Book Review: Stand By Me by Sheila O'Flanagan

Dominique Brady is working as a waitress in a burger restaurant when she falls for Brendan Delahaye and his charming family. Dominique soon becomes Mrs Delahaye, and, in time, glamorous wife to an incredibly successful businessman. Through thick and thin the Dazzling Delahayes stand by each other, but when Dominique's carefully constructed world suddenly falls apart, she is faced with problems, no-one can solve, especially not the family she has come to think of as her own. It's time for Dominique to take control of her own destiny...

Stand By Me is a big read at 600 pages but it's a good one. The reader gets to know Dominique very well as we follow her from a teenager to the present day. I thought she was a little naive at times but overall I found her very likable, believable and particularly brave when her whole world falls apart. I don't want to give away the nightmare that Dominique goes though as I think it would spoil the story. It becomes clear though that Brendan completely underestimated the woman he married. I think this was one of the main reasons that I disliked him as a character. I found him cocky and arrogant and pretty selfish when it came to the feelings of his wife and family.
Sheila O'Flanagan is a brilliant story teller, the book has a fair few story lines and characters but she weaves them together effortlessly.
I thought that Stand By Me was a very engrossing read, it only took me two days to read and was the perfect start to my holiday. When it ended I felt like I wanted there to be more and I would love for there to be a sequel so that I could find out what Dominique did next.

Stand By Me is out now, many thanks to Headline for sending me a copy of the book to review.