Bittersweet - Melanie La'Brooy (2010)

I bought this book because there was a 40% off sale at borders because it was closing down. There wasn"t much left by the time I got there but this appealled to me because it was one of the top 50 books you can't out down" and that proved true. I read all 450 pages in one day, needing to know how every twist was resolved.

I would definitely recommend this book to any woman, it is written wonderfully, has many surpises and secrets in the plotline and to make me enjoy it and relate to it even more it is set in Australia. It is a family drama and romantic novel, however not in the kissy gushy way that you get sick of after a sentence, it's in a subtle way that makes you want to know what happens next. However the family drama is definitely the more prominent and better theme of the novel.

SPOILER ALERT
The story follows the journey of two sisters, Sabrina and Mimi Falks who have had a fight at their mothers funeral two years ago and have not spoken since. Now Sabrina, an Australian soap opera actress, is getting married and has to hire Mimi as her maid of honour. As the novel continues we discover about their dad; a drinker who beat Sabrina, about Mimi; a binge drinker herself, and about Sabrina; who has had anorexia since their terrible childhood and now as a consequence was infertile. Along with those main plot twists there are many more minor ones that occur almost every chapter in the last half of the book. Mixed in with all this family drama and hidden secrets is a lovely romance between Mimi and Nate, the best man, which, although predictable, is lovely and keeps my interest the whole way through the story. Overall, I think this is a good book if you like family drama and romance and is a nice holiday read.