C
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Theme: Enemies to Lovers, Small Town
How I felt starting this book is very different to how I felt ending this book and also different to how I felt about 75% in. To explain this, I’m going to need to include spoilers (don’t worry, I’ll hide them behind spoiler tags).
On the tiny island of Ormer, there is a farm shop. Charlie Jones is offered a job as the new farm manager. On the allotted day, two Charlie Joneses show up to the confusion of absolutely everyone. A fellow Smart Bitch reviewer noped out at this point because she felt it was a flimsy premise and I totally get that. I might have noped out too except for two things: 1) the genuine befuddlement of the characters felt believable and 2) I was already obsessed with Charlie (see below).
To avoid confusion, folks in the novel call the heroine “Charlie” and the hero “Jones.” This is a novel built up of diary entries, emails to self and flashbacks. Both the diary entries (Charlie’s contribution) and the emails-to-self (Jones’ contribution) were wonderfully different in style: Charlie’s diary entries gave me the same feeling that Bridget Jones’ diary entries did when I read it decades ago. They were so raw and real and funny and insightful. It was easy, as a reader, to fall in love with Charlie. Jones was a slower burn for me. His messages were raw and real too, but I didn’t quite fall in love as quickly with him. I think it is because Jones had relatively more walls up. I got there in time though!
The two decide to share the job and the accommodation that comes with it. The accommodation is cosy, i.e. awkwardly small for two strangers to be sharing. Initially they don’t trust each other at all, but slowly they come to an accord. Charlie is trying desperately to make this a fresh start and Jones has no time for the artifice that Charlie is putting on in the process. He wants the real Charlie, the authentic one – the one that the reader gets from page one. Slowly, slowly they find ways to live and work together. It’s really lovely to read.
And if the story had continued in this vein, I think I’d be writing an altogether different review. Instead something happens. I’m going to hide everything about this behind a spoiler because there is no hint of it AT ALL until it happens.
I’m offering two levels of spoiler, here, mild and thorough. To give you an idea of what’s coming without revealing specifics:
There is a MASSIVE twist.
Ok, seriously, there are massive spoilers here. If you’re curious about the book, I recommend stopping the review here and just diving in.
It turns out that both Charlie and Jones are impersonating a third person: the real Charlie Jones.
Charlie Jones (the real one) was married to a man named Berty for a long time and he left her because of her alcoholism. Charlie Jones enters a relationship with Oliver (whom we know as “Jones”) and after some bad stuff happens, Charlie Jones suggests that Oliver go in her place to Ormer and take up the job.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Charlie Jones’ friend Brianna tells her sister Aspen to impersonate Charlie Jones and take up the job. Aspen becomes the ‘Charlie’ we meet at the start of the novel. Aspen had been in a relationship with Berty prior to wanting to start a new life.
Like everyone else in the book, I felt lied to. For so long I had been building up a genuine liking for these characters only for things to be turned on their head. This is all because of the way the flashbacks were included throughout the story. There were a woman’s flashbacks and a man’s flashbacks. I assumed that these flashbacks belonged to Charlie/Aspen and Jones/Oliver and told the story of how they came to need to start a new life on Ormer. The events portrayed in the flashbacks didn’t relate closely to the little I knew about Charlie/Aspen and Jones/Oliver, but I figured we would reach a point when it would make sense to me. When the flashbacks referred to more recent times, I started to wonder how the two sets of stories (the diary entries and emails and the flashbacks) would connect. It was at that point that it was revealed that there was a third Charlie.
It took me a chapter or two to figure out what was going on and who everyone really was and how their paths intertwined. After I knew who was who, I still didn’t get back on board fully. The only way I can think to explain this is because I no longer trusted the book. It had led me one way (by implying that the flashbacks belonged to the same people that wrote the emails and diary entries) only to show that I’d been wrong all along trying to build a story from the pieces that were given to me. The characterisation I had built up through those flashbacks was yanked away from me. I felt a bit sad about it all, really, as I had grown fond of the pictures I’d built up of Charlie/Aspen and Jones/Oliver prior to the appearance of the real Charlie.
Usually a reveal that happens in the last quarter of a book will bring together disparate sections of the narrative that didn’t fit; in this case, the attempt was made, but I felt confused because they didn’t neatly fit together initially. It took a few chapters for me to put the pieces together. And more importantly for this review, I felt tricked, and very let down by the details that emerged. My feelings about Charlie/Aspen and Jones/Oliver were soured by their multiple deceptions. They weren’t just unreliable narrators, they were liars and I had been rooting for them all along. So not only was I confused by what was happening at the end, but I was upset and disappointed to realize that the characters I’d been enjoying were lying to everyone. I struggled to believe in a happily ever after for people who had been misleading one another and been so morally messy for 3/4ths of the story.
I fully acknowledge that this is not a normal response to a twist in a story. Usually they build excitement, not disappointment. So you might well experience this book very differently to me.
In a non-spoilery summary, it was one book that became an entirely different book and I didn’t make that jump with grace.
There is some really mature stuff about making peace with exes and past hurts from relationships which didn’t sit well with me. But I know for a fact that this is a ‘me’ problem as I cannot abide friendships with exes. I know for more fully self-actualised people, this particular aspect would probably be something that they really enjoy and appreciate.
In the end, The Name Game left me feeling a bit deflated, a bit defeated and a bit down. The HEA that comes didn’t quite bring back the warmth and affection I felt for Jones and Charlie. But I am so so curious if this would be the case for other readers. Do I still recommend The Name Game? Yes. It is really well-written, it’s engaging, and it’s easy to get lost in, but the way the story changes about 3/4 through? I don’t know. If you do read it, please report back in the comments.
This would make an EXCELLENT book club selection – so much to discuss and so many possible opinions to have!
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well.
Thanks!
