Pinch Me: A Review

Adena Halpern -  Pinch Me

When Was It Released?: 19th July 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: Shida Carr at Touchstone kindly sent this to me
Who Published It?:  Touchstone

After having my fair share of awful dates and men who have treated me badly, I was excited to read a novel based on the premise that the main character has to date these types of men because she is cursed. I am sure we have all at one time or another thought that we were cursed with our dating lives, therefore I was intrigued to find out how Adena Halpern would take this and turn it into a magical novel, in Pinch Me.

“Never marry a man unless he is short, bald, fat, stupid and treats you badly”. Who well follow that sort of advice? Well this is what Lily has heard all her life from her mother and grandmother. Up until now Lily has followed this advice, that is until she meets Gogo. Gogo is Lily’s perfect man and when he proposes Lily just cannot say no. Everyone should be happy for Lily, right? Well not her mother and grandmother, who are devastated by Lily’s decision. After trying to talk her out of the marriage to no avail, they decide that they must tell Lily the truth that the women in their family are cursed. If she marries for love, there were be unimaginable consequences. Lily thinks that there must be some way to avoid the curse and she goes ahead and marries Gogo regardless. Lily is cannot believe her luck and asks Gogo to pinch her. This is where everything starts to go wrong as she is automatically transported back to her old home and Gogo is gone. Once Lily finds Gogo she discovers that he is married to someone else and cannot remember who she is. Lily realises she must find a way to break the curse and get Gogo back for good.

With this being my first taste of Adena Halpern’s writing I really enjoyed it. I loved the character of Lily, whom I found to be extremely likeable. I was routing for her to break the curse and find a way to be with Gogo again throughout the entire novel. I enjoyed the way the story is told from her point of view, giving us more insight into exactly how Lily is feeling. I particularly liked the characters of Selma and Dolly, Lilly’s mother and grandmother finding them to have moments of humour, especially the moment where Dolly builds a bonfire to roast chicken, and unconditional love. I usually don’t enjoy novels which feature magical elements and I was a little unsure that the curse would be pulled off. Adena Halpern proved me wrong. I found the entire storyline to be not only enjoyable but at times almost believable. If you read this with a pinch of suspension of disbelief the storyline becomes much more interesting and you will find yourself getting lost within the pages. The novel is also not as predictable as readers may think. Adena throws in lots of surprises that you will not seeing coming.

Some readers may find the storyline to be unbelievable and therefore not enjoyable. I have to say that I do not usually enjoy novels which focus on a magical element. If you prefer your novels to be believable then this may not be the novel for you as you do not to suspend your disbelief for this one. I also felt that the happy ending was perhaps a little predictable, however with this being a magical novel a happy ending is expected.

Overall I enjoyed my first experience of Adena Halpern’s writing. Adena’s novels are very similar to Cecelia Ahern, with the magical elements they bring to their storylines. I will defiantly be finding Adena’s previous novels to find out if I enjoy them just as much as I did Pinch Me. Two of her novels are going to be made into movies “29” and “The Ten Best Days Of My Life” so I will make sure I keep an eye out for these. Pinch Me is a beautiful fairytale which will take you on an enchanting journey from the first page to the last.