January 10, 2009

Review: Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham



Two separate families are anxious to go on a holiday. Chloe and Philip are both frustrated with work. Chloe is a seamstress who is tired of squeezing women in dresses a size smaller than they really wear and a recent takeover in Philip’s company has left him wondering if he will have a job in the near future.

Amanda and Hugh are going through a rough patch in their marriage. Philip is obsessed with work and spends so little time with his family that his children barely even know him and Amanda is currently stressing the redecoration of their home.

When both families receive an invitation to their friend Gerard’s villa they each look forward to a restful week in Spain. What they find out when they arrive is that Gerard has accidentally double booked his villa and they end up having to share it as every hotel in the area is fully booked.

To make matters worse Chloe and Hugh were once a couple whose relationship ended badly and their respective spouses have no knowledge of the past relationship. Faced with the shared sleeping arrangements stress mounts between the couples and soon all the adults are fighting between themselves and Chloe and Hugh are drawn to each other again.

Overall I thought the book was an okay read but I was a little disappointed in it. I love Wickham’s writing as Sophie Kinsella in the Shopaholic series and really enjoyed The Wedding Girl by her but Sleeping Arrangements was a let down. The characters were not as likeable as characters in her other books. Hugh is a major jerk throughout the whole book, Philip’s lack of a backbone was annoying, Amanda is too uptight and Chloe was just not likeable. The only bright spot in the book was the nanny, Jenna. She had a weird sense of humor and always made the scenes she was in surprising. I’m really on the fence about recommending this one so I’ll say read it if it’s readily available but I don’t recommend searching it out.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

I got excited when I saw who the author was, because I love the Shopaholic books too. Too bad this didn't live up to them.

Ladytink_534 said...

I've only read A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham and I didn't really like it at all. I've enjoyed many of her stand-alone novels written under her pen name Sophie Kinsella though.