Review: If anyone deserves to be a best-seller, it is Terry Tyler
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2014
"What It Takes" is a kind of Cinderella story in reverse. Karen Kavanagh is the youngest and plainest of three sisters. Her two elder sisters take after their mother, with her devastating Danish beauty, whereas Karen is rather ordinary. As if that wasn’t enough, her sisters also excel at everything they do, continually putting Karen in the shade. The only thing that gave her self-confidence was the knowledge that she was her father’s favourite. Then a chance remark of her mother’s shatters that illusion.Poor Karen. She seems to be incapable of having a satisfying relationship because, deep-down, she can’t really believe anyone could possibly prefer her to her sisters.As the story progresses, you begin to realise that her sisters’ lives are not as perfect as Karen supposes them to be, and you begin to wonder whether all the insecurity and jealousy she feels is to a large extent a product of her own imagination.The appearance of Danny, who is drop-dead gorgeous and who absolutely adores her should have allayed her fears. Instead, she pushes him away and only later regrets it.This is a fascinating study of human relationships - something at which Ms Tyler excels. The richness of her characterisation is quite extraordinary.I myself was the rather ordinary daughter of an exceptionally beautiful mother and I can tell you she has captured the feelings of inadequacy generated by that situation perfectly. How much would it have been magnified had I also had to contend with a bevy of even more beautiful sisters!There are many strands to this exceptionally well-written story, all handled with Ms Tyler’s usual consummate skill.If anyone deserves to be a best-seller, it is Terry Tyler.