too much, you can try this one for size.
“The Party Crasher” follows Effie who two years after her parents divorce (well her father and the stepmother who raised she and her two siblings) she is still reeling. She lost her job and the guy she was seeing shortly after and it feels like nothing is going right. When her dad’s new girlfriend announces they are selling the former family home, and Effie is not really invited (it’s a whole thing) she decides to not attend the party even though her sister wants her there. But Effie decides to sneak into the party to retrieve her beloved Russian dolls (do not ask, I didn’t write this) and as she sneaks around, here’s things from attendants of the party that include her sister, her brother, her ex, and a whole host of people.
As I wrote above, Effie is way too old for this mess. I get the flimsy set-up, but I sighed. And then of course she’s almost immediately discovered by her ex who says he will help her sneak into the party. Most of the book is just her listening in, hiding from people, and realizing that she doesn’t know things she should about her dad, brother, sister, and stepmom.
The writing was lacking a lot, I think most of the book is not really people “talking” to each other, but Effie realizing that she didn’t know something and going on about it. The flow was pretty bad. This all takes place over a day/night and it felt endless.
The ending wraps things up, but as I said above, was surprised that Effie didn’t pursue what she found out about her parents. I was curious about it.