The Other Side of the Story



Title: The Other Side of the Story
Author: Marian Keyes
Blurb: Jojo Harvey is a dead ringer for Jessica Rabbit and the most ferocious literary agent in town. A former NYPD cop, she now lives in London making million-dollar book deals while trying to make partner at her firm . . . all the while sleeping with the boss man.

Lily Wright is an author who believes in karma, and is waiting for the sky to fall after stealing her former best friend's man. Though her first book failed to sell, her life turns upside down when her most recent book becomes a huge bestseller.

Gemma Hogan is an event designer extraordinaire, but her personal life is nonexistent after losing the love of her life and her best friend in one fell swoop. To make matters worse, her father has just left her mother. While taking care of her mother, she e-mails a close colleague about her frustrations, who in turn forwards the hilarious e-mails to a famous literary agent named Jojo Harvey, who just happens to represent her former friend, now enemy, Lily Wright. . . .

Written in the charming and chatty voice that has become Marian Keyes's signature style, this hilarious and heartwarming novel proves there are three sides to every story . . . especially in the world of publishing!

Review: I was surprised, reading the blurb, to discover that the book is written from the perspective of each of the three women it features, switching between the three at an ever-increasing pace as the action peaks. It was somewhat disorienting at first, but I got used to it, and then it was quite fun!

I'd thought that the actions of the women would impact more upon Jojo, the literary agent, but in fact, each women operates fairly independently of the other and the connections are far more tenuous than the blurb implies. That being said, the connection is solid and the decisions of each woman do eventually have consequences that spill over into the lives of the others. 

Not a particularly brain-straining read, it is a pleasant by-the-fireside contemporary novel that should please all but the most exacting reader. It will keep you absorbed, if not engrossed, and is feel good enough to satisfy the romantic, but gritty enough to not annoy the realists. 

A great job, I would not mind finding another Keyes novel to see what else she produces. 

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