Aussie Book Review: Being Abigail by Kathryn White

Book reviews

9 Nov

Kathryn White- Being Abigail Format- Paperback Source- Review copy provided by author Synopsis: Okay. This is it. I am going to kill myself ... After a suicide attempt goes hilariously awry Abigail Carter PhD candidate and owner of a gorgeous little kitten named Cedric finds herself stuck with her very own blog. Before long, Abigail finds herself blogging all about her everyday life - phone calls from the future mother-in-law from hell, visiting a murderous aunt in prision, being stalked by her ex-boyfriend turned cop and the reappearance of Chastity MacKenzie, the girl responsible for expulsion from boarding school many years before. And when Chastity makes a play for Samuel, Abigail's fiance of five years, Abigail realises that it is going to take a lot more than keeping a blog to sort this mess out... Dark and occasionally laugh out loud funny, Being Abigail features a truly unforgettable heroine and a reminder that sometimes the best things in life happen when you're on your way somewhere else. Review: I really enjoyed Being Abigail, a fast-paced, entertaining, chic lit novel written in a blog format. Abigail, the daughter of a rock star, had a turbulent childhood and winds up engaged to Samuel Andrews, eight years older than her and from a wealthy family. They are the perfect compliment to each other. Abigail is irrational, emotionally reactive and creative while Samuel is sensible, calm and in control. He handles her frequent outbursts and accusations of infidelity reasonably well I think.This is quite an entertaining story about a woman who has a troubled past and trouble trusting people and how she makes sense of a relationship where she has the expectation that he will let her down. There are plenty of interesting characters such as Abigail’s snotty mother in law and the manipulative Chastity who has her eye on Samuel. The author has a way of showing characters with weaknesses and making them highly likeable. Abigail annoyed me sometimes but there was also a part of me that could really relate to her. It was quite entertaining to be taken away with her imagination about what Samuel was thinking and doing when she was not there. It just shows how important simple communication in a relationship is and how assumptions can be made or situations can be misinterpreted when couple’s avoid the big issues in their relationship.I was surprised to learn that Abigail was studying the Bronte sisters for her PhD thesis as it seems in contrast to her personality throughout the book. It gave her an intelligent edge which made her more likeable.I enjoyed all the Australian innuendos throughout the story and the author’s familiarity with South Australia. There were some minor editing issues but they did not stray from the flow of the story.Being Abigail is the debut novel by Australian author, Kathryn White. It is an entertaining novel about the foibles of relationships and a young woman’s path to attaining emotional maturity (or close to it!).