How to get a (love) life is Rosie Blake's fabulous debut and I was fortunate enough to get a copy from the sweet ladies over at Novelicious.
HTGALL had been on my TBR for several months and so I was particularly excited to get started on it once I finally got my hands on it.
So the next day, I believe it was a sunny tuesday, I made myself a lovely cuppa, popped on some Miles Davis and went outside into the garden, kindle in the left hand, cuppa in the other.
I sat down and got started. (Ooo, and let's not forget the custard creams here. A definite must!)
So there I was, basking in the glorious sun, burning through the pages like there's no tomorrow.
For those who haven't read it yet, (Tsk, tsk!) the story follows young and petite Nicola Brown on her quest to find, well... you guessed it, to find herself a nice bit of romance.
The ingredients:
1 x saucy work colleague
1 x dating site
and last but not least,
1 x pair of helping hands from a sibling
and voila. your own recipe for romance...
Well, not quite.
Nicola is a creature of habit, perpetually OCD and not in the least spontaneous, everything needs to be tidy , organised and planned out.
It is obvious to Nicolas work colleague Caroline that she needs to interfere and so she dares sweet Nicola to get herself a date for Valentines day. Not wanting to back down, Nicola accepts and that's where the it all begins.
What follows is Nicolas awkward journey through internet dating sites and it was such a fun ride to go through those dates with her. A little uncomfortable at times, I have to admit, but overall charming and so very funny.
We encounter several different potential suiters, but none of those seem to be quite right and we discover once again, that real love is, in fact, quite hard to find, but perhaps, the overall message here is:
You don't necessarily have to go great length to find love, it is not something to obtain all too easily.
Stop forcing something that can't be controlled and maybe, just maybe, you'll be in luck soon enough.
After I finished, it took me a while to collect my thoughts, but I really did enjoy Rosie's narrative voice, however, I would've preferred the story to be a little more detailed, perhaps not necessarily longer, just long enough to find more about Nicola. I enjoyed her role as the protagonist and would've enjoyed to get to know her a little more. It felt a little hard to bond with her at the beginning, so to round off all edges, it would've been nice to find out a little bit more about Nicola as a person. A more thorough backstory perhaps?
Aside from that, the story itself was nicely paced, a little slow in the beginning, but all the more fun once the action kicks in and it kicks in promptly after the initial build up. I found myself laughing out loud several times and probably earned myself a dozen of weird looks from the neighbours, but I really couldn't contain myself. All of Nicolas dates were hilarious and so well written, it truly felt like you were right there with her.
Overall, a great debut with an enormous amount of humour and charm. Good job, Rosie!
How to get a (love) life is the perfect book for sunny afternoons with a glass of wine.
Enjoy!
