Author: Rosie Millard
Publisher: Trafalgar Square Publishing
Publication Date: June 2017
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon
Description: Following a sensational scandal at one of London's most desired postcodes, Jane and Patrick decide to escape the gossip with a family holiday to Ibiza, their eight-year-old son George in tow.
Also on the island that week is a TV reality show involving an eccentric artist, a horny It Girl, a Brazilian footballer and a famous magician.
As hapless celebrities are picked off one by one, Jane is desperate to be on the program, leaving childcare in the not so capable hands of a teenager.
One lesbian escapade and an explosive row over hair removal later, the contestants of Ibiza or Bust leave the island with more than sand in places they never knew existed...
My Thoughts: I’m giving this book 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
I think if I had read the first book in this series, The Square, first, I would have enjoyed this story more and had a better understanding of the characters and their perspective. As best as I can gather, this story picks up not long after the first book ends and the events in the first book play heavily in this story.
I absolutely loathed Jane. I found her to be the most shallow and selfish person I have crossed paths with in a very long time. She is one of those people who would likely die or kill for image and she absolutely values her own advancement and her image over everything else. Her marriage and her child take a backseat in Jane’s life. Hiring a teenage neighbor to accompany them on a family vacation to Ibiza for babysitting illustrates for me a woman who only cares about herself. When she finds out two of her neighbors are going to be filming a reality show on the island, she is positively livid that it isn’t her and she goes out of her way to insinuate herself into the show every chance she gets.
The supporting characters of Jane’s husband, Patrick, and her son, George and their babysitter, Belle, were likable and the contestants and crew on the reality show brought an interesting aspect to the story.
This book moves at a fairly quick pace and is easy to follow and in spite of my aversion to Jane, I laughed out loud many times. I enjoyed the detail the author gives to the island of Ibiza which gave me a real sense of being there.
My Final Verdict: Overall, I found this book to be OK. If you choose to read this, I recommend that you read The Square first. Readers who like their books full of wacky characters and over the top behavior will enjoy this story.
Thank you to the publisher, Trafalgar Square Publishing, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
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