The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon

The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 416

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Fellow blogger

He's smiling down at me with tears in his eyes as I say my solemn vow:
'I, Laura, take thee, Matthew, to be my lawful wedded husband…' I thought I would never feel like this about anyone ever again. Not after my first love… Not after the heartbreak and the loss and the trying to pick myself back up again… Then I met Matthew, and I know that he has my heart forever: my perfect, gorgeous, adoring Matthew. And then I wake up. And I remember that he's not perfect. He's so far from perfect that my heart could surely collapse from the pain that instantly engulfs me…

To say Laura is unlucky in love is an understatement. Her first boyfriend died in a horrific accident, and now she's just discovered that her husband of six months has been hiding a terrible secret. Devastated and unwilling to face reality, she escapes on a girls' holiday to Key West with her best friend Marty. But a deep and instant attraction to a sexy Cuban scuba diver takes her completely by surprise. When her two weeks in the sun come to an end, Laura doesn't want to go home again. But she can't run from real life forever. Can she?


My Review

Meet Laura our main character, off to Florida's Key West with her bestie Marty and Marty's friend Bridget. Laura is trying to come to terms with her husband of seven months bombshell, he slept with someone on his stag do and she is now pregnant with his baby. Everything Laura thought she knew about Matthew she is now questioning and can she ever forgive him. Whilst healing and trying to recover she encounters the silent and broody Leo, beautiful, talented and the balm she so badly needs. Is Leo just a get back a Matthew, some holiday fun or could there be something else there?

So, I have read and enjoyed Toon before and whilst this book covers a range of themes that make for a poolside read, there were some things that irked me. The overall response as the book goes on from Laura's inner circle infuriated me, I cannot imagine being in that position and my A Team basically saying the things her friends do! Infidelity is a big part of the story and for how it goes it is integral to the plot but I got really annoyed by a bit of double standards going on from some of the characters.

Laura is a bit of a meg character for me, I initially felt for her, then I got annoyed at some of her choices. Leo I think is meant to be a bit on an onion character, gruffy on the surface but has many layers however he comes across as a bit of a.... I am struggling for the correct word. Like he was bosses, withholding emotions which almost seemed manipulation to me. I don't think it was but that was how I read him sometimes. Then Laura, she fair flipped about like a fish out of water at times with her emotions, I genuinely wasn't sure which way she was going in almost everything. I think maybe that was Toon's intent, Laura is going through such an emotional rollercoaster that she isn't sure what she needs, wants, should or will do.

It sounds like a moan lol and I really don't mean that as I did like a fair bit of the book. Friend coming to the rescue, family and friendships pushed to the limit, a journey of self exploration, love, lust and of course actions and consequences. 3.5 for me this time, I have read Toon before and I will read her again.

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