Jill Marshall (3)

When nine-year-old Paige blows out the candles on her cake and wishes, out loud, to meet her dad, what’s an out-of-work mother to do? The fact that Dad lives in New Zealand and Mom is in England might be a minor inconvenience, but Cally and Paige get on a plane and a nicely humorous tale ensues as they meet new friends and old along the way.

Cally tells her story in a convincingly determined and vulnerable first-person voice, while Paige sends emails, just vaguely hinting at plots to get Mom and Dad together. Add the world’s best grandfather to the mix, a gorgeously handsome stranger, beach parties, sun, sand and sea, and you’ll feel like you’ve visited New Zealand, fallen in and out of love, and dreamed a very strange future for everyone involved.

The Two Miss Parsons offers a pleasingly different take on the dating game, with vivid description, self-deprecating humor, and even occasional touches of common sense. It’s a fun story that’s just a bit more than chic-lit or romantic comedy, and it’s a really enjoyable read.

Disclosure: I won a free copy ages ago and I offer my honest review.… (más)

Jane Blonde is bound to be a spy of course, but in this short story the English schoolgirl’s secret identity’s not so hidden, as she helps keep a kindergarten class under control, while possibly needing all the help G-Mama, Trouble and her SPIskills can offer.

The story throws young readers in at the deep end of a world filled with super sensations, neat code, confabulated code-names and mystery. Reading the first of the full-length novels might be a better introduction, but it’s clear there’ll be plenty to enjoy, especially for fans of the series, in a slightly off-kilter world of spy-gear, mystery and mayhem. It’s a fun story with a convincingly childish heroine.

Disclosure: I was given an ecopy and I offer my honest review… (más)

In January 2007 I did a one-week course on Writing for Children (tutored by a very capable Kathy White). During the course Kathy gave us a list of recent books for children (in age-group lists, which was very convenient) so we could look at examples for the age-group and genre that we were each thinking of writing for. I had vague ideas at the time of writing for smaller children, but so liked the idea of "Jane Blonde" that I read Jill Marshall's first in that series. It's ever so much fun.

And that was a long-winded way of saying that, having enjoyed a children's book written by this author, I thought I'd like to try this newer, adult title. Marshall's style has transferred well from children to adults - she has a light, humorous way of writing which I particularly enjoy.

The two Miss Parsons of the title are an English solo-mother (Cally) and her daughter (Paige, aged 9) who, on a whim, travel to Auckland, New Zealand to introduce the daughter to her father (Alan) who she has never met. Cally is keeping a journal (as advised by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity) and the story unfolds for the reader through this medium, and through the occasional email from Paige to her friend Charlotte. On the plane on the way over, Cally meets the very attractive Simon, which makes for some fun in a conflicting-love-interest way; and Cally lurches from confusion to clarity to confusion again.

I daresay this book would be labelled as chick-lit. I'm not a fan of romances, but I do enjoy a romantic comedy so I'm labelling this as such. While the story is quite far-fetched (though truth is sometimes stranger than fiction) there was only one 'scene' where I found the narrative a little awkward. And sure, the end is predictable, but it's most entertaining on the way.

Finally, being an Aucklander myself, I rather liked the setting and the author's way of looking at us Kiwis (I understand Jill Marshall is a reasonably recent English immigrant to NZ), and I can vouch for its authenticity. Thanks, Jill, I enjoyed this book.… (más)