The Woman who Stole my Life by Marian Keyes

'Name: Stella Sweeney.
Height: average.
Recent life events: dramatic.'

One day, sitting in traffic, married Dublin mum Stella Sweeney attempts a good deed. The resulting car crash changes her life. For she meets a man who wants her telephone number (for the insurance, it turns out). That's okay. She doesn't really like him much anyway (his Range Rover totally banjaxed her car).

But in this meeting is born the seed of something which will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, and, along the way, wrenching her whole family apart. Is this all because of one ill-advised act of goodwill? Was meeting Mr Range Rover destiny or karma? Should she be grateful or hopping mad?
For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach.
But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?

It has been a long time since I have read a book by Marian Keyes and in fact The Woman who Stole my Life is the first one I have ever reviewed. After seeing Marian Keyes on Lorraine talking about her new book I couldn't wait to read a new book by her and this one sounded intriguing.

The storyline follows three stages on Stella Sweeney's life present time, her time in hospital and her time in New York. For me my favourite was her time in hospital because I found this part so compelling, it had been very well researched and beautifully and cleverly written. Stella has Guillain-Barre disease which I knew nothing about but the author brings the reader knowledge about the condition and when she writes from Stella's point of view when she is stuck immobile in bed unable to communicate it really fascinated me how she had managed to get into the mind of someone who was caged in their own body. 

I did enjoy both the present and New York parts too but for me it was her time in hospital and her interaction with Mannix that really gripped me in this book. The book is a whopper at 531 pages and I do think in truth it was a little too drawn out especially the New York part.

There are some wonderful characters in this book some I loved like Stella and Mannix and some I loathed! In particular Stella's son Jeffery oh this boy needs some discipline he is so rude I couldn't bare him each time he appeared in this book.

I loved that the whole way through the book I had no idea what was coming next it is not a predictable read which is always a big bonus for me. I found the storyline really engaging and at times I found it slightly emotional, intriguing and also at times comical. Once you get over the hefty size of the book and the structure of the book with its to and thro style you will thoroughly enjoy this read. It was great to read another book by this author and I feel like her writing style has taken a new path and I loved it.

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