The Break-Up Test [Kindle Edition]

Plot

Meet Amy, Beth and Sarah. All intelligent women with one thing in common, bad taste in men!

Amy receives seductive texts from Gav and promptly skips round to his house for a mid-afternoon romp. She never planned it that way. Maybe one day he'll actually fall in love with her?

Beth sits at her desk, her mobile phone propped up in front of her keyboard. Anytime soon it will light up like the Blackpool Illuminations, and Karl will finally get in touch about that drink. It's been five days!

Sarah is seeing Stephen, trying to believe his claim that although he shares a bed with his ex, Kat, they aren't sleeping together. She can't believe it's turned into one of THOSE stories you read about in women's weeklies.

Then Jamie comes along with his Break-Up Test and turns their lives upside down.
Will Gav, Karl and Stephen suddenly sniff the competition and clean up their acts?
And what exactly is in it for Jamie?

My Opinion.
When I was approached to read The Break-Up Test by Rose McClelland I couldn't wait to get started on this book after reading the synopsis.

I think the format of this book worked well for the storyline. At the beginning of the book we meet each of the girls in turn so we get to know them on a more personal level rather than through each other's eyes. Each of the girls are clearly having trouble in their love lives but each of the characters had their own individual characteristics which made their part in the story differ from the next character.

I think it was very clever of the author to also have a guys view of a troubled love life to which I thought gave a great edge to the book and the fact that she had four main characters and managed to give depth to each of the characters is something that I have not often found in books. Usually if there are more than two main characters to focus on the characters are not usually developed very well. I do think that the friendship between the girls could have been shown a little more as usually if you were to find yourself in a troubled relationship it is your girlfriends you would usually turn to but there wasn't much involvement between the girls, but with this being a debut book I think this is something I will look for in her future books.

I liked the fact that you never quite knew where the girls love lives were going to take them next, I kept wondering if they were going to split and find Mr Right or if their current love interest was going to change their ways and I feel it was this that made this book true page turner to me! ( I did read it in 3 hours so I think that qualifies as a page turner!)

This book is well worth a read and I think Rose McClelland is going to be an author to watch out for in the future.

Funny, interesting, flowing: these are the words that come to mind a few hours after reading Rose McClelland's debut novel, The Break-Up Test.

Firstly, I have to confess that I don't read much women's fiction, so in that respect I don't have much to compare this book to. But, saying that, this book has a lot of great things in common with many books from many genres; qualities which we all look for in a novel. For me, the number one thing which makes this book so good is its readability -- I flew through it, and never found myself tripping up on text or feeling confused or needed to re-read sections. Rose's prose are simple but well-balanced, with a great mix of humour and observation that really helps the reader to connect with everything in the novel. In other words, great work :)

By now you will know that this novel concerns the lives of three female friends (as well as a number of interesting supporting characters), so I don't feel the need to mention much more about that (there is more about this in other reviews). But what really lies at the heart of this novel, for me, is the way both men and women think and feel. Throughout the novel, Rose does a fine job of explaining each character's motivations, thoughts and feelings in an original way. I'm not a woman, and yet I found myself nodding along with many of the trials and tribulations that the characters faced. I also liked the fact that Rose wrote from a man's point of view and intertwined this with the hopes and dreams of the girls; something which I feel definitely helped lend the book more depth. Overall, I found The Break-Up Test very enlightening and would recommend it to anyone -- single, married or divorced!

Once I started reading this book, I didn't put it down until I finished it. It's beautifully written in a very relaxed and amusing style. Thoroughly enjoyed it!