Official Review: Mayhem in Melbourne by Juliette Davis

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Mayhem in Melbourne" by Juliette Davis.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Mayhem in Melbourne by Juliette Davis tells the story of a week in the life of a property manager. Although this book is written and presented as a fictional story, the main character, who is also named Juliette, is based off of the author and her experiences in life after she switched her career from school teacher to property manager. In this book, she works for a management company called Caruthers, which represents a combination of different agencies she has worked for over the years. The events in the story are most likely based on real experiences.

The story begins on Monday morning, named “Mayhem Monday” due to the chaos that everyone in the office seems to encounter from the moment they walk in the door at the start of the week. Juliette’s inbox is full of emails from tenants and landlords. Juliette can’t seem to escape from one particular landlord, who doesn’t seem to understand that Caruthers manages more property than his; getting his empty property rented as soon as possible would be ideal so that she won’t have to deal with him anymore. Her coworker has taken a sick day, and Juliette must cover for her. Additionally, her supervisor isn’t acting herself lately, and Juliette is determined to make herself look good by taking on more responsibility in hopes of a possible promotion. With everything going on at work, Juliette hardly has time to deal with her own problems at home – namely the troublesome toilet that won’t flush. There is never a dull moment in real estate.

Despite Juliette’s busy life and busy work schedule, I found the pacing of the book to be a bit slow and casual, especially in the beginning. As readers, we all know that feeling of, “This book is so exciting! I never want to put it down!” I never got that feeling with this book. In fact, it took me almost an entire month to read this book because I kept reading just a few pages at a time and then putting it down for a few days.

However, I wouldn’t say that the book is uninteresting. When I was reading it, it was quite entertaining. In the latter half of the book, I found myself chuckling aloud at some of the events that Juliette described. So while I found the book to be interesting, it wasn’t exactly gripping or exciting. Given that the title contains the word “mayhem,” I think I was expecting a little more mayhem and not just someone with a full schedule.

My prior comments make it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book; that is not the case at all. It didn’t quite meet my expectations, but it was still good. Overall, I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Aside from a scattering of minor typographical errors, usually in the form of a missing punctuation mark, this book appears to be well edited. It is written clearly and elegantly, and even Americans like me can easily understand the Australian terms that are periodically used throughout the book. There is occasional profanity and a tiny hint of sexual content. Due to the book’s subject matter, I think that only adults interested in the real estate world would find this book intriguing. Those who are looking for a casual read would enjoy this book more.

******
Mayhem in Melbourne
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Elvis Best]

The plot of this book sounds quite interesting. Too bad it was not gripping or exciting for you. I appreciate your honest review. Good job!

[Pluma]

This sounds like a good read, with some entertaining moments. It’s a shame the pace was a little slow, but it’s good that the book was still interesting and enjoyable. Thanks for the great review!

[Valkyrie9]

With the word "Mayhem" in the title I was expecting a more gripping read, and as you say, not just someone with a busy work schedule. A pity that the story did not keep leaving you wanting more. Thanks for the thorough and honest review.

[Kola+wole]

No true mayhem in a book with mayhem as part of its title, just a full schedule. Well written review, I'll pass.