The Time Of Our Lives By Jane Costello

[amazon_link id=”1471129233″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link] ‘The Time of Our Lives’ is the latest book by Jane Costello.

Three best friends. One five-star hotel. Will it be the holiday of a lifetime …? Imogen and her friends Meredith and Nicola have had their fill of budget holidays, cattle-class flights and 6 a.m. offensives for a space by the pool. So when Meredith wins a VIP holiday at Barcelona’s hippest new hotel, they plan to sip champagne with the jet set, party with the glitterati and switch off in unapologetic luxury. But when the worst crisis of her working life erupts back home, Imogen has to juggle her BlackBerry with a Manhattan, while soothing a hysterical boss and hunting down an AWOL assistant. Between a robbery, a run-in with hotel security staff and an encounter on a nudist beach that they’d all rather forget, the friends stumble from one disaster to the next. At least Imogen has a distraction in the form of the gorgeous guy who’s always in the right place at the very worst time. Until, that is, his motives start to arouse a few suspicions

‘The Time of Our Lives’ is a genuinely funny story that initially frustrated me beyond belief. Imogen, our lead character is looking forward to nothing more than relaxing with her two best friends Meredith and Nicola at a top hotel in Barcelona, but it seems that fate has other things in store, as her holiday is far from relaxing and more like a nightmare.

Written through the narrative of Imogen, we join her with pregnant Meredith and Nicola, as the three ladies settle into the dream holiday that Meredith luckily won. But it seems that no sooner has the holiday started that Imogen is already having to trouble-shoot problems at her job as one of her work colleagues is reported to have gotten a little bit frisky on a first class flight and now the newspapers want to report it. With a cowering boss and a work partner off to Euro Disney, it is left to Imogen to sort out the trouble and prevent the newspapers running with the story. But as well, as trying to fix work problems, Imogen is also having to deal with robberies, broken bones and a spectacularly handsome gentleman called Harry, that will dear reader make you sigh with delight at his charm and sheer beauty.

The reason why I found this book frustrating was I longed for Imogen to have a relaxing holiday, stressed to the max and always putting others before herself, she was the sweetest and caring characters that regularly found herself in the most ridiculously hilarious situations that were deliciously funny. Set against the city of Barcelona, the story gave some interesting facts about the city and its sights and reminded me of on my recent visit to the Spanish city. Although the story was primarily of a light-hearted nature, there was a sub-story to it, that gave a more sympathetic element to it. As the story is written through the first person of Imogen, we regularly see her talking to her ex-boyfriend Roberto, the father of her only child, the sweet and curious Florence. As she talks of him, it’s in style that makes the reader wonder what has happened to him, whether they have broken up or he has moved on and I found that this gave the comical story quite an interesting twist that made the story poignant.

Filled with boisterous and outspoken pregnant women, a handsome journalist and a boss with quite creative and interesting dialogue, ‘The Time of Our Lives’ is a rip-roaringly funny story that will leave your sides aching at the entertaining and unfortunate scenarios that Imogen and her friends finds themselves in. The perfect accompaniment to any holiday.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1471129233″ target=”_blank” ]The Time of Our Lives[/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.