What it’s about:
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…
Review:
I’d heard a lot of good things about this book before reading it so much so, I officially made it the first ever book I bought for my Kindle, yay! How to Get a (Love) Life is about singleton, Nicola who is set a goal by her colleague and friend, Caroline, to get a date for Valentines day which is only 3 months away. She accepts the challenge and ends up on a string of dates with unsuitable bachelors only to find that love may have been staring at her in the face all along.
I loved Nicola. I really really loved her. With a story like this the author runs the risk of making the character sound desperate, needy and unlikeable but Nicola was the opposite. She was quirky, likeable and felt like an old friend by the time I’d finished reading. I really rooted for her right from the beginning and hoped she would find her happy ending. I loved Nicola’s obsession with cleanliness, being tidy and sticking to the rules because I saw so much of myself in that part of her. Honestly, if we lived together, we’d have the cleanest house, ever but it was uplifting watching her change throughout the book. The storyline was very enjoyable with a great ending, if not somewhat predictable which didn’t matter too much to me because in this case it really was the journey, not the destination and all the things that happened in between is what made the story and Nicola who they are.
The thing that really made me fall in love with this book was how funny it was. When I say funny I mean hilarious! Truth be told, I don’t think it will be everyone’s “cup of tea” and some people might not find Rosie’s sense of humour funny but luckily, I did, it was right up my street and I honestly cannot remember the last time I genuinely laughed out loud at a book before reading this. The dating scenes are hilarious and I ended up in many embarrassing “laugh out loud” moments. An enjoyable, fun and quirky novel by an author who I think has a long career ahead of her. It was easy to read, the narrative flew very smoothly and the storyline held our attention – I found this book to be a breath of fresh air.
You can find Rosie Blake and How to Get a (Love) Life on the following links:
[…] This one gets a solid spot on my list for 2 reasons; 1) I related so much to the main character, it could have been me talking. She is so normal which I loved reading about. She does stupid things and has weird quirks which is so nice to see when everyone’s trying to be as perfect as possible and 2) It was hilarious. I mean, laugh-out-loud, dribbling and snorting type hilarious. I completely “got” Rosie’s sense of humour and we all need a book like this every now and again. (Find my review here). […]