paddlefoot55 's review for:

Hooked on a Feeling by Ainslie Paton
5.0





Thank you Ainslie Paton for giving the the chance to relive my childhood whilst reading Hooked on a Feeling!

 Although maybe not so many thanks for making me feel old!!

Seriously, it was like I was reliving growing up in the suburbs of Sydney.  Be warned non-Aussies that there are quite a few product names and brands mentioned, but they are mainly at the beginning, and I see it as payback for all the American brands and names I always have to read about!!




I loved the story of Gayle, newly separated and trying to make do on her own for the first time ever, along with her son Dean. At first her shame at being dumped by her douche of a husband is palpable. 
But then it is like a switch was flipped.  It is like she finally started to live her life when she moved into the quite suburban street.



The whole neighbourhood seems to come alive when Gayle and Dean move in.  And she does not escape the notice of the single men in the area either.  Ray and Kim, Steve and Hazel didn't know what hit them!




I loved the brothers Ray and Steve, each in their own way.  Steve is a flirtatious, hands on kind of guy, while Ray is more standoffish, brusque, mean kind of guy. Or is he?





So who will get the girl?  Will there be a happy ending?





Nope, not telling.





This is such a different kind of book to the others that Ms Paton has written.  It is beautifully descriptive, heck I could almost hear the waves at the beach, feel the sting of a summer sunburn, hear the cicadas echoing down the street.





It is a sweet, romantic book - even if it did make me cry for a big portion of the last half!  My heart broke for more than one character in this book as their stories came to fruition.  There was so much heartache and trouble for so many of them at different times in the story.




Hey, I know it was the style at the time, but my grandmother always said "don't trust a man with a moustache, he has something to hide".  But boy did these boys rock their pornstachios - I swear all I could picture was 70's porn staches!


Ms Paton has written  a sweet, beautiful book about love and loss in a time that felt so near but so far away - and thankfully not a hippy in sight.  She has not disappointed me in the past, she has not disappointed me with Hooked on a Feeling, and I am sure she will not disappoint me in the future.


 So get groovy baby and read this unreal book!