Book Review: The Charm Bracelet

LIGHT and fluffy, cute and girly, The Charm Bracelet will delight author Melissa Hills loyal stable of fans.

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LIGHT and fluffy, cute and girly, The Charm Bracelet will delight author Melissa Hills loyal stable of fans.

The rest of us are better off seeking entertainment elsewhere, or saving this novel for passing a few hours on a summer holiday. A single mum who works in a vintage clothes store in New York has received charms from a mystery gift-giver since the death of her father.

Then the woman, Holly, finds another charm bracelet in the pocket of an item of vintage clothing and decides to find the owner.

The rest is pretty much as the reader might imagine. Of course, the idea of finding the owner of the bracelet by working out the significance of each of the charms was very sweet. And the way in which Holly does this makes room for romance and a light exploration of the meaning of life.

Chapters are told alternately from three main characters vantage points, which works to varying degrees. It is a formula chick lit authors seem to have broadly adopted and has become a little predictable and annoying. The perspectives intertwine, of course, and neatly dovetail in a lovely ending.

Unfortunately, I could see how everything was related from very early on and it was clear where the story was heading. Perhaps the quaint lavender cover should have tipped me off. This is definitely one for devoted Hill fans or those who like their reading extra light.

The Charm Bracelet
Melissa Hill
Hachette, $29.99
VERDICT: Low-kilojoule chick lit