Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? [Paperback]

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? is probably Carroll's most ambitious novel to date (and she does like to be `out there' with her plots - a re-telling of Cinderella last year, the year before that the girl died and went to heaven but had the chance of coming back, she's had psychics in her novels...) and it asks the question of can love survive long distance. Can a couple who have been together since they were teenagers survive as Annie finds herself in New York and having all her dreams come true as she stars in a Broadway play whilst Dan has to stay home in Stickens in Ireland because that's where the couple live. That's where his family are. His vet's practice. It's like a seven-year-itch novel but without the annoying name of it being a seven-year-itch novel. It's not necessarily that Dan and Annie have fallen out of love with each other, they just don't know how to be around each other. Annie feels frozen out and alone in Stickens, with a mad mother-in-law and a never-ending circle of visiting neighbours to boot while Dan is always rushing around like a man possessed to be Ireland's Greatest Ever Vet heck he's probably going for Ireland's Greatest Ever Person as he can't say no to anybody; except Annie.

I love me some long distance love affairs. I loved the idea of Annie and Dan hitting the pause button on their relationship and meeting a year later at Rockefeller center in New York where they got engaged. I think mainly I loved the romance of it all; I love the idea of two people who love each other seeing if the grass is really greener or if it just appears to be greener. Mind you, Annie's life in Stickens was miserable. I thought Carroll set up Annie's exit from Ireland beautifully because I could feel how stifled she was with everybody being on top of her and Dan constantly disappointing her. It radiated out of the book. Her need to escape was tangible. I found myself willing her to get the job, willing her to tell everyone where to stick themselves. I wanted Annie to burst out and yell at everyone to leave. her. alone. I wanted to smack Dan for not being there, for being absent. I thought the first half of the book was really fast-paced, despite Annie's slow-going life. I found myself caught up in it all as Annie desperately hopes to get the Broadway gig. I wanted to see Annie in her natural habitat, which was her being an actress, being on stage, not feeling like an extra in her own life and I thoroughly enjoyed the New York section of the novel.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, on the whole, was an enjoyable read. I don't have any major quibbles and for the most part Carroll is a brilliant writer who's really great at making us care for her characters, particularly Annie. I did get a bit frustrated at her continual use of certain words: "Christ Alive", "Anyroadup" (If I had heard anyroadup on more time!), "Anyway" and how "ice cold" Jack Gordon's hands were and how "blonde" her apartment was. It was very repetitive, and it took all my might not to get annoyed at just how many times "anyroadup" began a paragraph. I don't even know what the word means; I presume it's basically another way of saying "anyway", but I may be wrong. Claudia Carroll is an author I enjoy, even making me laugh at certain points of the novel, which is a rarity (honestly, you have no idea how many novels promise to be "hilarious" or "witty" and don't even make me crack a smile and let it be known I am the easiest person ever to make laugh). I was never entirely sure, either, how the novel would end, as Annie found life in New York quite exciting and well, you answer me this: How many people would swap NY for Stickens? I liked that the ending wasn't entirely fluid, that I wasn't sure which way it would go. I'm very much looking forward to Claudia's next novel (and going back to read her others, particularly If This Is Paradise I Want My Money Back).

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? is the first book by Claudia Carroll that I have read. In the main I really enjoyed the book but I did have a few minor quibbles too.
Annie and Dan were childhood sweethearts, they met at 15 and married early. Now at 28, their relationship is already under strain. They left their life in Dublin and Annie's career as an actress to move back to the village of Stickens and Dan's family veterinary practice after Dan's father died. Annie is desperately unhappy, Dan is working ridiculous hours, she can't stand her mother-in-law and her acting career seems like a long-distance memory. So when Annie's agent calls and tells her she has an audition for the new Jack Gordon play, she jumps at the chance. The play is a dream and to be directed by Jack Gordon is a huge opportunity so when she is offered the part, she feels that she can't say no. The only problem is that the play is moving to New York for a whole year, on one hand how can Annie leave Dan for a year and on the other hand how can she turn down the chance to perform on Broadway?
Dan knows that this is Annie's dream and she has given up so much for him already. He knows that she is majorly unhappy in Stickens so her tells her to go to New York. They will put their marriage on hold for 1 year and arrange to meet at the Rockefeller centre in 12 months which is where they got engaged.
Annie loves New York and the play, she misses Dan but she also thinks he probably hasn't even really noticed her absence.
New York is full of temptations, Jack Gordon being the biggest one; he has his sights firmly set on Annie and a small matter like a husband in the UK is not going to deter him. Annie can't even contemplate Jack at first but when she hears that Dan has allowed his friend Lisa Ledbetter and her kids move in as she is having marital problems, she doesn't know what to think. Lisa has always had a thing for Dan and now that Annie is away she is obviously making her move.
Annie focuses on her and Dan's agreed date in December but will he even turn up and if he does, does she want to return to her old life?
Sorry for the lengthy description but quite a lot happens in this book. I identified with Annie as I met my husband when we were very young and we're already married with a baby on the way at 28. However, my reservation with the book was the idea of Annie going away for a year. This is something I would never contemplate. I understand that Claudia Carroll really plays on the fact that Dan works all hours as a vet and doesn't always put Annie first but I too have first-hand experience of this due to being married to a junior doctor but I wouldn't run off for a year! It's a shame as on the whole I liked Annie and I'm all for people following their dreams but she was a little tinged for me as in my opinion she was being a little selfish.
I still enjoyed the book though, in particular the New York setting and all of the characters involved in the play. I shall try the author's other books, I just struggled with the idea in this one.

This was the first Claudia Carrol book that I have read, and although I really enjoyed the story, I got very fed up with her use of the 'word' anyroadup. I know to most people this would be a minor issue and would not detract from the book, but I found the way she kept repeating it over again extremely annoying. I don't like slang in any book unless it is in relevant converation, and this definitely wasn't. It would prevent me from buying any more of Claudia Carroll's books, which is a shame as I enjoyed the rest of it.