Mr Commitment - Mike Gayle

Mel and Duffy have been in a blissful relationship for 4 years, but that all changes when Mel proposes to Duffy. Duffy loves Mel, but he can’t bear the idea of committing to her. Can he ever change his mindset or will he risk losing the “one” because of his refusal to marry her?
 

It is another well written guy-lit book from Mike Gayle, but I preferred My Legendary Girlfriend. Although Gayle tries to present Duffy as being a character that you should sympathize with, he comes across as idiotic at times, with an obsession to his bachelor-like lifestyle and his TV. I feel a bit sorry for Mel! In the end, Duffy realises his error and he reconciles with Mel, and proposes to her. It is an adequate tale but I found the story a little lagging, and the other side stories e.g. his sister’s baby, Dan’s ex getting married and Mark and Julie didn’t really add anything to the narrative. 2.5 stars.

A Little Bit of Everything for Dummies - City Lit

A collection of chapters from the Dummies series spanning 200 titles, this is a good sample of what the series does best. Admittedly, it won’t suit everyone as there is quite a wide range of topics included – for example, the computer stuff bored me, but I found the dating section funny and the French chapter useful. There is also a chapter on the potted history of William and Kate’s relationship for Royal fans. 2.5 stars

Jenny Lopez Has A Bad Week - Lindsey Kelk

This is a short story following Jenny Lopez, best friend of Angela Clark in the popular I Heart Series. Set after I Heart Paris, Jenny is feeling disillusioned with life, love and career. Things soon look up with the prospect of a new job, and potentially a new lover…

It is an average tale, although I am still not convinced by Jenny’s character. She provides the voice of reason to Angela but often, she seems to be hypocritical, fickle and selfish. To read a book entirely from her point of her view therefore, can be frustrating to read (thankfully it is a short story). As it is a short story, not much really happens, but it ends on a nice note, and provides a adequate bridge and set up between I Heart Paris and I Heart Vegas. 2.5 stars.

Operation Sunshine - Jenny Colgan

For Evie Kennedy, holidays have always been a bit of a nightmare, whether it was caravanning in the UK with her family or a girls’ holiday/disaster in Spain. Invited on a work conference in France, perhaps this will be a chance to rectify all the bad holidays she has had, and it starts off pleasantly enough, until Evie finds herself caught up in a world which she least expected to…

Well…this is very different to other chick-lit novels that I have read. Unbelievably, it centres around espionage, spies, animal activism and the murky world of medical ethics. You have to take things with a pinch of salt (or the whole shaker) but weirdly, I was gripped by the story. The book is a bit of a mess with cardboard characters (Evie is an average character – you neither hate or love her. Lydia is your stereotypical bitch and Dr Bennet turns from nice doctor to evil doctor so quickly it is hilarious. And who knows about Tom?!) and a ludicrous plot, which feels tacked on to the traditional chick-lit story and not executed properly. The story felt incomplete with too many loose ends, and the boat storyline itself was a bit confusing. That being said, the dialogue was well written and I couldn’t help but read on to see which farfetched turn the story would take next.

A farce of a story but a good bit of escapism. 2.5 stars.

A Perfect Proposal - Katie Fforde

Sophie is treated as a dogsbody by the rest of her family. She is practical, resourceful and ever so helpful, perhaps too helpful. Soon, she is sent by the rest of her family to care for Uncle Eric, who they describe as a cantankerous old man, with the ulterior motive of gaining his money. Sophie finds that Uncle Eric is far from evil, and soon finds out that he is involved with oil drilling shares that could make him quite a bit of money, which sends her to New York to track down an old relative. In New York, she also meets with best friend, Millie, and an old, wealthy British woman called Matilda, whom she gets on very well with. Her grandson, Luke, is wary of Sophie’s motives for becoming Matilda’s new friend. Can she persuade him that she is a genuine person?

This is a competent read. I thought that the oil-drilling story was a bit of a drag to read about and some of Sophie’s family are very horrible. There are some nice moments between Luke and Sophie, although I thought the latter stages of the story were a bit rushed. Luke doesn’t think to question Sophie about her “boyfriend”. Having behaved so coolly after Ali told him about the text, he seems to accept Sophie’s explanation a bit too readily. Also, Sophie seems to forgive him too easily. The proposal at the end seems a bit odd given that Luke and Sophie haven’t been together for too long. The idea of it becoming a “perfect proposal” is a bit nonsensical.

It’s an ok read but not one of Fforde’s best works. 2.5 stars.

The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble

The Girl Next Door follows a variety of characters who live in one apartment block. There is Eve and Ed, who have recently moved to New York after Ed gets transferred in his job. Eve is struggling with living in a new country and with her husband being constantly away, can she get to grips with this new life? Jason is far from happy with his life – ever since the birth of his baby, his wife Kim has shut him out. Plus, it doesn’t help that he is lusting after his beautiful and talented neighbour, Rachel. The story also follows Jackson and his attempt to woo his neighbour Emily, and other characters.

What is a massive failure in this book is that there are too many characters and stories in this book to keep track of. The book starts with a list of characters, half of whom aren’t even referred to in the story anyway. Yet there are a good deal of characters left with many stories to follow, not all of them interesting – I found the stories of Rachel, Jason and Charlotte dull, and I frequently found myself skipping the sections with Violet in. I was gripped by the storyline featuring Jackson trying to prove himself to Emily that he was a good person, and the story between Eve and Ed, which was an emotional one, especially with the premature baby storyline. This was really sad to read and made you feel for Eve and Ed.

Overall, I think Noble’s work suffers from trying to achieve too much in one novel. If she cut down the amount of characters and stories, then she may have had a great piece of literature to read, especially as some of the stories were excellent. It is an interesting and ambitious concept to focus on so many people, but something like this can be achieved such as in 31 Dream Street by Lisa Jewell, where attention is focused on 2 main characters but also the stories of the numerous supporting characters. Here Noble tries to pay equal attention to all of the characters but it doesn’t work. Charlotte’s story hits the ground before it starts running – is it necessary to include her? 2.5 stars.

Love Letters by Katie Fforde

Laura is a shy 26-year-old who is passionate about reading and works in a bookshop with her best friend, Grant. Unfortunately, the bookshop is going to close for good, and Laura is soon forced to consider her options for the future. Luckily for her, an author’s agent she meets at a signing event arranged by the bookshop in its closing days leads Laura to become an organiser of a local literary festival, which changes her life completely. She does new things that she never thought she would so, makes new friends, and meets a literary hero of hers, author Dermot Flynn.

Love Letters is a bit of a hit and miss story for me. Whilst I like that parts with Dermot and Laura, and the new friendships that Laura forges, there are places in the narrative which are weak and made me skip parts of the story. I also found the way in which Laura constantly pines over Dermot a bit irritating and there are sections which are dull and add nothing to the story. Some great moments but these are outweighed by some bad writing. 2.5 stars.

Postcards From The Heart - Ella Griffin

Postcards From The Heart focuses on two couples. Greg, a famous soap actor, is dating Saffy, who works in advertising. Saffy is waiting for the day Greg will finally propose to her, but his refusal to commit coupled with his desire to make it big in Hollywood poses problems in their relationship. Their friends, Jess and Connor, seem to have been lucky in love. They have been in a long-term relationship and have two children. Yet money worries and career obstacles threaten to blow apart their blissful relationshit. Can either of these two couples find happiness? It's a long journet, but as more secrets are exposed, happiness becames harder to achieve.

The story is written well - the use of texts and emails in the story make it seem more relaistic and interesting to read. Jill's cancer and the large secret she keeps about Saffy's father were highlights of the book, and I enjoyed Greg's mixed up idioms. Yet, all in all, it feels like an average read - there is nothing that engages you, and it is packed with cliches that make the book seem overly predicatable. The characters do show glimmers of potential but often they irritated me. Jess has a tendency to be over-moral concerning the other characters and portrays herself as some kind of saint, showing no consideration for Conor and his dreams. It is a good effort from Griffin, but the results aren't what I would have hoped for. 2.5 stars.