Clare has quit university, travelled for a few years, been fired from a couple of jobs and now at age 25, she’s back living with her mum and is really not sure what she wants to do with her life.
So she applies to run a bookshop in Bali for three months. But her new boss doesn’t seem that interested in his store anymore and she’s sharing a flat and the job with an American called Jack who rubs her up the wrong way.
This story is set on the Indonesian holiday island - a promising setting for a great travel-from-your-armchair read - so it was disappointing that the environment and its people were barely mentioned. The author may have been better served to have instead chosen a fictional beachside location.
And while Clare’s bid to revitalise the bookstore will appeal to booklovers and was the highlight of the story, her initial disagreement with Jack was so insignificant, it meant there was no oomph to any future tension or attraction between them.
