Twelve Days in May by Niamh Hargan #Review

 

Today I have a great new debut romcom by Niamh Hargan: Twelve Days in May. Travel to Cannes for all the escapist sunshine you crave this Summer!

They haven’t spoken for 12 years.

Can they fall in love in 12 days?

Lizzy Munro is working at the Cannes Film Festival, in a job that involves a lot more admin than red-carpet glamour.

There, Ciaran Flynn is the man everyone is talking about: heartthrob of the moment and director of the most romantic movie of the year.

What nobody knows is that twelve years ago, they were best friends . . . and they haven’t spoken since.

But when Ciaran’s film runs into trouble, there’s only one person he can turn to.

Is twelve days enough to save not only Ciaran’s film, but also the spark he and Lizzy once shared?

My Thoughts

This is a super debut romcom and just what I needed0 a dose of escapist reading. The element I enjoyed the most was the overall tone of the writing. There is a certain wistfulness woven through the story, punctuated with the one line humour which Lizzy and Ciaran share.  Lizzy is  not your run of the mill central figure. Her view of herself is complicated. She never really seems to know where she belongs. I liked how she had a clear view of people's expectations and how lives might not fit into them. Moving from the northern part of California to Edinburgh, at the age of fifteen, she has struggled to fit in with the different cultures. In doing so, she has not always fulfilled her own ambitions. Her view of herself is self-deprecating and resigned to what she regards as her lack of attractiveness. I'm not sure that others see her in the same light.

    Ciaran does not fit into the film director persona everyone expects, although he can easily fake it. He shares Lizzy's clear- sighted view on the business they are in. The story alternates between the present day and when they first met twelve years ago in Bordeaux. You soon realise that they are not communicating clearly or being  honest with each other about their feelings. Full of romance and sparkling under the Cannes sunshine, this is a delightful read. 

In short: second chances and lots of romance 

About the Author

Niamh Hargan was born and raised in Derry, Northern Ireland. An entertainment lawyer by  profession, she first attended the Cannes Film Festival several years ago and found the  experience to be both exactly like, and nothing at all like, what she had expected. When it became impossible to travel to Cannes in May 2020, she began to write about it instead.

You can follow Niamh here: Twitter

Book link: Amazon UK 

Thanks to Niamh Hargan, Harper Collins and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour. 

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