Night Music by Jojo Moyes was a unique, contemporary read.

I found this book to be very relaxing. It was a book I could escape into and there wasn't any real stakes. Yes, there was a horrible man named Matt totally trying to screw over Isabel by destroying her house, but I just had this calm feeling that everything would turn right in the end.

The book is "soft and sweet" to me. It's an easy read that just flows as I kept going along.

We follow Isabel, who is a very talented violinist, once she inherits an old Spanish house in the middle of a very small torn. She moves there with her kids after her husband has tragically died. Isabel is a bit of an odd duck. Clearly, she wasn't the one wearing the pants in the relationship. She was focused on her music career while her husband handled everything and their hired nanny watched the kids.. Now, she has to take care of her teenaged kids and house, which is not something she ever did. What makes things worse is the house is falling apart.

And you'd think that with all of that going on some nice people would swoop in and help. Well, they say they are going to "help", but really, the man who offered to help fix her house (Matt McCarthy) keeps wrecking the house and trying to make it to be the house he wanted - since he swore he was going to inherit the house. If he can screw over Isabel just enough, she might leave and let him take the house away from her.

I truly liked the story - it was an interesting slice of life that made me emphasize with Isabel and the kids while also want to smack Matt right across the face and tell him to bugger off. There's other wonderful characters to who deserved so much better, and most of which is due to Matt being a complete jerk to them. The story is very sweet, very heartfelt, and just an all around women's lit kind of book. I really liked Jojo's writing style and I will definitely be seeking out more books by her in the future.

Four out of five stars! ( )

Contrived and formulaic filled with preposterous interactions. I think it’s supposed to be a book of intrigue and hidden motives, but everything was coming completely obvious ( )

Another great book by Jojo Moyes. Enjoyed every word. ( )

Zwischendurch lese ich gerne Bücher von Joyo Moyes und hole gerade einige ihrer früheren Romane nach. Dieser hat mir allerdings nicht so gut gefallen.

Einige Figuren schienen mir unglaubwürdig, überzogen oder inkonsistent beschrieben, andere blieben seltsam blass, gemeinsam hatten zumindest die Hauptfiguren, dass sie mir durchgängig unsympathisch waren. Auch mit Klischees wurde nicht unbedingt gespart.
Die Vorzüge des Lebens in einem kleinen Ort (statt in London, wo die Protagonistin und ihre Kinder vor dem Umzug gelebt haben) wurden mir zu einseitig hervorgehoben. Die engeren persönlichen Kontakte, die Tatsache, dass jeder jeden kennt, hat nicht nur Vorteile.
Das Trauma des Sohnes, das immerhin so schlimm war, dass er am Anfang des Buches überhaupt nicht mehr gesprochen hat, wurde quasi auf zwei Seiten abgehandelt und behoben, nicht zuletzt durch die Hilfe eines Hundewelpens.
Das Happy End war ziemlich vorhersehbar und hätte besser in eine Seifenoper gepasst.

Dieses Buch ist definitiv nicht auf dem Niveau einiger ihrer späteren Bücher. Wird mich aber sicher nicht davon abhalten, weitere Bücher der Autorin zu lesen.


( )

My first real disappointment with author Moyes. I considered the writing both overly depressing and overly dramatic. I have so few novels that I can say I just don't care through out the read. Enjoy the author but this book barely received a 1/2 star. ( )