Review – ‘Take A Chance On Me’ by Carol Wyer (@carolewyer) @bookouture #publicationday

Happy publication day Carol!!

Blurb.

When Charlie’s husband leaves after ten years of marriage, her spirits hit an all-time low. She just isn’t sure how to pick herself up again. So, best friend Mercedes makes it her mission to put a spring back in Charlie’s step with the perfect bucket list.

As Charlie takes a chance and bungee jumps and belly dances her way through an array of adventures, her love life also begins to look up and she’s soon enjoying a few dates as a newly single woman. She begins to realise that finding romance, might not be so hard, especially when you’ve got someone like journalist Jake who has an adorable little boy and is very easy on the eye.

But is Jake too good to be true? As Charlie’s challenges on the bucket list get bigger, so do her questions about Jake. Should she continue to hold out for the fairy-tale? Or should she take a chance on Jake and hope for a happy ending?

What does TWG think?

Author of one of my favourite books, Carol Wyer, is back with yet another memorable story. However, it is memorable for a completely different reason than ‘Life Swap’ is. Before I read ‘Take A Chance On Me’, I was told that it would be nothing like ‘Life Swap in terms of the emotion and the hidden message. I did think to myself ‘nahhhh, it IS a Carol Wyer book afterall’. Oh how naïve I was!

Meet Charlie, a broken-hearted woman who tries to find her calling in life…again. With the help of her best friend, Mercedes, Charlie attempts things that are completely out of her comfort zone, thanks to the pact that she made with Mercedes. Despite all of the thrills and excitement the pact gives Charlie, a piece of her jigsaw is still missing. Will Charlie find the missing puzzle piece and be able to fix what she can control? Or will Charlie’s loss be too much to handle and the puzzle will forever be incomplete?

I can’t even begin this review properly with a joke, I may finish it with one, but it wouldn’t be right to begin with. I mean, how could I be anything but serious when the first few pages of the book gave me goosebumps and made me gasp? As I mentioned previously, I got told that this book would have a completely different edge to it than ‘Life Swap’, I didn’t quite believe just how much of an edge that it would have. I will now hold my hands up and say that the person who told me about the edge, was absolutely correct. After all, the author knows better about what they have written, right? -whistles-

When it comes to light in the book that Charlie and Mercedes have made a pact, also known as a good old bucket list, I couldn’t wait to see what challenges Charlie was going to face. There is powerful message behind the bucket list, but it isn’t what you would usually think. I’m not one for writing spoilers in my reviews and as this review is no different regarding that, I urge you to read the book and find out for yourself.

The complexity of each character and their personalities is outstanding. Every character has been beautifully written into the story, along with their own troubles and heartbreak, making ‘Take A Chance On Me’ extremely memorable for more than one reason. Memorable AND relatable.

Whilst Charlie and Mercedes’ bucket list has its own hidden message, ‘Take A Chance On Me’ has more than one powerful message hidden within. The word powerful is an understatement if I’m honest, the whole storyline had such a hold on me. It felt as though the story had put bricks in my feet to keep me from moving and then crawled into my soul and set up camp for the duration of the book. There was something about Carol’s writing that moved me,  I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.

Many times as I was reading, I had to sit back and soak up what I had just read. The storyline felt real, incredibly real, and it is completely clear that Carol has written ‘Take a Chance On Me’ straight from her heart. To write such moving situations must have taken a lot of strength; as all of those intense situations moved me to tears (more than once). How does one person deal with so much heartbreak in such a short space of time, yet still be able to pay it forward for those around her? Charlie is such a beautiful character for sure, but Carol Wyer is such a beautifully, talented author for creating such, wow, intense moments. Plus, Carol has added her trademark humour all throughout the novel, creating a pillow for the emotional moments. A bit like chocolate for a women’s monthly moment, or bubbles for a bath, or a kazoo for….anytime. You know, comforting things. Where is my kazoo Carol, did you pinch it?!

I will never be able to find the words to fully describe how ‘Take a Chance On Me’ has left its mark on me. There aren’t enough words to explain how many tears I shed at the end of this book. If I could have given Carol a hug whilst reading her incredible book, I would have. I needed to. I needed to be there for her characters through her. I’m tearing up now writing this as Carol’s words hit home, I related a lot to the personal limitations of a couple of her characters. I was not expected to feel as though I was reading about my life, not a characters.

‘Take a Chance On Me’ is a story about love, loss and finding the strength to move forward. A story about just going for it and trying to accept life’s limitations in the moment, no matter how hard it is. A story about letting go (and no, not Disney’s Frozen) and believing that YOU are worthy and that you are NOT defined by your heartache. ‘Take A Chance On Me’ oozes emotion from start to finish and I cannot recommend this book enough. Yes, I cried. Yes, I laughed. Yes, I cried some more. But I will tell you this, Carol Wyer is a literary genius with a heart of gold, ‘Take A Chance On Me’ is now in my Top 5 favourite books, ever.

No, don’t ‘Take A Chance On Me’, take a chance on Carol Wyer and her beautifully written, powerful and intense book that will have you reaching for the tissues multiple times. Magically moving, with added hilarity, this book is incredible.

Take A Chance On Me by Carol Wyer, published by Bookouture, is available to buy from today (23rd September) on Amazon UK