Tuesday, May 6, 2014

One Hundred Names - Book Review



Kitty Logan's life is a mess following a libel suit. As a journalist she should have done better research and digging before reporting that a teacher had affairs with two students and fathered a child. She lost her dream job at the television station. Her boyfriend moved out. Someone is vandalizing the front door of her apartment with increasingly disgusting things. Finally, her mentor Constance, editor of Etcetera where Kitty first got her start, has passed away. Desperate to save her career and pay tribute to her mentor, Kitty pitches the idea of writing Constance's last story--the story she didn't have time to write and left in a sealed envelope in her filing cabinet.

Kitty is surprised to find a single sheet of paper in the envelope. One hundred names. Random. Nothing to go on. No connections. Yet Kitty must find a story.

One Hundred Names is the newest novel from Cecelia Ahern, (author of the popular P.S. I Love You). The story is cute enough. Kitty saves her own life as she learns about and helps others tell their own stories. It's refreshing. While possibly cliche and very coincidental, I liked the story of healing, unselfishness and finding love. Over the top and slightly ridiculous, I can see it being optioned as a romantic comedy movie. It will play out nicely on the screen.

Here's the thing though, it's too long. The novel has too many words not saying enough. I found myself skimming through Kitty's repetitious thoughts to get to the meat and heart of the story. It just took a little too much work to finally make my way through to the culminating scene that earned Kitty her redemption as a journalist.



**I received a complimentary copy of One Hundred Names in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and no additional compensation was received. **




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