Synopsis
Newly single, Tilly Cole impulsively accepts a job offer in a small town as a “Girl Friday.” Fun job, country house, fresh start, why not? But soon she finds herself in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue, and rampant rivalry for the town’s most desirable bachelor-Jack Lucas.
Rumors of Jack’s “love ’em and leave ’em” escapes abound, and Tilly decides to do the mature, sensible thing… avoid Jack at all cost. But the more time Tilly spends with Jack, the more the rumors just don’t make sense. Tilly doesn’t know what to believe… and Jack’s not telling
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My Review
After her boyfriend leaves her, newly-single Tilly goes to visit her friend Erin in Roxborough for the weekend, catching-up and partying. When it’s time to go back to the city, Tilly’s train is delayed and she stumbles upon an ad for a job – a “Girl Friday” and decides to call and see what it’s about.
Pushing her way to an interview, she leaves the station and goes to the house, where she meets Max Dineen, an interior designer, father to a teenager called Lou and he’s gay. The “Girl Friday” ad is basically Max looking for someone to help him with his business and errands and raising his daughter. During the interview, it was easy to see that Max and Tilly hit it off famously, so of course she was given the job, meaning she was moving from the city to the little town of Roxborough.
Tilly soon meets Jack Lucas after moving to the town, and everyone she meets warns her that he is a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ guy so that she should stay away if she doesn’t want to be another notch on his bedpost (if you believe the rumours). So that’s what she does, stays away. But Jack cant stay away from her.
We find out that Jack had been engaged previously, but his fiancée had died. Although Tilly continually pushes him away, its easy to see that the attraction is there, for both of them, but no matter what he tells her, she doesn’t want to be another notch.
When Max and Lou decide on a weekend away, Tilly agrees to a date with Jack but unforeseen circumstances come about and it’s the finally straw. Tilly wants nothing to do with him.
Although all this is happening with Tilly and Jack, her best friend Erin is getting shit from the ex-wife of her new boyfriend, but when the ex-wife gets cancer, its Erin, not her friends, that is there until the end.
Jack, who doesn’t give up easily, actually really surprised me at the end of the book. I was not expecting what he did, to happen. But it proved how serious he was about Tilly – even telling his former fiancee’s parents about her, which must have been hard to do.
All the characters were so loveable in their own way. I loved all the different stories interlinked within the book with all the different characters having stuff happening in their lives. It deals with subjects such as death, rumours, homophobia, love but it all adds into the brilliance of how it was written and delivered in the book.
The friendships between the characters were magical especially Max and Jack and Max and Tilly. I loved both these friendships and they had me laughing a lot throughout their interactions. This book is light-hearted and fun to read; it’s a fluffy chick-lit read.
Z. Elizabeth 