WHAT HAPPENS TO MEN WHEN THEY MOVE TO MANHATTAN by Jill Knapp

3.5 out of 5 stars

Chick Lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team 

When I started to read this novel I realised that I am probably at least twice the age of its target audience, but, hey, some of all this stuff still seems like yesterday, so I'll do my best! 

It's a book about which I kept changing my mind as I was reading.  I thought it needed a bit of tightening up generally.  It's nicely written, witty in places and easily readable; Jill Knapp's got the right sort of voice for a book about young women in Manhattan.  Some of it I liked very much and there were some good observations about relationships to which I reckon a lot of women, young and old, could relate.  There's an excellent confrontation with a two-timing douchebag at 68%, too!  My main problem with it, though, was that it's a bit light on plot.

Basically, graduate student Amalia is having a rough time with men/working out what she wants in life, and her friends aren't faring much better.  That's kind of it.   I found some of the story a bit hard to get my head round; Amalia's long term relationship with Nicholas has levelled off to the extent that she has the emotional headspace to fall in love with Michael, yet she is heartbroken when she and Nicholas part company, a situation for which there is not sufficient explanation for a novel that's solely about romantic relationships, not to mention the fact that Nicholas metamorphoses into a completely different character later on in the book.  I thought her 'is it/isn't it' relationship with Michael was very real indeed, but there wasn't enough actual drama in it to make the situation very compelling to read about.  Not enough happened.  Also, I kept getting mixed up between her friends, particularly Christina and Cassandra; one less of them might have been a good idea.

I liked the bits about her brother and the observations about New Yorkers, and think this book would be enjoyed by plenty of young women who like very current sort of chick lit/light romance.  It's set up for the sequel by there not being much end resolution, but that's okay; it works.  It's worth getting if you are a fan of this genre; if I was 22 I'd probably have given it 4 stars!