Being a huge fan of Lindsey Kelk, I obviously couldn't wait to get my hands on her latest book, About a Girl. Although I knew she'd manage it, I did wonder if she'd be able to break away from her I Heart... theme, like she did with The Single Girls To-Do List. I can't imagine it must be easy to start a brand new standalone book having been writing the I Heart Series for so long, but Lindsey managed it perfectly. There are a few similarities - the theme of travel and reinventing yourself, but it was these themes that made us love her other books in the first place and luckily they have yet to get old.
About a Girl is all about a lady called Tess Brookes who, in the space of a very short time, loses her job, fucks things up royally with her best friend/love of her life and after wallowing in self pity for a while, she decides she has enough. Luckily her fairy god mother appears in the picture in the form of her flatmates rather vocal agent, offering Tess a once in the lifetime opportunity. Will she accept?
The blurb reads -
I'd lost my job. I'd lose the love of my life. My best friend was especially annoyed. And my flatmate probably had a hit out on me by now.
Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she's forced to reconsider.
After accidentally answering her flatmate Vanessa's phone, she decides that since being Tess isn't going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa's photography assignment to Hawaii - she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be?
But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he'd like to get in her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else's shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or 'fess up and run...
This book is the perfect summer read - especially since most of it is set in Hawaii but I kind of cheated and read it curled up on a very comfortable chair with the fire on in my sisters beautiful countryside house. What? I waited until a day when it was pouring down with rain outside, I promise I've been enjoying the sunshine otherwise! Anyway, back to the point, it's mostly light hearted but has it's fair share of serious moments to that get you thinking. There are loads of messages behind this book as well, like running away isn't always the worst thing to do when you need to get a bit of space on a situation or that you shouldn't tear yourself up with guilt for sleeping with that bad boy. But, as with all of Lindsey's writing, it's bloody hilarious. Some of the stuff she comes out with just makes me laugh my head off, especially because the way of her writing is often the way I talk myself. It's just so witty (which unfortunately I am not, I admit) and she uses the funniest and oddest phrases.
What I really loved about this book was how different and unpredictable it is. At the end of the day, we all know the trying-to-resist-a-womanizing-bad-boy storyline has been done to death, but Lindsey puts a refreshing twist on it. You won't know how it ends and a lot of the storyline is very unpredictable. I find with a lot of books one you 'meet' the main male character, you immediately know who the lead is going to end up with and normally how it's going to happen too. Lindsey kept me guessing right up until the very end with this book.
My favourite character was Nick because he was a typical bad boy. He was mysterious and played games, but he wasn't predictable either. I loved how there was so much more to know about him and as the main character warmed to him, so did we.
Charlie I loved as well, but not as much as Dan. I did love how realistic his character was though and his relationship with Tess - he did seem like the ideal bloke at first - they'd been friends for life, he was sweet and always there for her - but Lindsey still made him human and male. As in, there wasn't any unrealistic declarations of love and he didn't claim that he'd been in love with her all this time. I really loved that. Too many books rely on doing that and it was refreshing to see that although he was a real good guy, he was still human and could still make mistakes like freaking the fuck out after hooking up with one of his closest friends.
I definitely loved the other characters but I found Tess's flatmate, Vanessa, to be particularly funny. She reminded me so much of Chloe from Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23!
Lindsey Kelk has always been a favourite writer of mine so I knew this book would become a firm favourite. I'd definitely recommend it - it's longer then her other books so there's more to read but it's still lighthearted, funny and inspiring!
This book is the perfect summer read - especially since most of it is set in Hawaii but I kind of cheated and read it curled up on a very comfortable chair with the fire on in my sisters beautiful countryside house. What? I waited until a day when it was pouring down with rain outside, I promise I've been enjoying the sunshine otherwise! Anyway, back to the point, it's mostly light hearted but has it's fair share of serious moments to that get you thinking. There are loads of messages behind this book as well, like running away isn't always the worst thing to do when you need to get a bit of space on a situation or that you shouldn't tear yourself up with guilt for sleeping with that bad boy. But, as with all of Lindsey's writing, it's bloody hilarious. Some of the stuff she comes out with just makes me laugh my head off, especially because the way of her writing is often the way I talk myself. It's just so witty (which unfortunately I am not, I admit) and she uses the funniest and oddest phrases.
What I really loved about this book was how different and unpredictable it is. At the end of the day, we all know the trying-to-resist-a-womanizing-bad-boy storyline has been done to death, but Lindsey puts a refreshing twist on it. You won't know how it ends and a lot of the storyline is very unpredictable. I find with a lot of books one you 'meet' the main male character, you immediately know who the lead is going to end up with and normally how it's going to happen too. Lindsey kept me guessing right up until the very end with this book.
My favourite character was Nick because he was a typical bad boy. He was mysterious and played games, but he wasn't predictable either. I loved how there was so much more to know about him and as the main character warmed to him, so did we.
Charlie I loved as well, but not as much as Dan. I did love how realistic his character was though and his relationship with Tess - he did seem like the ideal bloke at first - they'd been friends for life, he was sweet and always there for her - but Lindsey still made him human and male. As in, there wasn't any unrealistic declarations of love and he didn't claim that he'd been in love with her all this time. I really loved that. Too many books rely on doing that and it was refreshing to see that although he was a real good guy, he was still human and could still make mistakes like freaking the fuck out after hooking up with one of his closest friends.
I definitely loved the other characters but I found Tess's flatmate, Vanessa, to be particularly funny. She reminded me so much of Chloe from Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23!
Although I loved the main character of course - she was very average and settled in her life, which made it all the better when it came to mixing things up. I kind of did end up feeling a little sorry for her too when she realized she didn't really have a 'thing'. No favourite bands or movies or books. I couldn't imagine being like that so it was really interesting to get into her head.
Lindsey Kelk has always been a favourite writer of mine so I knew this book would become a firm favourite. I'd definitely recommend it - it's longer then her other books so there's more to read but it's still lighthearted, funny and inspiring!
