The Lucky Escape

A woman left at the altar. A new, unexpected encounter. A spare honeymoon ticket. Endless possibilities. 

When Annie is left at the altar my her so called fiancé she is heartbroken she thought he was Mr Right and now feels as though her life is over. However, Annie soon unexpectedly reunites with Patrick, an old childhood friend. Now that Annie's life has flipped upside down she takes up any opportunity she can and so when she is given the chance to take Patrick on a spontaneous trip to Australia which was supposed to be her honeymoon, she takes it. What could go wrong? What could go right? 

Within the novel there was a strong balance between the comedic, light hearted elements and the more serious, down to earth elements. This is what made the book engaging, interesting and enjoyable. By having a balance of both light heartedness and a more genuine, honest aspect a reader can then develop a stronger understanding of characters, narrative and also feel involved with the story as this balance can make it seem more realistic. 

Moving back to the story itself, there is a range of sections and characters that I could talk about however I will try not to ramble on too much...Firstly, Annie is a character filled with so much life and joy although we do not see this until the end of the novel. I found it extremely interesting to read Annie's growth as a character through her difficulties at the time. The contrast between how she was at the beginning of the novel compared to how she is at the ned of the novel is outstanding and incredible to read. Annie is inspiring. She took the best out of a terrible situation and used it to better herself and to find herself again which is simply incredible. Sometimes as people, when we are faced with problems or difficulties in life that are out of out control we tend to hope that they will disappear or do nothing about it. Once we have the attitude and mindset of 'it is out of my control'. Nothing is fixed. Therefore, reading how Annie threw that mindset away and changed her situation and life for the better was a real power move and inspiring. 

As for Patrick, his story was very different to Annie's yet they were both able to relate back to each other despite the juxtaposition between their scenarios. Patrick's situation was a twist and came to a shock for me therefore I am not going to mention what it is that Patrick is faced with. Nonetheless, Patrick had such a gentle, kind and caring heart and never failed to disappoint Annie throughout the novel. Yes they had the odd disagreement but he allowed her to find herself and he showed her a path to true happiness. Patrick was such a a loving character with a kind, warm and caring heart. 

The story itself was so realistic whilst also being unrealistic. It is not every day where you take another man who isn't your husband on your honeymoon. Despite the main plot of the story being unrealistic there was subtle illusions to reality. For example the heartbreak Patrick faces and the battle Annie faces with herself and her past. The book is called 'The Lucky Escape' and for me it really was a lucky escape filled with laughter, joy and also a few tears! The whole works. I couldn't recommend this five star read enough!