Back in February I stumbled across a lovely quirky read by Theresa Weir –The Girl With The Cat Tattoo – about Max the matchmaking cat, and loved it. I also discovered that the author – who also writes as Anne Frasier – has quite a following and many awards across a whole range of genres. So when I found her latest – Come As You Are – available on Netgalley I couldn’t resist, and wanted to try some more. And I certainly wasn’t disappointed – equally offbeat and quirky (but without the cat), I loved this one too.
We first meet Molly at her adopted father’s funeral – consumed by both sadness and euphoria, she flees the funeral, finds a bar, and ends up in the hotel room of a man who likes the look of her when he sees her throwing up in a back alley. He’s not just any man – having fled from him too, she is thoroughly shocked to find him at her solicitor’s office when she goes to find out about her inheritance. It turns out that he – Ian – is her father’s biological son who is left everything while she walks away with $500 to prevent her contesting the will.
What follows is the story of a damaged girl and a wonderfully caring man who tries to repair her. This isn’t any gentle little story – there’s drunkenness, drugs, sex, an attempted rape, thoughts of suicide. But there are also lovely touches of humour, her quirky friend Rose and her job at Mean Waitress, the saga of her car and living arrangements, the moments of joy in their relationship. As you’ll have guessed from the title, there’s also a Nirvana theme running through – and the ending is quite perfect. I really, really enjoyed it.