Review: Blast from the Past
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 7, 2014
This book reads like a Jackie Collins book from the 70's mixed with a clipped British delivery.  It is also surprisingly easy to read.  The mixture of people behaving badly and lots of plot devices with a very dry British delivery makes an enjoyable tale of Lucy.  At 28 her career is stalled and Laurent, her lover with the roving eye, is looking for a reason to ditch her and make a more upwardly mobile match with a woman he cannot stand.  She has excellent social climbing and political connections, but he really does not like her.  Lucy leaves France and faces a delayed flight.  She lets out an expletive in French and is invited by an amused Marcus Delacroix to join him in the first class lounge.  Lucy is easy going, innocently honest and is considered by most people who know her as not ambitious.  Marcus is in his fifties and was married at 33 to woman 18 years older than he and was happily married with no scandal.  His wife has been dead for two years and at 52 he has decided he would like to have a son and thinks an arranged marriage to someone who is honest and easy going would fit his needs nicely so he investigates Lucy and offers her marriage.  Lucy has a wonderful grandmother, a stodgy mother who attended University with Marcus, and a father who is starting on his fourth wife and invites the previous three to the party.  He calls them ACE:  Amelia, Cathrine and Ellen.  Amelia is a lawyer, Cathrine, an investigative journalist and Emma a supermodel.  These unique woman stay in Lucy's life and are part of the rich characters that make this book special.  Saule, the driver, bodyguard and keeper of Marcus's secrets heads up a supporting cast of characters that includes the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office secretary and his wife, Cherry Red a high priced madam and a rather obnoxious Siamese cat help round out the cast of funny characters.Marcus is about to be knighted and lots of people are gunning for him and Lucy is collateral damage.  There is a lot Lucy does not know and you are torn as a reader between thinking she ought to know and hoping she never learns.  Lucy does not know what she feels, but knows she is feeling more for Marcus than she ought to in her situation.  Once you get used to the dry delivery, this book is a page turner.