Monday 1 September 2014

How to Get a (Love) Life by Rosie Blake


Some people book last-minute holidays, walk barefoot in the grass or party on a week night. Not Nicola Brown. Nicola is the kind of girl who double-locks the front door, leaves the plastic covering on new furniture, sticks to a super-strict diet and definitely, absolutely Does Not Date.

Her colleague Caroline – loopy, warm and exasperated by her, knows that Nicola's reluctance to lose control means she's living only half a life. And so she lays down the gauntlet: Nicola must cast aside her hang ups and go on as many dates as it takes to find true love in time for Valentine's Day.

The pick of local men is, quite frankly, a bit rubbish. And there are only three months until February 14th. Surely it's an impossible task? But, as Nicola is about to find out on her dodgy dates, letting go isn't quite as scary as she imagined. In fact, it's rather a lot of fun..





I saw a lot of hype surrounding this book when it was released but as my TBR pile was very high, I decided to wait until I had freed up some reading space before I got it. I then spotted it on Amazon a few months ago for free! Yes FREE! So I couldn't resist!

First of all I know you shouldn't judge a book by it’s cover but look how pretty it is?! It stands out so well that it would make anybody pick it up! The second thing is that line at the beginning of the book! I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about it as everyone has picked up on it but as soon as I read it I laughed out loud and knew I’d love this book! If you haven’t read the book are you intrigued now? If so buy a copy of the book and you can see what I’m talking about!

Obviously as this is Rosie’s first book I hadn't read anything by her before and wasn't sure of her writing style etc, but I enjoyed this book from the start, it was light, funny and just flowed so easily. Rosie has a great way of getting you hooked into the story and making you effortlessly fly through the book. This was one of those books that I lost track of time reading because you don’t look up once you start reading.

The lead character Nicola is given the challenge by her work colleague Caroline to find a date for Valentines Day, as she has never had a date for the most romantic day of the year before, and it ends up being a lot harder than Nicola thought it would be. We get to go along on the dates with her and experience the disasters that come with them, so many times I felt myself going red with embarrassment for her! Will she end up finding a date? You will have to read the book and find out!

Rosie has created the perfect lead character in Nicola, she is so funny and easy to relate to, which made it so easy to feel like you are on her journey with her. Everything that Nicola goes through is so believable and nothing is too far-fetcher that you think ’no way’, you just think that at the things that happen to Nicola because you are so embarrassed for her! The whole way through the book I was rooting for her hoping she would find the right guy eventually. The additional character likes Caroline and Mark are all interesting and add to the humour of the book. I think Rosie has provided us with the perfect mix of characters!

Although you could predict the ending slightly it takes away nothing from the story itself and is still just as cute as it would be if you didn’t know it was coming. That is all I am going to say because I want everybody to read this book to find out what happens!

This book definitely deserves the hype it has been given and for a debut novel it is amazing. Rosie is a very talented writer with the ability to keep you enjoying the story from start to finish. I would recommend this book to anybody that wants a light, fun read. I cannot wait for more books from Rosie.




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