Ralph’s Party (Ralph’s Party #1)

I LOVED Ralph\’s Party. It was the story of the lives of people living on the 1st, 2nd, and basement level of an apartment building in London and how their lives were intertwined. In the basement were Ralph, the starving artist and womanizer, and Smith, the together businessman with a 5 year lust for the girl on the 2nd floor, Cheri. Cheri is a dancer who loves to get attention from men, and lots of them! She considers each man a conquest and loses interest quickly, including her interest in Karl, her conquest from the first floor. Karl has been in love and living with his girlfriend of 15 years, Siobhan. The new person in the apartment is Gem, who believes she was \”destined\” to fall in love with one of the guys in the basement with who she now lives. It\’s a very interesting story and keeps you guessing with what will happen next! I can\’t wait to read more of her books!

Ralph\’s party is a well-written, amusing, enjoyable story about a group of 20ish/30ish people who live near, or are somehow connected to, an apartment complex in London. Their stories are quite entertaining and told with a gentle wit. The main characters are Smith and Ralph, two roommates who add a third, Jem, a kooky and attractive young woman who believes that she is destined to marry one of them. This novel being a romantic comedy, she of course winds up with the wrong one at first, but ultimately sees the romantic truth (as do the other characters in the novel) at, you guessed it, Ralph\’s party. This book is a quick, non-taxing read, but I really enjoyed it. I kept thinking it would make a great movie, just as long as Hugh Grant somehow gets a part. If you are looking for a light, entertaining novel, Ralph\’s party is for you. Have fun.

For some mistaken reason, I had thought that this book would be a comedy somewhat along the lines of the recent spate of Brit lit novels currently so popular. But I was in for a surprise – and a very pleasant one at that. This novel has 6 central characters, all of whom have secret desires which they, for varying reasons, are unable to be open and honest about and consequently spend a great deal of the book in and out of the wrong beds. This has all the drama of a first class soap opera which I found amazingly gripping and I found it hard to put down – in fact, I read it in less than a day. It would make a great movie and I wouldn\’t be surprised if there was already a plan to make one. All in all, an exciting read.

Usually I LOVE what I call \”British Chick Lit\”, but this one fell a little short for me. Six people who are either friends, lovers, or neighbors make up the cast of this story. They are all supposed to be in their late 20\’s to mid 30\’s, so in other words they are all supposed to be grown-ups. At times this story makes me think of people that are still in highschool what with all their jelousies and back stabbing. What was with that mustard incident between Jem and Ralph?? I felt like I was reading someone\’s secret diary of fantasies. (What is exactly what Ralph does to get to know Jem a bit better because he fell in love with her almost from the moment she moved into the flat he shares with his long time friend, Smith. I loved the characters of Siobhan and Karl. They made the story for me. This is very light, at-the-beach type reading,so I guess it served it\’s purpose…maybe I just wasn\’t in the mood.

For some reason I feel badly knocking this book because it is her first novel and she did write it because her friends encouraged her to follow her dream. For a first novel, it ain\’t bad. It doesn\’t have the same depth as the Shannon Olsen/Suzanne Finnamore/Anne Maxted novels of the world, but then I don\’t think it\’s supposed to (although that was my impression when I ordered it). It\’s a cute little tale about 6 twenty-something people in London who live in the same building whose lives only finally all intersect at the very end. It\’s sorta like Melrose place but with only one bad person (okay, maybe two), and not six. It\’s a quick read, there are some funny lines, and there are some cute little romances. One of my biggest irritations in novels is characters who do stupid things for no apparent reason and there is a little of that in this book, but I tend to attribute that more to Jewell\’s early development as a writer more than to anything else. It is a cute little story, I did enjoy it, but it\’s sorta intellectual cotton candy, if that makes sense- is great going down, but not terribly filling (but that\’s okay- cotton candy is still popular). I do think Jewell has great potential, and this really is a great first start. Keep it up!

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