Book Review: A Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by

Title: The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance

Author: Kirsty Greenwood

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Date: April 9th, 2015

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Jessica Beam is a girl who knows how to party. Only lately she’s been forgetting to turn up for work on time. Or in clean clothes. Down on her luck, out of a job and homeless, Jess seeks the help of her long-lost grandmother.

Things aren’t going well for Matilda Beam, either. Her 1950s Good Woman guide books are out of print, her mortgage repayments are staggering and her granddaughter wears neon Wonderbras!

When a lifeline from a London publisher arrives, the pair have an opportunity to secure the roof over their heads – by invigorating the Good Woman guides and transforming modern, rebellious Jess into a demure vintage lady.

The true test of their make-over will be to capture the heart of notorious London playboy Leo Frost and prove that Matilda’s guides still work. It’s going to take commitment, nerves of steel and one seriously pointy bra to pull this off…

Review:

It feels like it’s been months since I’ve read a chick-lit and I wasn’t even aware I missed it in my life.
This book reminded me how it feels to laugh out loud while just reading. It was good to be remembered.

In this book we follow Jessica, who is a party girl with not so much obligations or the work ethic in her life. All she wants to do is party, travel and not to take things seriously, until one day, the life slaps he. She has no job, no place to live and no money.

What I found in this novel is the fact that not one character in this book is likeable at the first apperience, but over the time, chapter by chapter, you start to get attached to them.

At first, I didn’t like Jessica. I tought she was selfish and deserved what came for her. Despise that, I wanted to know how she’s going to manage her new life. I also wondered if there’s going to be that typical character development where the character puts her old life behind her and becomes a different person.
I can gladely say this book is free of all those big cliches.

Peach was my favorite character. I can totally imagine that girl somewhere in the real world.
Summer was the one we should probably think about as a b*tch, but I actually understood her and I would probably act the same way she did, if I was her. Does that make me a b*tch too? Probably, but at least an honest one.
After all, Jessica’s leak of responsibilities and better judgement have put her in the position she found herself in.

Matilda, Jessica’s Grandmother, was my least favorite character. Although, I would like to read her books so I could try some of her advices.

Don’t let the cover and genre fool you! This book contains some serious topics, such as a suicide and depression, shattered loves and shettered personalities. That is what I like about this book the most.
And the fact that author knew how to present this story and touch those serious things in the book, but at the same time wrote a funny book without the dissrespect to people with simiral problems and in simiral situations, makes me appreciate her as an author.

If you seek for a new chick-lit, I warmly recommend this one.