Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson

Rosie Duncan has been living in New York for 6 years after experiencing a painful heartbreak in the past that has caused her to lose belief in love. Things seem to look up when she meets Nate. Can she learn to love again?

I thought that this was the weakest of Dickinson’s books. The general premise is ok, but not perfect. It becomes blindingly obvious who Ed has fallen for earlier on, but Rosie is annoyingly slow to work out who it is. Nate is a confusing character - at the end, I couldn’t work out what kind of relationship he wanted with Rosie - love or friendship? Does he really love Caitlin? The idea that Nate realised that Rosie had feelings for someone else sits uneasy, as throughout the book, it isn’t made clear that Rosie does love Ed. The reader only gets glimpses of her real feelings at the end, and the actual ending itself rushes the story in my opinion. It would have been nice to read Rosie falling for Ed for definite rather than having fleeting thoughts of him. Another weakness is the James and his scandal storyline - this doesn’t add anything and made for a dull section of the novel.

I did like the core friendships and the sparky dialogue between the main characters (although the way confesses his feelings at the end was a bit cringe worthy) and the references to Mr Kowalski, their dearly departed friend and former boss were good.. Overall, an ok read, but not fantastic. 3 stars.

Welcome To My World by Miranda Dickinson

27 year old Harri is a travel advisor yet she has never set foot outside of the UK. She wishes to see the sights around the world, in particular, Venice, which she deems is the perfect place for lovers. She finds a kindred spirit in Alex, an old school friend who has returned to town after spending the last 10 years travelling. He constantly regales Harri with stories about his adventures to her enjoyment.

Despite Alex enjoying his travels, one thing he yearns for is to find love. One romantic disaster to another, he soon asks Harri to help him. Around the same time, Alex’s mother, Viv, asks Harri to help her submit Alex into a magazine feature to find him a date (or many). Can any good come of this?

These events and many more soon lead to trouble. Harri soon feels her world crumble around her, and something has to change, but is she brave enough to take a risk?

I really enjoyed this story by Dickinson, yet it isn’t perfect. Much like It Started With A Kiss, there are parts which I glossed over, such as Harri visiting Viv at the allotments. These parts were less interesting and interrupted the flow of the story. Another thing I tired of was Harri’s constant thinking about how she never gets to travel, and yet she sees everyone taking a risk in their lives but fails to do so the same, and she always agrees to what boyfriend Rob wants too easily in their relationship (even though this is integral to the plot). Yet, as the story moves on, Harri starts to realise what she wants to do and takes action, earning a “yey” from the reader.

I think that the plot was really good, and I liked the main characters and friendships. The narrative is well crafted; at the beginning of each chapter, it flashes to a future event where Harri is in great turmoil, and as the story continues, it leads up to this event, which I was intrigued to discover. It all becomes clear as the book culminates in a fantastic ending, well worth reading. 4 stars!

It Started With A Kiss - Miranda Dickinson

Rejected after confessing her love for her best friend Charlie, Romily is taken aback when a handsome stranger surprises her with a kiss, only to disappear afterwards. Romily sets out to find this stranger, setting up a blog and going to great lengths to find him again, aiming to find him in a year’s time. Meanwhile, Charlie is having second thoughts about his feelings for Romily….

Dickinson creates a great friendship between Romily and the other members of her band, The Pinstripes, which is enjoyable to read, as is the relationship between Romily and her aunt and uncle. The characterisation and the initial plot idea is great. The way in which the author incorporates blog and email entries is unusual but adds to the realistic tale. Sometimes, the story lags and the narrative is less interesting in places, but the ending makes the journey worthwhile. Dickinson leads the reader into many a twist and turn in Romily’s quest to find the stranger, or true love. I certainly didn’t expect the ending that was given and was surprised, in a good way!

What is also interesting is how Dickinson has created Book Extras (similar to DVD extras).

http://www.miranda-dickinson.com/it-started-with-a-kiss---bonus-features.html

Overall, the story was a good read, although it does feel slow in places. I feel like some of the story could have been edited better as I felt myself losing interest at times and skipping certain parts. The quest to find the stranger was gripping and I wanted to see how the stranger would re-emerge in the story. The story explores humour, sadness and love in a subtle manner and the ending is well written. 3 stars.