Book Review – The Note by Zoe Folbigg

I was attracted to The Note as it was free to read with Prime reading, which I mentioned in my May Favourites (if you haven’t read it, check it out here)

Goodreads

Here is what it says on Goodreads

“The note changed everything…

One very ordinary day, Maya Flowers sees a new commuter board her train to London, and suddenly the day isn’t ordinary at all. Maya knows immediately and irrevocably, that he is The One.

But the beautiful man on the train always has his head in a book and never seems to notice Maya sitting just down the carriage from him every day. Eventually, though, inspired by a very wise friend, Maya plucks up the courage to give the stranger a note asking him out for a drink. Afterall, what’s the worst that can happen?

And so begins a story of sliding doors, missed opportunities and finding happiness where you least expect it.

Based on the author’s true story, The Note is an uplifting, life-affirming reminder that taking a chance can change everything…”

My review of The Note

I am not going to pretend to be a proper book critic.  But I enjoy a good book so here are my thoughts and musings…..

This book didn’t take that long to read, I did enjoy it but I didn’t love it.

I found the start of the book really confusing, that could be me as I tend to read really late at night or really early in the morning. So perhaps it was just my tired little brain.  But there were so many characters and all had their background stories building at the same time.  I had to keep flicking back to work out who was who.

Some bits were glossed over, but then other parts were described to the minutest amount of detail.  This didn’t bother me but it did affect the pacing of the book.

I don’t want to put in spoilers, but there is a character called Velma and whilst I can see why she was introduced, parts of her story just didn’t add up for me.

The timeline also didn’t really work for me.  I don’t mind stories that start in the now and then take you back, but I couldn’t keep track of where we were.  It didn’t say 2 years ago, it had a date and I wasn’t sure where in her story it was.  It was also written in the third person, so I never really felt as though I was reading the story through her eyes (if you know what I mean).

There are little bits, like where she refers to a time “when her hair turned wavy”.  I was a little disappointed as this is referred to a few times in the book, but it’s never fully explained.

I would say that the book improved about 75% of the way through it.  There was never a time when I didn’t think I would finish it.  The ending seemed a little rushed in pace compared to the rest of the book.

My Conclusion

Overall, for the first book by this author, I think its ok. I would definitely read another as I think she will improve her writing style the more she writes.

I  would give it 3 stars out of 5.

Why don’t you give it a read and let me know your comments? or if you would have let me know what you think……

Julie x