Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

***** 5 stars
I read this book many years ago. I was recently chatting with a friend, telling her that Marian Keyes book "Rachel's Holiday" was the book that began me stretching my horizons in reading. I also realized that I had never taken a moment to blog about this book and my experience.
I had pretty much read romance until one day when I was looking for something different to read when I was at the library. I hadn't spent much time surfing to find book, but learning about them through friends or colleagues. I went and saw "Rachel's Holiday" and read the book jacket summary and decided to take it home. Mind you I am from Richmond, VA USA, so looking outside the country for authors didn't occur to me, as I found later, the books by these authors are hard to find. Anyway, I go home and read Rachel's Holiday and absolutely love it. It was a like a guilty pleasure and I couldn't keep from going on and on about it. I soon went back to the library to find every book I could by this author and found there weren't anymore. I then go to the local book store and once again find that she isn't carried there as well. This is where I began my long term reading relationship with Amazon. I soon found that there were awesome writers and books, that have been untapped, and began buying English and Irish authors through Amazon UK. My greatest complaint was the waiting that came between ordering my new favorite author and having to wait for the mailman to deliver.
I now have a Kindle and am so happy to have my authors at a push of the button. Although, I miss the feeling of holding a good book in my hands, and the "Fake" Starbucks address I have used to be able to download from the UK website as I am an American, but all these obstacles have been more than worth it.
So as I was chatting with my friend. She wondered why I had never put the authors books that started it all on my blog. I realized it had been a while since I had gone back and reread the previous Walsh stories. So now I am doing some rereading in between books, so I can make sure that those of you whom visit, can be sure not to miss out on one of the many talented pioneers that got this genre so mainstream, as well as their wonderful reads.


Book Jacket Summary:
Samantha Brooks' boyfriend has made a mistake. One his friends, family, and Sam herself know he'll live to regret. Jamie has announced he's leaving, out of the blue. Jamie is loving, intelligent and, while he isn't perfect, he's perfect for her - in every way except one: he's a free spirit. And after six years in one place, doing a job he despises, he is compelled to do something that will tear apart his relationship with Sam: book a one-way flight to South America.
But Sam isn't giving up without a fight. With Jamie still totally in love with her, and torn about whether to stay or go, she has three months to persuade him to do the right thing. So with the help of her friends Ellie and Jen, she hatches a plan to make him realise what he's giving up. A plan that involves dirty tricks, plotting, and a single aim: to win him back.
But by the time the tortured Jamie finally wakes up to what he's lost, a gorgeous new pretender has entered Sam's life. Which begs the question . . . does she still want him back?