Tag: london

My new favourite romance: We Met in December by Rosie Curtis #WeMetInDecember #Romance #BookLovers #London

We Met in December by Rosie Curtis book cover UK edition

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about the book I fell in love with, in hope you will fall in love with it too.
We Met in December was published on September 5th 2019 by Avon Books UK and it has 400 pages.
I got my copy via Netgalley, in an exchange for an honest review.

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / What if you couldn’t get away from the one who got away?

This December, unlucky-in-love Jess is following her dream and moving to Notting Hill. On the first night in her new house-share she meets Alex, the guy in the room next door. They don’t kiss under the mistletoe, but there’s still a spark that leaves Jess imagining how they might spend the year together — never mind the house rule against dating…

But when Jess returns from her Christmas holiday, she finds Alex has started seeing Emma, who lives on the floor above them. Now Jess faces a year of bumping into the man of her dreams — and, apparently, the woman of his.

Jess is determined to move on and spend the year falling in love with London, not Alex — but what if her heart has other ideas?

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Review:

Every time I start a new book I hope it will take me on an adventure that will stay with me long after I finish that last page.
Books that usually do stay are the ones that shake my emotions and have scenes that I remember long time after.
This is why I tend to read women’s fiction and romance so often. There is something about finding a character we, as readers, can emphatize with and root for her/his happy ending.

We Met in December is one of those books that will stay with me, maybe forever.

It was lovely and sweet, but also very realistic.
Without lying, after I turned the last page, I thought to myself “This book is perfection”.

It contains my favourite trope: two people who were meant for each other, finding their way to be with each other.

There are several characters in the book, and I have to admit I liked all of them. Not most of them, but all of them.
The main characters Jess and Alex are narrators of the story, which is written in first person, following their POV.

Side characters were also very realistic and likeable, and even though this is Jess and Alex’ story, I would love to be able to read more about others, maybe in some other books, if Rosie Curtis ever decides to write them.
I would especially like to know more about Rob.

I have read many books that place in London, but I do not remember that any of them captured the beauty of this magnificent city so wonderfully.
It was like London was another character in the book, and it was so easy to imagine all the places Jess and Alex visited while he was showing her around.

To some point, We Met in December reminds me of my favourite book Anna and the French Kiss, only for adults, set in London and without (emotional) cheating part.

This book talks about love, but it also talks about finding your place, embracing adulthood  and doing what your heart is telling you to do with your life.

In the end, I just want to praise book cover designs. The UK is simple and beautiful (and it kind of reminds me of the cover of One Day in December) and the US is really cute and heartwarming (I like the US one a bit better).

Rosie Curtis wrote We Met in December for the first time under this pen name, but she has already published several novels under name Rachael Lucas.
I haven’t read anything she has written before, but now I want to.

We Met in December is one of the sweetest, cutest, loveliest romances that I have read and a new favourite of mine, so I highly recommend it to everyone!

5 hearts rating

Book Review: The Christmas Project by Maxine Morrey

the-christmas-project

Title: The Christmas Project
Author: Maxine Morrey
Publisher: HarperCollins UK, HQDigital
Date: November 14th, 2016
Pages: 263
Format: eARC
Source: from Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Professional organiser Kate Stone has never – NEVER – been tempted to hit a client over the head with a snow shovel, but Michael O’Farrell is the most obnoxious – and heart-stoppingly gorgeous – man she has ever met. If he weren’t her best friend’s brother, she would not have waited on his doorstep in the freezing cold for five minutes, let alone an hour.

Kate knows, however, that her job isn’t just about tidying up, sometimes she needs to be part therapist too, and Michael clearly needs her help to declutter his heart as well as his home.

But with the festive season just around the corner there isn’t much time to get Michael’s house ready for the O’Farrell family celebrations, but everyone knows that at Christmas anything can happen…

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Review:

I feel like I’ve been so lucky with my books lately.
Since HoHoHo readathon started, I read some amazing festive novels, and this one did not dissapoint.
Now, I only hope my luck will continue.

The Christmas Project has everything you want in a festive read: beautiful cover that catches eye, amazing setting with beautiful descriptions of surrounding, cold and snow, interesting protagonist and likeable side characters, hot guy and cute puppies.

I mean, what else could you ask for?
Just based on everything I just mentioned you should at least consider giving this book a chance!

The story follows Kate Stone, a woman who works as a professional organiser.
Her latest job is to help her best friend’s brother organize his house for Christmas.
After his divorce, he stopped taking care of the place he lives in and the beautiful house started to look like a mass storeroom.

Kate was, as I already said, an interesting main character. She has a good personality, but is somewhat naive. She is a hard worker, really organized and good at heart. She likes to help people and she spends her free time helping in an animal rescue center.

Michael is a mysterious guy, hurt by his ex. In my own words, after his divorce, he became a grumpy hoarder.

I like how their relationship evoluted from hate/dislike to friendship, and then started to develop into something more.

All of the side characters in this novel were plain good.
I am still not sure how to feel about it. I mean, the story is full of white (I don’t mean skin color), one dimesional characters (there were, of course, two “bad” characters, that were also one dimensional).
I didn’t like how “bad” characters weren’t mentioned anough in the story, especially when it comes to Kate’s boyfriend. I get that she spent almost no time with him, but I wish he wasn’t just mentioned as an absent boyfriend, I wish we got to see him more before the “big scene”.
Also, when it comes to Michael’s ex, I wish we got a chance to hear her side of the story, or anything that happened before the divorce.
In other words, I think negative characters weren’t explored enough.

The writing style is simple and you can easily read the story, as it reads pretty quicky.
It is written in first person, following Kate’s POV.

This story will wake up your emotions, at least it woke up mine.
I was angry, frustrated, sad, happy, felt the joy in my heart… And I swooned. A lot.

As the story was coming to an end, it became better and better with every page.

What I’m sure I’ll get from this book is I’ll remember one particular scene for a looooong time to come: (SPOILER ALERT!! the scene in which Lily (Michael’s little niece) says how she heard her friend’s mom saying that she thinks Michael is sixty (but in reality, that mom said sexy)).

Overall, this was a great festive story and I highly recommend it to everyone who’d like to read something quick and easy that will put a reader in a festive mood.

4,5

Spring Reading: 10 books I want to read this Spring

Happy first day of Spring, everyone!!!

I did some blog hopping these days, and got an inspiration for this post.
I know this was a theme for TTT, but since I don’t do TTT and I still wanted to write about my Spring reads, I decided that first day of Spring would be a perfect day..

My main inspiration came from the post by Liv from curlyhairbibliophile .

Without further ado, these are 10 books I want to read this Spring:

 

  1. The Second Love of my Life by Victoria Walters

the second love

This book comes out on April 7th. I already read it’s short story prequel, The Summer I Met You (you can read my review here) and liked it very much, so I can’t wait to see what Walters cooked for us in her full-lenght debut.
I hear this women’s fiction story is a real tearjerker so I’ll make sure to prepare some tissues for myself.

 

2. The Winner’s Triology by Marie Rutkoski

winners

I want to read this series for some time now and, since the last book is coming out soon, I figured it would be the best to just marathon the whole series. I want to do it ASAP, so that’s the reason why I’m choosing to read it this Spring.

 

3. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

the raven

Another series I want to marathon. First thing that bought me as a reader is the gorgeous cover for the last book in the series (yes, I know, I am shallow like that).
Second thing is, one of my favorite booktubers, Daniella from Pixie Tonic chanel said this is the best ya series outthere at this very moment, and I trust her opinion more they anyone’s.

 

4. Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel by Jane Costello

Summer Nights at Moonlight hotel

My favorite author is coming out with her new book on March 24th. This book is the first one from this list that I’ll be reading, and I plan to do that on it’s releasing day, if TBD delivers it on time. I am too excited for this one!

 

5. The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

the glittering court

Another book I plan to read on it’s releasing day, April 5th (if TBD delivers it on time, that is!). Richelle Mead is also one of my all-time favorite authors and I can’t wait to see what she prepared for us this time!

 

6. Warrior Witch by Danielle L. Jensen

warrior witch

My favorite on-going series is coming to an end and I can’t wait to see how it all’s going to wrap up, but am also sad to say goodbye to this world and it’s characters.
I am sure this series will be the one I’ll re-read many times in my life.

 

7. I heart London by Lindsey Kelk

I heart london

I am the worst reader ever, because this is my favorite chick-lit series and I still haven’t finished it.
I just HEART Angela Clark and Jenny Lopez and can’t wait to hang out with them again this Spring.

 

8. The Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

girl against

I simply can’t wait for this ya contemporary to come out. It sounds like it is written for me and I hope it will live up to my expectations. This one comes out on May 17th.

 

9. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

anne

This classic is the one I want to read very soon. I never got the chance to read it in my native language, so I bought it in English. I can’t wait to see how I’ll like the book that is loved by so many people in the world.

 

10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

pride

Once again I am the worst reader ever. This book that is loved by so many people in the world is the one that is still not on my “read” list.
I plan to change that this Spring in a hope that I’ll like it.

 

What books do you plan to read this Spring?
Tell me all about it in comments. 🙂

Book Review: Where Have All The Boys Gone by Jenny Colgan

where have all

Title: Where Have All The Boys Gone
Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date: August 1st, 2005
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed

 

Synopsis (from Amazon): 

Where have all the men gone? Faced with 25, 000 more women than men in London, and gleeful media reports that it’s statistically more likely for single women to be murdered than get married, Katie is reached an all-time low. But all is not lost …
Another hilarious high-concept romantic comedy from Jenny Colgan.

While Katie’s glad it’s not a man’s world any more, she’d be quite pleased if there were more men in it – or at least single ones, anyway.

More likely to get murdered than married, according to gleeful media reports, Katie resigns herself to the fact there’s no sex in the city and heads for the hills – or the Scottish highlands, to be precise.

Despite the fact she’s never been a girl for wellies – and Fairlish is in the middle of nowhere – the tiny town does have one major draw: men. Lots of them.

But while Katie relishes the chance to do battle with armies of admirers, she’s not reckoned on going head to head with her grumpy new boss, Harry, shadowy developers intent on destroying the beautiful countryside and Mrs McClockerty, the least suitable hotelier since Norman Bates.

At least there’s the local eye-candy to distract her, including gorgeous newshound Iain. But he is at loggerheads with Harry, and Harry despises her. Life in the country might not be one big roll in the hay but can Katie ever turn her back on the delights of Fairlish and return to city life?

vrpca

Review:

Browsing trough my local library’s shelf, an amazin and a bit funny book title cought my attention: Where Have All The Boys Gone?
With the adorable cover and the fact that it is written by Jenny Colgan, an author I want to check out for the longest time, I just had to borrow it.

The story follows three friends in their late twenties. One day, they were just minding their own girly buisness, when they saw an article in the newspaper which said that a single girl in London has a bigger chance to be murdered then to find herself a man.

I don’t think I have to tell you what girls’ reaction was. Already stressed out, they started to worry they’ll never find a decent man for themselves…

This book was one really good entertaiment. The story pulled me in and I was just having a great time reading it. I didn’t think about anything, I just enjoyed the ride.

Almost all the charaters in this book were likeable, although I didn’t feel attached to any of them.
There was one guy I didn’t particurarly like (Harry) because I found him to be too judgamental, but the world is full of people like him, which made me appreciate him as a character.
I don’t think that every fictional guy has to be swoon worthy and perfect, because life doesn’t work that way.

The writing style is really good. Colgan captured the atmosphere of a little Scottish town in such an amazing way (that was my favorite aspect of the story).
She also handled very well  an inner struggle of characters. Because of that, it was very easy to keep up with their process of thinking that lead them to make decisions they made.

This book is written over ten years ago and now when I read it, I want to check out some of Colgan’s new work to see how she developed as an author.

Overall, if you want to read a book just to occupy your mind, make you laugh on the way (I even cought myself laughing out loud at times) and make you forget about the world around you, I think this book is a good choice for you.

3,75