Review: Someone Like You

Someone Like You by Cathy Kelly tells these story of three women who meet randomly on a trip to Egypt and forge a friendship that proves to be lasting through both happy and trying times. Leonie is a divorced mother who decided to treat herself with a relaxing vacation. She loves her children but is also looking for the love of her life. Emma was dragged along by her overbearing parents- a father who thinks he's the end all be all of everything and a mother who caters to his every need-and she needs an escape. Hannah is an independent American expat who is done with men and focused on bettering herself and her career. Although they seem like an unlikely pairing, these women form a true bond and as their lives carry them on, they are continuously intertwined in each others lives, for better or worse.

Cathy Kelly delivers yet another wonderfully engaging, emotionally captivating novel. What I love most about Kelly's novels is the way she creates such relatable characters. Although it took me a bit to get past the exposition and really dive into the story, once I did I was fully involved in each woman's story. As I continued to read I felt like Leonie, Hannah and Emma were not only friends with each other but friends of mine as well. Kelly's descriptive writing makes it easy to feel like you are personally involved in the character's lives, allowing you to cheer them on or hoping they make the right decisions. These women are exceptionally relatable, to the point that, at times, I felt like I was reading about my own life. I have several pages dog-earred because of quotes I related to so much I wanted to remember where they were.

Cathy Kelly

A big reason for all of this is because Kelly truly has a way with words. She's skilled in knowing just how to describe situations or emotions in order to bring them to life. The stories flow without awkward transitions and each of the three story lines meld together and never feel jumbled. A few times I thought chapters ended abruptly and I had to double check to make sure the next chapter was indeed starting, but I found myself often unable or not wanting to put the book down. I wanted to dive further into the stories and see how things would unfold.

My other favorite aspect of Cathy Kelly novels is how she deals with love. Once again, I found myself entranced by the notion of love between these women and the men that are in or come into their lives. What was new for me, though, with Someone Like You, was that this novel also deals with meeting the wrong men and what that does to a women. While I was cheering on one couple, warmed by their apparent love for each other and could bask with them in the glow of finding each other; I was simultaneously hating another man for hurting one of the women and hoping that soon he would get kicked to the curb.

Someone Like You proves to be a wonderful story of how important girlfriends are, how comforting love can be and also how important finding your independence is.