By Becky Gulc
Associate Reviewer at Chick Lit
Central
Last year I really enjoyed Fiona Gibson’s The
Great Escape so I was very pleased when her latest novel, Pedigree
Mum, arrived in the post. Fiona’s novels have great covers and they are
instantly appealing.
Pedigree Mum is
about Kerry and Rob Tambini, a happily married couple with two young children
who are about to make the move from a life in London to a coastal town. That
is, until Rob makes a huge mistake on a work night out by cheating on Kerry
with his younger colleague. The book follows both Kerry and Rob in
the aftermath of this. Kerry is trying to adapt to a new life on the coast with
her children when she doesn’t know anyone and every other family seems so
perfect. Rob is dealing with the consequences of his actions back in London,
which are a lot more stressful than he ever bargained for.
This book had all the ingredients for a
great book that were executed so well, it was really enjoyable from start to
finish. It was emotional, humorous and suspenseful. A really strong point for
me was that I actually liked both of the main characters a great deal, when we
meet the family they seem so happy that it just leaves what happens as a bit
dumbfounding. As the viewpoints switch between characters you get a real sense
of empathy, despite Rob doing what he did you just can’t help but like him, he
messed up and he knows it, dare I say I even ended up feeling sorry for him?
Kerry is also a very likeable character
and you feel her struggle to adapt to her new life whilst trying to keep things
normal for the children. I enjoyed Kerry’s adventures in her new home, her
dates with the locals and her adventures with Buddy the mischievous dog who she
adopts to appease the children. These elements added a lot of humour and
suspense to the novel. I literally didn’t know who Kerry would end up with at
the end of the novel as there were three different eligible contenders
throughout the novel; it was quite refreshing that they could all have been a
good match for Kerry for different reasons.
My
only slight negative point is that I thought the dog would
play a more prominent role in the book based on the title and blurb. Yes Buddy
was in the book quite a bit but not as much as I expected, I kept thinking his
part would get
bigger the more I read on it but it always felt quite marginal. I also felt the
ending was quite abrupt when a couple of pages before the end you just didn’t
know how things were going to turn out still, but maybe I just wasn’t ready for
it to end or thought/hoped there would be a different outcome! I would love to
see the characters reappear in another novel, especially as the ending left me
with some questions unanswered about how things would develop based on the
reveal at the very end. More!
This is a great book that I would
wholeheartedly recommend.
Becky Gulc lives in York, England. When she's doesn't have her head in a book, she works as a Social Researcher (anything to do with children and families). Becky is undertaking creative writing courses and aspires to be a fully fledged writer too, one day... she was proud to be a finalist in the Novelicious Undiscovered writing competition this year, her first writing competition entry! You can find her on Facebook and Twitter if you would like to get to know her better.
