Review: What It Takes
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 28, 2013
Terry Tyler’s latest novel, “What It Takes” is one of those books which is hard to place securely within a genre. It certainly has romantic elements, but it is also about relationships within families - sibling rivalry, jealousy, misunderstandings. There is mystery within this story and it also deals with the consequences of dishonesty at worst; lack of openness, at best.The story looks at the lives of three sisters - Ava, Saskia and Karen. Karen harbours a great deal of resentment towards her older sisters; in her eyes, they are more attractive, more successful and more loved than she. Her view of life changes when she meets Danny who falls deeply in love with her. Unfortunately, the path of true love does not run smoothly and after a few months, life becomes very complicated for Karen.To say more about the plot would spoil the book for others, but I can say that I found the characters to be believable. Although Karen was annoying at times, I empathised with her outlook on life. It isn’t always easy to deal with the complexities of life when you feel insecure about your place in the scheme of things.I loved the setting of this novel! In fact, the reason I bought my copy was because it is set in North Norfolk and mentions many of the places that I know and love.“What It Takes” is a well-written novel, which I found difficult to put down.  I’m not generally a fan of romance, but with the other themes running throughout, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be reading more of Terry Tyler’s work, that’s a certainty!