~Looking Good~

~The Blurb ~

"I never forget that happiness is a choice and that sometimes you have to make that choice every day."

But it's easy to be happy when you have no problems. Grainne and Patrick are madly in love, with successful careers, plenty of money, holidays and romance. The only thing missing from their lives is a baby, and for Grainne this is fast becoming an obsession.

But on a cold November night on cold hard tiles, Grainne's old life is suddenly and irrevocably ended and a new uncertain one begins.

Now she has to question all she believes and trusts. Now she has to begin again, to find resources she doesn't know she has. Is her new life worth the cost of everything they shared? Is it worth losing Patrick for? Maybe it is.

Of one thing she is certain: the decisions she will have to face will take all the courage she can grasp.

 ~The Reviews ~

Michael Scott, RTE’s Book Presenter "Open House" September 03:
An original voice, a modern tale, and above all, an unputdownable read.

Woman’s Way October 03:
Although this ticks all the girlie book boxes Loking Good is certainly not what you expect of chick-lit these days. This is an amazing book from a first-time writer. It is a gripping story that deals with a difficult topic in a sensitive and moving way. A real page turner that will have you hooked from start to finish. It wil have you in tears. READ IT IF ... You're looking for a read you can’t put down.

Evening Herald Sept 03:
Tracy Culleton’s first book is a gem; well written and tackling [a thorny topic] with a sensitivity well beyond her writing experience. This woman knows how to write. I expected chick-lit but I was wrong! ... It's well worth buying the book for yourself.

Sunday World Sept 03:
Unlike a lot of the so called chick-lit novels, this debut from Tracy Culleton is a gritty read that doesn’t shy away from real life issues [...]. Graphic and well constructed, it deals with one woman’s nightmare and how she dealt with the moment that changed her world forever. On the strength of Looking Good, it’s obvious why Tracy was the winner of Poolbeg’s Open House ’Write a Bestseller’ competition.

Books Ireland November 03: Sue Leonard:
Sue writes how she wasn’t originally going to read Looking Good, and how she wasn’t terribly inspired by the first few pages, "believing I'd guessed the entire plot immediately. I only kept reading because I was impressed with the quality of Culleton’s writing."

But she goes on to say: "This is an extraordinarily impressive first novel. ... I couldn’t put this book down. I wandered through airports oblivious to my surroundings, and the flight to Athens was gone in a flash. This is the best book I've read from the Poolbeg stable since the launch of Marian Keyes in 1995."

And Sue wrote in the Irish Examiner: "When I started reading [Looking Good] I was immediately impressed by the high quality of Culleton’s writing. But I thought I was in for the usual predictable plot, and believed I had guessed it all immediately. How wrong I was. Culleton’s roller coaster plot constantly suprises, yet it never feels forced. It’s not easy to have a character facing such a dilemma ... and Culleton handles it all with consummate skill. She writes in the first person but the other characters are equally well drawn and believable. She doesn’t clutter the book with unnecessary characters either. All have lives and stories of their own to add authenticity to the whole. That the book is simply unputdownable as well as beautifully written is a bonus. I read it on a plane and it kept me gripped through a night I’d intended to sleep through."

Ireland on Sunday, Sept 03:
Dark tale makes for deft debut Having won [the competition] novice author Tracy Culleton brings a bit of depth to the homegrown chicklit genre with her debut novel, Looking Good.