Sweet Dreams, Miss England by Iris Blobel

Title:  Sweet Dreams, Miss England
Author: Iris Blobel
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: January 2010
Book Length: 203
First Line:  As Nicky woke, she adjusted her eyes to the sunshine, which was making itself comfortable in her bedroom.
Special thanks to Iris Blobel for asking me to review this book.

  

Synopsis
She could still hear Daniel’s grandmother saying, ‘Sometimes we meet people but not to share the rest of our lives with them, but merely for them to guide us onto a different path’.
Set in London and Dublin we follow the life of Nicky, a young mother of two who is married to Shane, an actor whose work requires him to be in Los Angeles. When Nicky meets Daniel, a fun-loving, spontaneous man from Ireland, she realises how much joy and passion are missing from her marriage, and consequently her life. Nicky is torn between her marriage to Shane and her love for this Irish charmer.

My Thoughts
I've just finished Sweet Dreams, Miss England and knew I had to write this review straight away.  The ending had me sobbing.  Literally.  Before I keep going I have to admit this now.  If I weren't asked to review this book I may not have picked it up and read it under normal circumstances.

The story is about Nicky a young mother of two girls and wife to an actor who resides in another country due to work commitments.  This leaves Nicky alone raising her two children.  On a spare of the moment, she decides to meet two women, who had created a fan page for her husband, and so begins a beautiful friendship.  Along the way she meets fun loving Daniel and that's where things become complicated.

It took a while for me to get into this story.  I put it down a few times until Daniel came on the scene.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the main character Nicky as soon as I started reading, but unfortunately with so much back-story at the beginning I wasn't roped in straight away.

Iris has created a unique cast of characters that are genuine, caring and down to earth.  The only character I didn't really like was Jamie and I think it was her quick-to-judge nature and lack of support when Nicky needed it the most.  I definitely had a soft spot for Daniel from the moment he entered the story.

Overall, this book is still quite raw in many aspects yet once past the first few chapters the story comes alive and by the end I'm glad I took the time to read this.