NEW RELEASE
Behind Every Cloud - Pauline Lawless (2012)
Sam's wine course thrusts Ellie, Rachel, Ronan and Zita together. Ellie is planning her dream wedding but when her fiance starts a prestigious new job, things begin to change between them. Ronan's marriage to shopaholic Louise is on the rocks, and has left him in dire financial straits. Rachel is married to high-profile politician Carl but her perfect life is a facade. And unknown to anyone, Zita's sole reason for joining the course is to ensnare Rachel's husband to further her career in television. After eight weeks on the wine course, they know their wines, and firm friendships have formed. But everything else has changed beyond recognition. The wine course brings together a diverse range of personalities, and they complemented each other well. Zita is the standout character for me, you have to love to hate her, and she has a great background story. I also found the portrayal of Rachel and the challenges of her life behind the glamour to be quite interesting. With an abundance of central characters, this book was never boring. However, there was a few too many stories going on for me, and while they all intertwined perfectly, at times I felt that if there were one or two less, the more compelling ones could have been fleshed out more. That said, I did enjoy this book immensely, and will certainly be looking forward to reading more by Pauline Lawless. (LO)
Behind Every Cloud, by Pauline Lawless, is about a group of people who meet through a wine course. The summary says: "Ronan is an architect who is married to a shopaholic. They have serious money problems as a result and when he loses his job, things deteriorate rapidly. Sam, the wine lecturer, offers him a job running a wine shop which saves the day. Rachel is a glamorous, wealthy woman, married to the charming debonair newly elected politician Carl. Perfect life, perfect home, perfect children but with a not-so-perfect husband who brings it all crashing down around her head. Ellie, a true-blue northsider, is a romantic young girl engaged to the boring David. She is planning the perfect wedding but David who has joined a new company is overawed by his new sophisticated southside colleagues. He wants them to move there despite Ellie's objections which causes big problems for them. Zita is a clever scheming woman who works in television and will stop at nothing to achieve her ambitions. Rachel's husband is the target in her sights to help her achieve this. She has a dark past which eventually catches up with her."