Book Review: ‘You Had Me At Hello’ by Mhairi McFarlane

“Do nothing, and nothing happens. Life is about decisions. You either make them or they’re made for you, but you can’t avoid them”

I’m the kind of person who is very easy to please. Although this isn’t how I should start to review something- but it’s true. I like to the see the good in everything, because of the hardship it goes through. I mostly read romance novels – the contemporary kind. So, when I came across this book at the bookstore, it appealed to me. This book is full of wise words, jokes and heart-breaking harsh truths.

“What happens when the ONE that got away comes back.”

This tagline was enough convincing for me to buy the book. And I did. Usually, when I really like a book, I go crazy just reading it. But, this book, was another level. I was infatuated with the book- the characters felt extraordinarily real. I didn’t want to do anything but read it- till I devoured it. And yet, I didn’t want it to finish. Lucky for me, it was satisfactorily long- and not in the way that it ever got boring.

The book is about Rachel and Ben, both in their super early 30s, had been friends in the university, but due to situations and complication nuances, Ben had left and they haven’t been in touch for like a whole decade.

The story revolves back in present and flashbacks to tell us what happened. In the present, Rachel, a journalist, had just called off her engagement with her boyfriend of 13 years- because it took her that long to realize she didn’t love him anymore. Ben’s married to Olivia and has just moved back to Manchester where Rachel is.

In the present, when Rachel coincidentally bumps into Ben again, their friendship blossoms again- just like the good old days. It’s important to know and understand that this story isn’t about cheating on one’s partner or spouse.

The book is very real- it’s contemporary at its best. Rachel doesn’t have any adorable flaws, and Ben isn’t the perfect, right-minded man. I could say he is slightly chivalrous, but the man has his faults. The other characters in the book are also as real as they can be. One of Rachel’s best friend, Mindy is probably my favourite. She reminded me a lot of Mindy Lahiri from The Mindy Project and it’s not because the character is Indian or named Mindy- but the humour and situations she finds herself in were quite hilarious.

The book has the right mix of humour, wit and anxiety knots. The book doesn’t have consistent flashbacks- and it’s not till much later in the story that you find out why Ben disappeared in University. But, they are timed perfectly. She doesn’t keep you anxious till the end but doesn’t reveal it too early either.

Mhairi has clearly mastered the art of balancing a realistic modern romance- which I can’t say for many contemporary authors. While, I do enjoy fantasizing, sometimes you need the harsh truth, the reality- but in a very well written way.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves reading contemporary romance novels like I do.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book are:

“You were let down by someone you trusted. Happens to us all.”

“He’s unfinished business. It’s bound to have stirred you up, him coming back when he did. Don’t be too sure it’s love.”

“Anything you can’t have any more starts to look more appealing.”

 

Book Review: ‘We Were on a Break’ by Lindsey Kelk

I’ve always been an ardent reader of Lindsey Kelk’s. From the first of the ‘I Heart’ series, I’ve stuck along. ‘About a Girl’ even made it to my favourite reads that formed a sort of a refuge from a crazy life.

I had been waiting to get my hands on this book by Lindsey Kelk, so the second I saw it at the bookstore here, I picked it up.

Once I started reading the book, there was no putting it down. I literally went everywhere with the book- to work, in the car, at the salon, for the car wash- you name it, I took it. I didn’t want to put it down or even risk losing it momentarily – not till I finished it.

The book is about Liv and Adam, an English couple living in a little English town. The book alternates in both their perspectives and gives us a look into both their minds. This made the story more interesting to know what was going on in both their minds.

The story begins in Mexico- where Adam is about to propose to Liv, Liv knows he’s about to propose, but he gets scared and doesn’t. To make it worse, they bicker in the flight back to London, and when dropping her home- he says he wants a break. For what joy, even Adam doesn’t know.

So the story goes on, and when he comes to apologise, she decides she wants a break. More miscommunication and no communication later, Liv assumes that Adam kissed his hot client and more silly ensues. They are likeable and normal characters, who don’t drink themselves to death, it was easy to relate to them. Even the whole list of secondary characters- Abi, David, Cass, Tom, Chris were brilliant. Chris was a ridiculously self-important older brother to Adam, Adam was a self-employed carpenter and Liv, a vet. Even Liv’s cat, Daniel Craig has some serious character sass.

Within a few pages, I was having a laughing riot- their perspectives were so easily relatable and hilarious. Kelk sure has the writing thing wrapped around well. She writes with such flow and hilarity- that it is easy to fall in love with the characters, the story, get a few wise words and continue holding the belly with laughter whirls.

There are pop culture references throughout the book, kinda reminded me of Lorelei Gilmore’s banter from Gilmore Girls. I even visioned David to be pretty much like Michel from Gilmore Girls.

While the whole book was riveting, my favourite, and perhaps the wisest part of was when Liv’s mum comes to knock some sense into her and says,

“All these couples breaking up at the first sign of trouble because they think there’s something easier around the corner- but easier does not endure. Easier is not worth time of the day.”

Even without the explanation of the context, it’s spoken in, the line does its job. The whole book sums up the importance of communication, and that if you tell your brother something, he will tell his wife, and if she’s best friends with your girlfriend- your girlfriend will know that you are about to propose.

All in all, I’d recommend it.

 

 

 

 

Book Reviews: With You or Without you by Carole Matthews

With a little more depth than your regular chicklits, With or Without You by Carole Matthews has a different flavour. I have no shame or embarrassment in saying I read Chick-lit- and a lot of it.

What’s the key plot?

Well, it’s a 30 something woman in a stable relationship trying really, really hard to have a baby. The suddenly, the boyfriend decides that he’s going to leave our baby-obsessed heroine for a younger, hotter thing at work. Our heroine, Lyssa, works as an editor for baby magazine in London and the boyfriend (ex) is in advertising.

In a misdirected attempt to make herself irresistible to an ex-lover, with a broken heart and determination to prove something (mostly to herself), she packs a rucksack and goes to the Himalayas for the easiest trek she could find. That’s where we get the front row seat to her journey of self-discovery and emotional awakening. It helps that their is a very handsome American guide- who she really falls in love with and vice versa.

When Lyssa finally returns home, she must face all the turmoil that she left behind, but with renewed energy and purpose.

What I Liked?

Most stories seem to follow the heroine and her perspective on things. I’m glad Matthews didn’t do that. She included perspective from Jake (the ex boyfriend) and Edie (Heroine’s very fertile little sister with 6 kids and 7th accidentally on the way) sides. They gave the story a 360 character story.

I found her experience over the course of the book to be quite refreshing, while being brutally honest at other times. The characters were flawed- every single one of them. And though such books would you want to hate the ex, Jake, you won’t because you know his side of the story. Albeit, it’s a little douche-y but it still made me feel bad for the guy.

Edie’s narration as very interesting and humorous, and probably made for my favourite parts.

 

What I wished they did more of-

So there was Pip, Jake’s best friend, who was very frequent. I was somewhere, rooting for him. He had been in love with Lyssa, for a while, and was probably the only sound character in the book with a little wisdom. I would have loved for Lyssa to actually go to Pip. That would have been nice, but also would have made Pip a not-nice friend, but they didn’t, so he isn’t. Even till the end, when he was trying to hint Lyssa about his feelings for her, he was rooting for her get back together with Jake. That’s the nicest guy right there.

I also think, there should have been a chapter about the hot American guide- Dean. I would have loved to know what went in that head of his- and I wish he had a larger character description.

 

That said, it was interesting till the very end. It was a very real interpretation of life and it’s problems and how people react, and realisations,  breeding families and a slightly flawed, yet witty heroine.

 

Book Reviews- Love from Paris by Alexandra Potter

I just finished reading Alexandra Potter’s ‘Love from Paris’. I can say, blindly, that I have always enjoyed reading Alexandra’s books, she has her way with words, and I was more than over-joyed she was doing a sequel to ‘The Love Detective’. 

The novel starts with a very flat tone, not revealing the actual underlying story of the book, even the back doesn’t give too much away. And I have this really bad habit, like the novel’s protagonist, Ruby, of reading the last pages first, so I know what happened. See, the thing is, once I know what happened, my curiosity really spikes and then I want to know HOW it happened. It’s really how books and I work.

I will be honest, I read The Love Detective when it come out, sometime last year, and I didn’t remember much, except it was Ruby, her runaway sister, Indian Royal Yogi dude, train rides, Goa and Udaipur. And that’s not even 1/10th of the story. But, loving Alexandra’s style, I picked it up and in beginning I was just reading, trying to remember what happened.

The book didn’t really kick-start till she was in “the Apartment” of Emmanuelle in Paris. Well, until she discovered the hidden letters, and then I couldn’t put the book down. The letters as lovely as they were, will really touch a string to your heart. And with a mystery after another unfolding, it just made for a really heart-warming read. I had read the end, so I knew there was a kid. I thought it’d be Jean-Paul, but how can a kid born in 1940 be 19? Clearly, I didn’t do my math. But, there had to be a kid. (Spoiler- it was Jean-Paul’s grammy).

You’d think it’d be about Ruby and Jack, I thought it’d be Ruby and Jack, but Ruby was just a detective and brilliant one at that at discovering perhaps a beautiful love story of a precious French girl and her American boyfriend. Throughout the book I wondered, he was American, why didn’t Manu’s (Emmanuelle)’s father let her marry Henry. It was towards the end you find out why. Because he was African-American. Alexandra touched on a delicate issue of race and freedom in France with a lovely back-story. I was so excited to get to the end, but I wish it didn’t.

While I loved the book, I wished there had been a little more on Gigi and Grace, they were an important part in unfolding the secrets, but they were hardly elaborated on. I wish she’d done that. Apart from that, I can’t complain. I loved it.

The tag line did pull at my heart strings, because tell me –

How far would you go for love?

Book Review: You’re the One that I Don’t Want by Alexandra Potter

We spend out life pining after “the one that got away”, because that person was “the ONE”. This book is the perfect example of how the image we create and the thinking porridge we make up of scenarios in our head can, obviously, turn out completely opposite. SO, you kissed under the bridge in Venice at Sunset when the Church Bells rang, doesn’t mean you will want to be together forever. Or you didn’t do any of this, but just fell in love with them from a distance and never got a chance to act on it. There are a bazillion scenarios that makes a person “the one” for another one. Most, end similarly.

But, forget that. Okay, you have done the deed, you’ve kissed under that bridge ( I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE THINKING, PERV), i.e. so life is going to do it’s work of throwing you two together, even if you are completely fed up. This is what happens in the book. They somehow fall apart after the epic kiss and a session after (WINK WINK) and don’t meet again. But, as they grow more mature, a few years later. they tumble into each other and think OMG! I’ve found the one. But, have they? Soon, it figures that obviously they are not suited together. At all. They are completely different people. The person they made up in their heads- replica with tweaks- is way too different from the people they actually are. So, they decide to go the different ways. But, life keeps throwing them together.

Alexandra has a way with bringing a bit of old enchantedness to her stories. This is what I love about her books. Sure, realism is necessary, but we read to go into another world. And it isn’t Harry Potter kind of awesome magic, just little things. Magic of the life and little tiny miracles- sometimes in favor, sometimes otherwise.

My favorite part of the book is when after the break up, they’re still stuck together, with a bad car, one hotel honeymoon suite and their mutual dislike for one another. They end up in this dingy pub with a karaoke, where they sing ‘You’re the One I Want’ (OOH OOH OOOOOH) from Grease,  except they sing ‘You’re the One I DON’T Want’. It’s funny. Well, the way it builds up to it.

All in all, I’d probably read it again.

“I was in love with the idea of him. An ideal of him. Of who I thought he was. Of who he used to be.” 

 

Book Review: It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane

As an avid reader of romance novels, I’m always looking for new novels of the genre that I can devour. I get my updates about the latest novels by following the Chick Lit Club’s website. That’s how I discovered Mhairi McFarlane and her amazing novels. After reading ‘You Had Me At Hello’ and ‘Here’s Looking For You’, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of It’s Not Me It’s You. I will post reviews of other two, but following is the review of this one.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Without giving away too many spoilers, I will quickly and briefly narrate the plot line. The heroine, Delia Moss in a comfortable life. She’s living her boyfriend of 10 years who owns a pub, while she’s working at the district council’s office in the Comms department. After deciding to propose to her boyfriend (YAY for feminism?) and getting a reluctant ‘yes’ she finds out via an accidental text that he has been cheating on her. (BIG YIKES) In a frenzy, she leaves her weeping boyfriend (now ex) and their beloved dog and goes to stay with her parents and brother to think things through. Due to a troublemaker blogger on the council’s website, one thing leads to another, (no, no she doesn’t sleep with him) she leaves her job and goes to stay in London with her BFF, Emma. There she slowly finds a job in a start-up PR firm. (DING DING DING DING) The firm owner is giant fluke (which we discover later). She meets a journalist, Adam West (as hot as his name! Hubba-hubba) who makes her life hell, in a few ways. Paul (the ex) still misses her and continues to miss and she’s (trying?) to move on. Basically, this is the gist. Without the spoilers.

It sounds very regular rom-com kinds, but it isn’t. Mhairi excels at word-play. It requires an art to keep the reader keep reading and reading; and she knows just how to do it.

WHY SHOULD YOU NOT PUT IT DOWN?

Mhairi’s books don’t deserve anything less than 5 stars. This book is so good that I can spend my entire birthday (those who know me, know that my birthday is a big big BIG deal) reading this book and it would sum up to be a really fantastic birthday. (HEY, I’d still want cake and presents!)

What was unexpected in the book was that she kept the focus on Delia and how she’s trying to figure her way out. She doesn’t jump from one relationship to another, she doesn’t immediately forgive a cheating boyfriend. (SPOILERS) She does eventually. But, she doesn’t, really. This is my first post and I don’t think I’m doing justice. Let me try explaining. She writes these very well-rounded characters. Characters that you’d want to be best friends with, or end up with. Delia, Emma, Adam, Paul, Parsnip, Ralph, Joe, Steph. All of them.

The book will make you feel all kind of emotions- happy, sad, content, angry, mischievous and if you are not careful, you will laugh so hard that the whole cafe will turn around and stare at you and you still won’t stop laughing, because that is how funny she is.

Oh, and did I forget to mention, Delia keeps drawing this insanely awesome comic strips called The Fox which is awesome as hell! The Fox is fierce, strong, willing and insanely interesting. Although, there isn’t too much of the Fox, but she’s there. And she’s awesome. 

Basically, like me, you will end up reading it in one go.

FAVORITE PARTS!

I think this might be my most favorite section. Because while re-reading some quotes I highlighted, I laughed again. I’m not going to share all the quotes, because they carry huge huge huge spoilers. But, I will share just two.

Oh, and her and Emma and their interactions are awesome as hell. Except, I really don’t think Emma should have given Paul the permission in the end. Okay, I have given away enough spoilers.

“Delia realised you should see plenty of people you love, because the meaningful conversations don’t happen in the first twenty four hours together, or forty-eight, or even the first few days. They came at moments like this.” ― Mhairi McFarlane, It’s Not Me, It’s You

GO READ!