I'm not going to waste too much time on this one. It says on the front of the book "if you like Martina Cole you'll love Mandasue Heller". Not a great start since I wouldn't say I like Martina, lol..
Basic plot: Maria is 21 and has been brought up through the care system for the past ten years since her single-mother was killed in an accident on her way home from work. On her 21st birthday, whilst living in a rented bedsit in Devon with not even two pennies to rub together, she receives a letter from a solicitor informing her that she has inherited a substantial amount of money and a humongous house in Manchester. So off she trots to reluctantly (eh?!) claim her inheritance. Apparently she's none to happy to discover that she had a relative who knew all about her while she grew up being shifted from care home to care home - understandable. And therefore she is suspicious of the money and house she has been left and doesn't really want it - totally not understandable.
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Whilst in Manchester she meets Joel in a bar, a fella so good looking he charms her into bed and her credit card out of her bag. Joel is heavily into the drug scene and has some rather unsavoury characters after him but doesn't let any of this slip to Maria obviously. Therefore, even though he's only just met her, he somehow manages to convince Maria to let him stay with her for just a couple of weeks (she's smitten apparently) so he can hide-out (without her knowing of course). And during this time Maria manages to completely alienate her friends, and hand over control of all her money to Joel - a man she's just met. Hmmm. Anyway, she's now completely loved up with Joel, without a clue that he's dealing drugs and shagging anything with a pulse behind her back, or that there are nasties after him.
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Once Joel's hiding place is rumbled he convinces her that he loves her so much that they (by this I mean Maria) should buy a flat for them both. But then, as Joel begins to start snorting more crack than he sells, Maria discovers his secret and turns to the estate-rat friends she knew whilst growing up in Manchester to help her out (characters who actually have some well-needed depth to them I might ad). She also discovers that according to paperwork held by her solicitor, Joel has been moving her money into his own account when her investments have been maturing - how this is possible without her signature, or without her being present at the bank is beyond me. Anyway, we find out eventually that Joel isn't stealing the money, one of her solicitors associates is (same discrepancies over signature apply)... but all we know about him is that he seems to get away with it.
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And that's pretty much it. I really didn't enjoy it at all. How the publisher can put this type of writing in a class with Martina Cole is beyond me. Ok, I might not be a Martina fan, but at least her characters are well rounded and their actions are consistent with their personalities. Maria totally isn't. You'd think that if she grew up in a care home and is pretty much penniless when we meet her she'd snatch up her inheritance... but the way she doesn't seem to want any of it is highly annoying. And then when she finally does accept it, she hands over all control of it to a man she barely knows... when she's got a lovely friendly solicitor to help her look after it! Because, well yeah, you'd do that wouldn't you! Crazy. As for Joel, we know hardly anything about him at all. We don't get given any clues as to why he's a drug dealer, why he treats people the way he does, or anything that gives us much insight into he personality. His character is not consistent with a hardened criminal, or with the kind who wants to be boss of the drugs world. He doesn't even have any rough minions to help him and his place within the drugs world is not very clear. It seems he thinks he's a big fish, but again this isn't consistent with what (little) we know about him. And as for the other characters, they are completely one dimensional.
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And therefore it was very difficult to invest any kind of emotional attachment to the characters or manage to care either way what happens to them. The plot is fine, and probably would have been a pretty good book if the characters had had some substance to them. So, needless to say I didn't enjoy it at all, sorry. Maybe this gangs/drugs kind of genre just isn't my kind of book :)
