Title: Swimming Upstream
Author: Ruth Mancini
Genre: Chick lit
Publication Date: December 12, 2013
Description: “I once read that the end of a relationship is like being involved in a road traffic accident. Which is quite fitting really, given what happened.”
After seven years, Lizzie wonders whether she’s truly happy with her long-term boyfriend. When one wrong step and a chance meeting set off an unexpected chain of events, her life begins to unravel. On the same day that she meets Martin, an attractive lifeguard, her old friend, Catherine, re-appears. But is Martin really all he seems? And what is the secret that Catherine is hiding? As Lizzie struggles to confront the ghosts of her past, can she survive the shocking twist that will change the course of her future?
Swimming Upstream is a life-affirming and often humorous story about a young woman’s pursuit of happiness. It is also a story of female friendship, love, and divided loyalties – and the moral choices that we find ourselves making when the chips are down.
Review:
I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Swimming Upstream has a lot of ups and downs. It also addresses the issues of abuse and mental illness in a realistic way.
The characters are complex. The main character, Lizzie, starts out just letting life happen but as the story progresses, she learns to take matters into her own hands and make the life she wants. There were times I wanted to knock some sense into her but she worked it all out in the end in her own way.
This book made me laugh and made me cry. There were a couple times, such as near the end, where it got a little more descriptive than I like, but that’s just my personal taste. Overall, I enjoyed Swimming Upstream and was sorry when I came to the end.
If you enjoy women’s fiction, I definitely recommend Swimming Upstream. Available on Amazon
About the Author:
Ruth Mancini was born in South-West London and studied in Cambridge and London where she gained a bachelors degree in French and Spanish and a post-graduate diploma in Law. For several years she worked in the publishing industry before leaving to travel and to write the first draft of Swimming Upstream. She then put her writing career on hold for several years whilst she retrained as a lawyer.
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