Publisher: Corvus
Publishing Date: 2nd February 2017
Source: Received from the publisher in return for an honest review, thank you!
Number of pages: 320
Genre: Women’s Fiction, General Fiction (Adults)
Buy the Book: Kindle | Paperback
Synopsis:
Nicola Brown doesn’t like to lose control. Her home is always meticulously tidy and her weekly meals carefully planned; Nicola keeps her life in order. When her carefree colleague Caroline challenges Nicola to find a date for Valentine’s Day, it’s a surprise to them both when Nicola agrees. As Nicola’s search for a man begins, she is thrown in at the deep end—sometimes quite literally—of the dating scene. From men more likely to sell their mother than open their wallet, to those who are determined to find a girlfriend who shares their passion for extreme sports, Nicola has to run the full gamut of dodgy dates. But as the deadline looms closer, Nicola realizes it isn’t so bad to lose control. It turns out that trying to get a love life can be rather a lot of fun.
Rating: 5/5
How to Get a (Love) Life is Rosie Blake’s debut novel turned into a lovely, gorgeous paperback and even though I’ve read it few years ago I was desperate to get a copy of this book in my greedy mittens and read it again! It was a great joy to meet with the characters for a second time, the story was just up to my street and what more can I say? I love Rosie Blake and her brilliant, funny and uplifting stories! So there.
Nicola has OCD. Yes, I love OCD people, maybe because I am very far away from OCD myself. I am a big fan of the routine, as long as the routine is a far cry from me. Nicola is very straight and very good organised and it is such a pleasure to read about such people, believe me. She is very careful with what she says and what she does, she’s very punctual, she eats the same things on certain days, she’s very VERY. She may seem shallow at the beginning but actually I found her totally nice and I have warmed to her immediately. She is actually happy with her life and it’s not a problem to her that she’s 29 and single. It is more problematic for her work colleague Caroline and when she dares Nicola to find a date for the forthcoming Valentine’s Day, Nicola agrees. And starts dating. On a series of dates set by her brother and Caroline.
Apart Nicola we have a little cast of characters in the book. There is Mark, her brother, with whom she has a brilliant relationship and who appears on her doorstep whenever he wants, there is Caroline, Nicola’s work friend with her two hilarious children, and James, the boss. The most significant characters in the book and all of them brilliantly written, all of them warm, funny and likeable.
Some of Nicola’s dates were ridiculous and I have laughed more than often reading about them. The dates and the men that she met were crazy, were impossible, and altogether disastrous. For me it was a great fun, an easy read that I needed so much, and I have enjoyed seeing Nicola coming out of her shell step by step with each date.
I also liked that many of the chapters began with a personal ad, and each ad summed the previous disastrous dates up. They were really funny and each one of them made me chuckle.
I know that some of the reviewers said that they haven’t felt any chemistry between Nicola and The Obvious One but well, I have. And although I have known after reading approx 30% of the book how it’s going to end and that Nicola shouldn’t look far away for her date for Valentine’s Date, it hasn’t spoil the book for me at all. It was a real pleasure to see how Nicola develops and leaves her comfort zones. It was a light, fun, feel – good read, women’s fiction at its best, something that I needed very much in the moment. Keep them coming, Rosie!
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