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The Island Hideaway

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The Island Hideaway

By: Louise Candlish
Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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How far would you follow him before you accept it's over?

Eleanor Blake, distraught after breaking up with her fiance Will, decides to do what most would scarcely dare: secretly follow him to the island hideaway where he's on holiday with the woman who took her place. But on the shimmering, sun-drenched Sicilian island of Panarea, distractions come in many forms - including her fellow hotel guest Lewis, an enigmatic Englishman with secrets of his own to protect. And then there's Frannie, a young Italian actress on the island to prepare for her first film role, who is as charming as she is beautiful. Can she really be so perfect? And shouldn't Eleanor be the first to suspect that things might not be as they seem?

The Island Hideaway is a surprising, insightful and compelling novel from the bestselling author of Since I Don't Have You.

'Beautifully written...the story rings powerfully true' - Jenny Colgan

'Superbly crafted comedy...ripe for Hollywood' - Elle

Previously published as Prickly Heat.©2013 Louise Candlish (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Romance Women's Fiction
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This reads like a meandering romance, progressing slowly with little action and a rather flat storyline. The entire near 9 hours could be summarised in two sentences. Additionally, I found it challenging to relate to any of the characters; I simply wasn't invested. It was great to fall asleep to, and even skipping parts of the text, the story still made sense. It's not bad, but if you're expecting something akin to the 'Our House' novel, this falls quite short.

Not what you expect from Candlish - gripping this ain’t…

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Would you try another book written by Louise Candlish or narrated by Antonia Beamish?

The story was weak and boring; that said, I can usually listen with pleasure to most things and would have overlooked the rather "beige" story if it were't for the quite astonishingly awful narration. The intonation of almost every sentence was wrong and made the listen irritating beyond belief. I will never buy a book narrated by Antonia Beamish again. It was the worst book I have listened to.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have given the lead character a bit more of a positive twist and not sound constantly drippy. It only got better at the very end.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Antonia Beamish?

Sandra Duncan.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and intense irritation. Purely from the extremely poor narration.

Very disappointing

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not a thriller, boring and nothing seems to. happen, very underwhelming and predictable, a disappointment

predictable

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A nicely described human frailty story. However, I really had problems with the main character at first - thankfully all became clear (sort of).
I enjoyed the descriptions, as the setting is familiar to me, having visited islands similar to these.

human frailty

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Really disappointing. I chose this book as it was by Louise Candlish and I had enjoyed her other books. This was, however, disappointing. Dull. Poor plot: engaged couple split up. He plans holiday with new girlfriend. She follows them. Could have been a gripping, exciting story but it was not…

Not up to standard

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