After the Honeymoon (2014)

Rosie runs the Villa Rosa, a picturesque destination on the Greek island of Siphalonia. Sixteen years ago, she was taken in by the owner Cara, when she was pregnant, homeless and terrified. Now, she's forced to face up to her past when her old flame arrives at the villa on his honeymoon. Now a TV fitness guru, Winston has no idea that he has fathered a child, and doesn't seem to recognise Rosie at all. His honeymoon to bride Melissa is interrupted when her children arrive to stay with them. Emma and Tom are also newlyweds on honeymoon. But when Tom makes little effort to enjoy the holiday, Emma goes it alone and gets herself into a spot of trouble. How will they all cope when the honeymoon is over? I feared when I began that with so many prominent characters I would get confused but the layout of the book worked well, alternating between Rosie, Emma and Winston's stories. I was drawn into the plot from the beginning, and while I enjoyed the first part when they were all in Siphalonia on their honeymoons, the real action happened after they got home (as the title may suggest!) and I particularly liked that part, I was invested in the plot right up until the end. Some wonderful descriptive passages drew beautiful images of Greece, and lively and engaging characters made this a very entertaining read. (LO)

The Au Pair (2012)

Corrywood is a small village but its inhabitants have big issues and the biggest of all is to find perfect au pairs who can look after their kids and give them time out. Paula's au pair is a nightmare, while recently widowed Mathew is tired of dealing with weirder-than-weird au pairs for his daughter. Jilly needs to support her husband and desperately needs a job. One morning while listening to her best friend Paula's child-care plight, Jilly comes up with the idea of opening her own au pair agency - she could work from home and still look after her own boys. After placing French girl Marie-Frances, who is more interested in finding her father than being an au pair, Jilly starts to think that her business might work but little does she know that the agency is just not a business that can be run from the dining table. This definitely has enough laugh-out-loud moments and the characters are realistic but the number of them made it tough at times to keep track of the story. (SS)

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