Review: Playing the Long Game

Playing the Long Game by Sophie Penhaligon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ellie Moreland grows up the daughter of the housekeeper of the Ashton Estate. Growing up she and the twin sons of the chauffeur played together but never really mingled with the two Cavendish boys Leo and Felix whose parents owned the Estate. Leo, the oldest was dark-haired, serious and with a perma-frown. Felix was closer to Ellie's age, blonde-haired he was like a Greek god to her. Mr Cavendish was bad-tempered and Ellie grew up with a massive hatred of him and Leo for their supercilious behaviour. Like a typical teenager, Ellie wove fantastical dreams about marrying Felix and somehow turfing Leo and his father out of Ashton Estate to live in penury while she and Felix have a slew of golden haired babies and rear golden retrievers.

Alas, Ellie's dreams come crashing down around her head when she is eighteen and she leaves Ashton Estate, vowing never to return, until the night she gets a call to say her mother is seriously ill. Returning to Ashton Estate seven years later, Ellie realises she needs to let go of her childish anger and see things as they really are.

I found the blurb for this book to be a bit misleading, it suggests that Ellie has some kind of devious plan to bring the Cavendish family crashing to their knees rather than being a big drama queen in her own journal, which is the reality. So I was expecting a more of a dark sinister, he done her wrong plot rather than the variation on the film Sabrina which is what I got. That wouldn't have been so bad, because I was actually hoping it was a romance rather than a thriller, but unfortunately the execution felt like romance by numbers, hard to believe for a book written in the first person but it seemed like all telling and no showing. There was only one instance of Mr Cavendish being mean from which we are supposed to understand that he was a horrible individual. Honestly, the entire book felt like it was narrated by an immature teenager and I struggled to understand why people liked Ellie so much, she spent seven years away from Ashton Estate and yet all the staff and their families welcome her back with open arms, even Mrs Cavendish gushes over her.

Overall, it was a quick read but I didn't really engage with the characters, everyone except Ellie was a bit of a one-dimensional caricature and she was just immature.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.



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