![](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pWtNIfhp9CY\/VS4NoRBZoHI\/AAAAAAAAB_4\/W46n2nQM3xA\/s1600\/vincenzi.jpeg\")
<\/a>the best of times<\/i> is definitely not one the best books I have read. The blurb on the cover of the book reads: <\/span>Treat yourself to a Vincenzi<\/i>; however, unless the person who wrote this is a sadist, I cannot understand what there is about the book that can be equated with the word <\/span>treat<\/i>.<\/span>That said, <\/span>the beginning promises an interesting, easy-to-read, uncomplicated novel, and I like the way Vincenzi describes her characters, and their individual problems, before bringing them all together in the dreadful accident on the motorway. I also like her use of small sections, hopping from one person or one strand to the next; however, in my opinion, at 900 pages, the book is at least 600 pages too long, and it had most probably benefited by tying together these different strands well before page 300.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-jX0YUWMOMc4\/VS4Noei-kQI\/AAAAAAAAB_8\/MKZ1_-lQ9EQ\/s1600\/vincenzi-2.jpg\")
<\/a> Unfortunately, the best of times <\/i>very quickly deteriorate<\/span>s<\/span>into a Mills and Boon type romance with much emphasis on handsome (sexy) men and beautiful (sexy) women, all of whom <\/span>a<\/span>re motivated only by the prospect of marriage and the acquisition of an attractive <\/span>(usually well-off) <\/span>partner.<\/span>Although a sense of reality is definitely present at the beginning of the book, it has more or less disappeared by the halfway mark as the book descends into the realms of <\/span>PG-rated <\/span>animated<\/span>fantasy<\/span> with puerile sexual overtones<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n
<\/a> Unfortunately, the best of times <\/i>very quickly deteriorate<\/span>s<\/span>into a Mills and Boon type romance with much emphasis on handsome (sexy) men and beautiful (sexy) women, all of whom <\/span>a<\/span>re motivated only by the prospect of marriage and the acquisition of an attractive <\/span>(usually well-off) <\/span>partner.<\/span>Although a sense of reality is definitely present at the beginning of the book, it has more or less disappeared by the halfway mark as the book descends into the realms of <\/span>PG-rated <\/span>animated<\/span>fantasy<\/span> with puerile sexual overtones<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I did <\/span><\/span><\/span>discover that<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span><\/span>Penny Vincenzi is one of the UK’s best-loved and most popular authors<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/span> (Amazon), and that <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span><\/span>she is universally held to be the ‘doyenne of the modern blockbuster’ (Glamour)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, so I am<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>possibly<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>on my own in not liking her writing.<\/span><\/span><\/span>That she has such a <\/span><\/span><\/span>wide <\/span><\/span><\/span>following is, no doubt, an indication that there is a need for this kind of<\/span><\/span><\/span>fairly superficial novel, and she is to be congratulated for recognizing the need and acting upon it. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo of Penny Vincenzi above from www.goodreads.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
the best of times is definitely not one the best books I have read. The blurb on the cover of the book reads: Treat yourself to a Vincenzi; however, unless the person who wrote this is a sadist, I cannot understand what there is about the book that can be equated with the word treat.That … <\/p>\n