Review: Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk

 She’s written the perfect romance . . . for someone else

Greetings card copywriter Phoebe Chapman knows a good romantic line or two – and it makes her a fantastic Cupid.

So when she lands in the Hollywood Hills – a place that proves film stars, golden beaches and secret waterfalls don’t just exist in the movies – she can’t resist playing matchmaker for her handsome neighbour, carpenter Ren.

But you can’t hide from love in La La Land.

And isn’t there something a little bit hot about Ren, her own leading man next door?

Review: Review: This book was so much fun from start to finish. If you know me you’ll know that I will read anything Lindsey Kelk writes and will recommend her books until the cows come home but this was a great standalone with all the feels and a great way to travel to LA without having to endure that hellishly long flight! I loved getting to meet Phoebe because she is a character who is easy to relate to. She has her flaws and she has a past btu she has come to LA for a break from her life and it was great sharing her adventure. Her sister is a fun character too and I enjoyed the ying and yang of their relationship and then her sister’s neighbour Ren is a great addition to the character line-up. They have a wonderful meet cute and you just know from their meeting that Ren is going to add quite the intrigue to the novel. 

My favourite character though has to be Bel. If you love the I heart series and you love the way Jenny and Angela meet and she sorts Angela out with the food and the shopping, this is the same but on the west coast. Bel is a personal trainer with every side hustle under the sun going on because of course she is an actress too and so you just know that she and Phoebe are going to get up to no good. The fact that she takes Phoebe out to one of the author's favourite restaurants to begin with really sets the tone for their relationship. Then we have glamorous retired actress Myrna. She is really something else. To begin with she gave me Sunset Boulevard vibes but then she also has a little bit of Elizabeth Taylor meets Moira Rose about her. Her meet cute with phoebe also includes fences like Ren’s does so there’s a definite theme going on here. 

I loved all the locations I got to travel to with phoebe and her new friends, it really was a great experience to be had through the pages of the book. Some of the locations I could picture because I have been there and others I felt like I had because they are described so vividly through Phoebe’s eyes-it was a lot of fun. And then we have the perfect balance of humour and romance that Lindsey Kelk always seems to manage to capture in her books. She never fails to make me laugh out loud with her funny one liners and the situations she puts her characters in. I mean “and do you know they don’t sell Birds Eye potato waffles in America? No wonder there’s so much political unrest.” How could you not laugh at that? I loved this book. You will laugh, you will go to Disneyland, you will be willing some of these characters to get it on already-what more do you want?

To order your copy now, just click here!

Review: The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk

 Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas – countryside, a mountain of food and festive films –

will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. She can’t help wishing her future was clearer.

Then Gwen wakes up to discover it’s Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with turkey. And family arguments. On repeat.

As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he’s just as kind and funny as she remembers.

Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all.

But how do you fall in love with someone who can’t remember you from one day to the next?

Review: A new Lindsey Kelk book is always a treat but when it is a new Lindsey Kelk book set at Christmas following the pattern of one of my favourite films and it’s a beautiful, strokable hardback edition, that is my idea of heaven right there. This book has Kelk’s usual mix of heart and humour, real life with absurd things going wrong that you know this author has probably experienced at one time or another. You don’t have to have read any of Lindsey’s other books to enjoy this one though. Whether you are new to this author or have read all of her books multiple times, this one is for you.

Gwen is a great character to spend this book with because she is wonderfully imperfect and living in the real world like all of us. She is having a moment, an existential crisis, a journey of self-discovery and she is doing this while she is ‘home for the holidays’ because that’s the perfect time for this to happen. When I describe her in this way I know I have already sold you on this but when I add in the fact that she gets to spend Christmas day over and over and over again like Groundhog Day but she is Billy Murray, you know things can only get better. I loved going on this journey with her and seeing her grow and her mindset change over the course of the novel.

What is wonderful about living the same day over and over again is that we also get to see more of our supporting cast again and again. Gwen gets to know her long suffering mum and her slightly emotionally repressed dad a lot better over the course of the book and so we do too. It was a real treat to be disc covering these characters through the main character and I love this as a writing choice on the part of this author. We have cousin Manny and of course the matriarch of the family-Nan. They were great characters and provided some real comedy moments too.

Of course, this is a romcom and we have former crush and boy next door Dev to get to know in this novel too. The wonderful thing about Dev though, is that is isn’t always around. Because he is the boy next door and he doesn’t know that Gwen is living Christmas again and again, we get to know him again and again. He doesn’t feature in every Christmas day and so Gwen is just free to do her own thing whilst he is doing his. I loved this balance and this old friendship that the two have. It made for more ‘will they, won’t they’ moments as well as keeping the book about Gwen and not just her search for someone to ‘complete’ her.

There were moments where I laughed out loud, several of them, I also read a few chapters of this in audiobook form and so I can highly recommend that narration as well as the beautiful hardback. I think there really is something in here for everyone. It is a Christmas book but I think it would work as a funny read to let you escape at any time of year. I loved it and I think you will too!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Single Girls To Do List by Lindsey Kelk

Rachel Summers loves a to-do list: boyfriend, flat, great job.

NOT on the list: being dumped.

Best friends Emelie and Matthew ride to her rescue with an entirely new kind of list – The Single Girl’s To-Do List. Rachel doesn’t know it, but it will take her on all kinds of wild adventures – and get her in some romantic pickles too. And then it won't be a case of what but who she decides to tick off: Mr. bendy yoga instructor, Mr. teenage sweetheart, Mr. persistent ex, Mr. deeply unsuitable.

The Single Girl’s To-Do List gives Rachel the perfect heartbreak cure – and proves love is out there if you’re willing to take a chance.

Review: I did read this book when it first came out but that was before I even had my book blog so this will be a review of my re-read of The Single Girls To Do List by Lindsey Kelk!

I adored this book when I first read it and reading it again it was just as funny and really just a relevant now as it was then. I listened to it on audiobook the second time around, the narrator was excellent and whilst i don't often laugh out loud when listening to an audiobook I certainly did whilst listening to this one. I loved getting to wallow with Rachel just as much as I enjoyed getting through the single girls to do list with her. When I first read this I was recently single and now I am married and yet i related to Rachel equally both times. 

Lindsey Kelk has a way of dropping throw away comments from characters of tiny little physical things that happen to those characters subtly into her novels that are just so funny and so entertaining and timed perfectly and this novel is just such a great example of that. This story is true to life and some parts are tough to read because a lot of people are really not very nice to Rachel throughout the book but the timing of those moments is just balanced so well with the adventures that she has and then funny comments from her best friend or funny things that she trips over or wears that it doesn't come across as in many way gritty or depressing. 

I had completely forgotten that there is an amazing character cameo in this book from someone from the I heart series and when she made her appearance I swear I cheered. It was wonderful seeing that character interaction with Rachel, it's like when you meet someone famous in real life, you feel like you know them when really they're on TV but you are so happy to see them. 

I definitely think I would reread this book again, especially now I have the new paperback edition as well as the audiobook. It was just such a great time and I listened in just 2 sittings. I loved all the supporting characters as well as the running toothpaste gag and now I just want to go away and immediately start another Lindsey Kelk novel. I highly recommend The Single Girls To Do List-then, now and always!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: In Case You Missed it by Lindsey Kelk

When Ros steps off a plane after four years away she’s in need of a job, a flat and a phone that actually works. And, possibly, her old life back. Because everyone at home has moved on, her parents have reignited their sex life, she’s sleeping in a converted shed and she’s got a bad case of nostalgia for the way things were.

Then her new phone begins to ping with messages from people she thought were deleted for good. Including one number she knows off by heart: her ex’s.

Sometimes we’d all like the chance to see what we’ve been missing…

 

Review: Oof this book hits close to home and because of that of course it is amazing. Lindsey Kelk has been making me laugh for over 10 years now and she continued to do so with this latest novel (believe me that is a big accomplishment in the climate we’re living in right now) I loved this book from start to finish and I think everyone should read it. 

Ros is fab and is so easy to relate to. She finds herself moving back in with her parents after starting off a new life in Washington. I really felt for her having to do this and going back knowing there would be questions, I can literally still feel her pain now but thankfully she has an amazing group of friends who are there to cushion the blow. 

I loved Ros’s friendship group and they represent a fairly typical friendship group for me, I really felt like they could have been my friends. Lucy is about to have a baby and brings all the fun and games involved with that. Adrian is single and really doesn’t have a clue about how real people live since he seems to be stinking rich and then there is Sumi, I love her and she and Jenny Lopez could totally take over the world. Sumi almost has it all and the things she doesn’t have yet, she is on her way to conquering-just fab. 

Of course we have some love interest options in this book and I absolutely fell head over heels in love with bar owner John. He is so generous and understanding and funny and helpful and we all need him in our lives. Then there is the love interest we love to hate and oh my goodness I hated him so much. Bravo to Lindsey Kelk for writing an amazing villain. 

Ros is lucky enough to land a new job for a podcast production company and this is where we get to another thing that this author does so well, her books are always up to date and relevant and real with interesting and exciting corners of the internet and the job market in general. We cover Esports and a YouTube gamer child-star with the best character name ever! I do feel like this name was inspired by the movie Cats I have to say. But all of this is the reality of the market we live in, podcasts are massive and child YouTube billionaires are a real thing and so I loved reading about them in this novel.

The cast of characters in this novel is also wonderfully relevant and diverse and I love that Lindsey Kelk is doing what is often missing in modern romcom. We have characters who are non-white and non-straight, older characters enjoying a full sex life the representation in this novel is just on point and this is what elevates it from being a good novel to be a great novel and one you should definitely all read!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Cinders and Sparks Fairies in the Forest by Lindsey Kelk

In this second hilarious Cinders and Sparks adventure, our chaotic comedy duo head for Fairyland to find Cinders’s mother – and get more than they bargained for . . . Perfect for readers of 7-9 and fans of Shrek and Frozen.

Cinders and her talking dog Sparks are on the run, in the Deep Dark Forest, after Cinders performed magic at the castle and made everyone think she was a witch. The hapless Hansel is on the run with them, but only because he ate some of an actual witch’s gingerbread house and she got cross. If they can reach Fairyland, maybe they’ll all be safe.

In the forest they will find three bears, a multitude of ridiculous adventures and one woman called Rapunzel in a tower. But Rapunzel may not be what she seems…

Will Hansel eat the three bears’ porridge? Will Sparks offer useless advice at every turn? Will Brian the fairy godmother appear and actually help for once?

The answers are: yes, yes and no.

Review: Oh my goodness I just love these book and I can't wait to hear what Cinders and Sparks get up to next. If you loved the last Cinders and Sparks book then  you are going to love this one even more. There are more funny moments, more silliness, more girl power and more fairy tales twisted and adapted for your reading pleasure. 

I just love how we can have a children's book that is silly and funny and yet have some strong characters who are good role models in the process. These books take what we know about fairy tales and turn them on their head. The stuff that remains is great fiction and something with a bit of a lesson along the way. 

I also really love the magic in this book. Again, I think that this has been ramped up for book 2 but it is a kind of realistic magic, something which characters often question and often pause before 'activating'. 

I definitely laughed during this book, it was a quick read and I enjoyed every moment of it. I'm headed to pre-order the next book in the series right now!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Author Event with Lindsey Kelk, Paige Toon and Mhairi McFarlane

What a joy to be back in Glasgow, and even more so when in the company of Lindsey Kelk, Paige Toon and Mhairi McFarlane. On June 4, Waterstones Glasgow (Sauchiehall Street branch) very kindly hosted this event where these three lovely ladies entertained us with talk of their recent exploits, their newly released books and what was in the pipeline. 

 

I’m sure that everyone there would agree that it was well worth braving the dreich weather to listen to these talented authors, who not only had us all in stitches with their stories, but kindly answered our questions. Thanks to them all and also to Waterstones for such a well organised event.

Review: Cinders and Sparks: Magic at Midnight by Lindsey Kelk

She will go to the ball. But nothing will go to plan… 

A magic girl.

A talking dog.

Let’s get this party started . . .

Cinders lives a boring life with her selfish stepsisters and mean stepmother. So when her wishes start magically coming true it’s a surprise to say the least.

Then Cinders meets her fairy godmother: she’s magic, she can fly, and she’s called . . . Brian.

Soon, Cinders finds herself heading to the glamorous ball at the King’s palace. But Brian is NOT very reliable and Cinders is NOT very good at magic. Now her life isn’t boring at all – it’s total chaos!

Review: Oh i absolutely loved this book, it was so much fun and such a great retelling! If you're looking for a Cinderella retelling that give you the answers to what happens to Cinderella AFTER the prince finds out that she's the one who fits the glass slipper then this, my friend, has all the answers. 

Cinders is such a great character because she is such an awesome rebel. She is the cinders that we need for this modern era/ She pretends she has done the washing up when she hasn't. She really doesn't hate her sisters as much as she might and she loves to eat. I love that she is really someone we can all relate to. 

And then there is the magic, this book is full of magic, including Sparks and his powers. I love all the little powerful things that the two of them can accomplish with their magic and through the use of their magical friends and I can't wait to find out how this will affect future books in the series. 

You might start reading this book thinking that you've heard the Cinderella story before but really, you haven't you need to keep reading. And the ending of this book is way way apart from the beginning and sets up for the second and third book in this series that I am already excited about reading. Cinders and Sparks are headed out on more adventures and I can't wait to find out where they head to next!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: I Heart Hawaii by Lindsey Kelk

Join Angela and Jenny in the series finale of the bestselling I Heart books, on the balmy beaches of Hawaii

When you’re running away from real life, there’s only one place to go…

When Angela Clark’s best friend Jenny invites her to join a press trip to Hawaii, three days of sun, sea and sleep sounds like the perfect antidote to her crazed life.

At work in New York, she’s supposed to be the face of Having It All. But the only thing Angela feels she excels at is hiding in the printer cupboard, eating Mini Cheddars and watching Netflix on her phone and if this is living the dream, she's more than ready to wake up.

A few days away with Jenny sounds like exactly what she needs but Angela’s talent for getting into a scrape guarantees nothing goes to plan – and not even the most beautiful beaches, blue skies and daiquiris will get her off the hook…

Review: I was so excited to read this book and let me tell you, it did not let me down! This book was very much bittersweet because I knew it was going to be the last in the series but it was just full of cheerfully nostalgic moments as well as classic Jenny and Angela japes and it was just everything I wanted it to be and more!

Angela is very far removed from the person that we met in I heart New York. She is a married woman now with a daughter and a very different career plan from dating around New York and blogging about it. But we still love her just as much as we did back then. The way she has grown and evolved over the years, because she has been written so well, she is just as easy to identify with and relate to as she was when she was having her first adventures in The Union. I love that we see her dropping her phone in the loo almost as soon as we open the book as well, it wouldn't be an I heart book without a phone falling into a body of water. 

The wonderful thing about this book is that even though I am a die hard fan of the whole series (and re-read the books again before picking up this one) the beginning of the book as well as all the memories we see throughout the book are all written in such a way that if you are new to the books or if you have forgotten what Angela and Alex have been up to, you're all caught up. I don't know how she does it but Lindsey Kelk has written this book with everybody in mind. 

You all know by now that I am a massive fan of Jenny and wish that she was my best friend and she has a great part to play in this, being a little older than Angela and all. Their friendship has just been so wonderful to watch and read about over the years and reading about them makes me miss my bestie and makes me text her just because I love and relate to their friendship so much. 

The joys of mother hood are of course explored in the most comical way in the novel and certainly ring true with the stories that friends have told me about having a baby and then a toddler and what being with them and then subsequently away from them can be like. I love the fact that Angela now has a daughter that Alex has to come and bail out just as much as he has had to bail Angela out over the years. 

We get to catch up with the whole gang in this book and there is just the perfect balance of new experiences and nostalgia to keep the new and the uber i heart fans alike happy and turning the pages. I read this book in one big wonderful gulp and I just loved every single chapter. I really hope you add this to your reading list whether you are meeting Angela for the first time or saying goodbye to her after 10 years I know you're going to love I Heart Hawaii!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

May 2019 TBR

Well May is going to be an interesting month. I'm going to be travelling at the end of May which means some audiobooks and basically no physical or ebooks and probably nothing that was actually on my TBR. I have a couple of book events with authors to go to so those books are on the TBR but I think its already really quite ambitious considering the fact that I'll be in the car for the last week of the month!

As always, I'll list May releases as well as a few other books I would like to get to. Publication dates are UK unless otherwise stated!

May Releases

14th May (US)

16th May

30th May

30th May

30th May

30th May

Library Books

Other Books I Want to Get To

Yeah, I know, what am I thinking? I guess I'm thinking I'm going to quit with the film watching and just read books instead, sounds good to me!

Ok wish me luck and let me know in comments if you're reading any of these this month!

Review: One in a Million by Lindsey Kelk

Everyone wants that special someone….

Annie Higgins has given up on love: she’s too busy trying to get her tiny business off the ground. Infuriated by the advertising agency across the hall making fun of her job, Annie accepts their crazy challenge – to make a random stranger Instagram-famous in just thirty days.

And even when they choose Dr Samuel Page PhD, historian and hater of social media, as her target, Annie’s determined to win the bet – whether Sam likes it or not.

But getting to know Sam means getting to know more about herself. And before the thirty days are out, Annie has to make a decision about what’s really important…

Funny, real and heart-meltingly romantic, Annie and Sam’s story is My Fair Lady for the social media age – and the perfect feel-good read.

Review: Man I loved this book! I cannot tell you how amazing it is reading a book that has a major focus on social media from someone who knows a thing or two about social media. Yes this book has a great story and great characters, but my takeaway from this is seeing accurate social media representation of fiction. Not just one aspect of social media either, the time it takes to edit YouTube videos, trying to beat the Instagram algorithm and the perils of tweeting something when you meant to DM it-Loved it!

Ok so we have some wonderful characters in this book, our lead is Annie Higgins (like Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady) and she is so easy to relate to because she has the yearning for being able to go to bed without first checking her inbox and wake up in the morning without checking her inbox before anything else. She is incredibly hard working and I really admired her passion and her ability to go the extra mile but can also recognise the toll that takes on her personal life! Her business partner Miranda is the perfect Ying to her Yang and they just really work as best friends. 

Then we have Sam, a historian, a bit of a recluse and someone who definitely has more to him than meets the eye. I loved how slowly Sam opened up to the rest of that characters in this book, how he had great values that he stuck to no matter what and that he provided someone for me to fall in love with, never mind any of the other characters. 

I said this on social media, but I just love all the British references throughout this novel. If you're living in the UK and reading it, you might not notice them at first but this is a true love story to British culture, British Mannerisms and British food! You can tell that this author is a Brit living in the US because the Fray Bentos pie here, the Hob Nobs there and the references to Richard Madeley and This Morning were truly magnificent, not to mention the British swearing!

This storyline follows some of my favourite tropes but bucks the trend with a lot of gender reversal in the whole 'boy meets girl' side of things and I just loved it. I wanted to keep on reading, read past my bedtime and got up early to finish this book because it was truly truly fabulous. This is a standalone novel and so if this is your first foray into Lindsey's writing, this would be a great place to start. If you are an uber fan like me, she has done us proud-a wonderful read!

Ebook is out now! To order your copy now, just click the link: UK (paperback 26th July) or US (paperback 25th September)

Review: I heart Forever by Lindsey Kelk

Please remember this is book 7 in a series before reading my review and being spoiled for the other 6! (But if you haven't read the others, go away and read them now because they're amazing!)

Winter in Manhattan…and someone’s keeping a secret.

The day her husband Alex picks up a backpack and goes travelling, Angela Clark promises to stay out of trouble and keep both Louboutins on the ground.

So when her best friend’s boyfriend confides in her, it can’t hurt to help him pick out a ring at Tiffany’s surely?

And when her fashion magazine announces major changes, being terminally late and arguing with your boss isn’t that bad, is it?

Then suddenly there’s another big secret Angela’s got to keep – and the man she loves is still thousands of miles away. As the wedding of the year looms, and Manhattan switches on its Christmas lights, Angela is going to need her friends by her side as her old life looks set to change forever.

Review: Well its safe to say that I loved this read! I did what I really don't do very often with a book and that is to read chunks at a time but not read the whole thing all at once to make it last longer. It's been a while since I took that approach and I am glad that I did. I just love Lindsey Kelk's writing. She is so funny and her way with words just makes me laugh all through anything she writes. She puts into words how I look at the world and she isn't afraid to say what we are all thinking, out loud, very loud! I also love the fact that this series of books is set in America and yet Angela is English and so there is this amazing mix of English terms mixed in with American life ( just like my life!) and that makes me laugh too but also makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

So back to Angela, Angela has a secret in this novel and Angela with a secret is never a good thing. As if she didn't have enough on her plate already, she has more and more things loaded on there over the course of this novel and I was really quite worried for her stress levels and her blood pressure at one point. Some of the things she went with induced anxiety in me, never mind her. But she deals with them in an Angela way, the way we all love her for. Alex is a little absent in this book because of his travelling but he is also very true to form and it was great to see her again. I think Angela's parents went down a storm in previous novels and so they have a part to play in the ending of this novel and they just made me laugh so much. In particular look out for a moment with Angela's Dad and some Yorkshire tea, that's all I'm saying!

Jenny Lopez, it was great to see Jenny again and Jenny is just Jenny and wonderful. I just love her friendship with Angela because it is such a turn friendship. A lot of people think that Jenny is holding Angela up, others think it is quite the opposite, but I just love the fact that they support each other and they need each other there in major life events because that is exactly how I am with my best friend. Cici is also a major player in this novel, which i kind of suspected but I love that she got a slightly bigger role this time around, she really comes into her own and we get to learn a lot more about her than in previous novels. I think that I would hate to work with her on a personal level but on a professional level, she gets the job done!

Of course the other major character in these books in New York and reading this novel, you can tell just how in love with New York this author is. The way things are described and the comfort that comes across throughout the book is just amazing. If you don't come away from reading this book wanting to go to NYC and have a great time, then I really don't know if we can be friends! I love the places they go, they places they resist and they are described with such detail and with such wistfulness it just makes for great reading!

There were a few surprises along the way in this novel, thankfully I wasn't spoiled for any of the details beforehand and I won't spoil you either. Some events were predictable, but in a really great way but there are a few things that made me go 'WHAT?' just in a really great way. I loved every moment of this book and I cannot WAIT for the next one. Read this series now, you won't regret it!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Author Event with Lindsey Kelk and Miranda Dickinson

On Tuesday night I was lucky enough to snag tickets to the sold out event with Lindsey Kelk and Miranda Dickinson in Waterstones Birmingham. I was really pleased that I got my tickets well enough in advance and also really pleased that I was in the country when two of my favourite authors were doing an event within driving distance. My Mum and I drove down to Birmingham for the event (it was a very excited car I can tell you) and we loved every minute of it!

The event was a discussion between these two fabulous authors and saw them chatting about their writing spaces, the worst gifts they've ever been given, parties they have attended together  and of course, their books!

Once they had fully set the world to rights and amused us all greatly, they opened it up to questions. This is when things got really interesting with them discussing which of the characters from the I Heart series they would like to kill off, whether they have written revenge on anyone in their books and also covered things like how people react when they find out they're a writer. 

These two lovely authors stayed late into the night so that they could sign books and meet their fans and I got to give them both big hugs. The staff in Waterstones were so accommodating and stayed open late for this event. It was such a fun evening and if you haven't read anything by either of these authors then you should definitely make a point to go now and do that, I'll leave links below!

These are two of my favourite authors and it so was great to see them both again and have a bonus evening of entertainment from them. Thanks to everyone involved and now I'm going to go and finish reading my signed copy of I Heart Forever!

Click here to order your copy of I Heart Forever by Lindsey Kelk: UK or US

Click here to order your copy of Searching for a Silver Lining by Miranda Dickinson: UK or US

Click here to see my Miranda Dickinson reviews!

Click here to see my Lindsey Kelk reviews!