emails – Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson, author of The Greatest Love Story of All Time, is a hilariously funny and gorgeously romantic story about falling in love when you least expect it. Charley Lambert has put considerable effort into achieving a perfect life. She has The Job. The Wardrobe. And The Flat. Her womanising, junk food-loving housemate Sam lowers the tone a bit but that aside, things are peachy. Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her unrequited love propose to someone else and – worst of all – is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy while she recovers. Workaholic Charley fears that she will soon go mad. Desperate for something to do, she discovers her talent for helping the lovelorn online. And then William arrives in her inbox. Within hours of his first email, her world starts to change. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with this man and begins to realise that she’s not who she thought she was. But will she be brave enough to turn her back on her old life – all for a total stranger?

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My Review
To sum up Charley Lambert in one word, it would be ‘Workaholic.’ Whether it’s her job, or her extra-curricular activities, she never stops and hardly ever sleeps, that’s how busy her life is. You can see how much she wants her life to be perfect for her and she seems okay with being so busy she never really has time for anything else. Her diary is completely filled up.

But when she ends up breaking her leg in three places after an accident and has to give up her job for a few months while she heals, added in the fact that the guy she’s had a major crush on for seven years – Her boss John – has just got engaged, she feels her life is crashing down before her and she will go mad having to ‘relax’ and not keep busy.

After matchmaking many of her friends up and reading an article her best friend Hailey gave her about Ghost-writers on dating sites in America, she decides to start her own site up in the UK. Little does she know how much it was going to change her own life.

Oh GOD! I’m so glad I received an ARC copy of this book because sweet Jesus, when it’s out at the end of this month, you all need to go and buy yourself a copy! This is the first book I have read by Lucy Robinson (and her second book) and I LOVED her writing style. It sucked me in and this book is so SO funny, the swearing adds to the magic of the story and the twists and shocks throughout had be turning the pages at high speed making the plot exciting for the reader. I loved that it’s a story about internet dating because I know people who have set up a profile and I know it must be a bit difficult to convey yourself in messages to the person you’re speaking to. Ghost-writing must be such a fun job to do!

As I’ve said, Charley is a workaholic. She never stops but once she’s had her accident, it’s like her whole world has fallen apart. But starting up the dating website, it seems that she has a knack for helping people find their ‘soul mate.’ I don’t want to give away spoilers, but throughout her emails, they seem to make her think about her own life and whether she is satisfied with the way her life is going. She’s work-focused but now she’s completely frazzled over what to do, whether her work is important to her now and her relationship. It is a journey for Charley and one that ends fantastically for her.

I absolutely loved the secondary characters. Sam, Hailey and Granny Helen especially. They all stole my heart and had me laughing at their actions and comments throughout the book. I felt more drawn towards Hailey, but that’s maybe because I see a bit of myself in her, so I definitely liked reading about her and all her swearing! I could picture me and my best friend being exactly like her and Charley. She tells its straight when Charley because a bit obsessed with her dating site and I think everyone has been there, both in Charley and Hailey’s shoes, which made me relate to her. I especially loved all the swearing! Oh gosh, such a potty mouth.

Sam I adored with all my heart! Although a womanizer in some ways, he was especially caring and sweet to Charley when she broke her leg and after, when they began First Date Aid and became business partners. I loved that they had known each other since university and lived together but recently they have things come out, for both of them which neither knew about one another. I loved that! They seemed to bring out something in each other and make them think about their own life. I was completely rooting for them to get together because they actually seemed so right together. It was a journey for these two as well, but one that was well deserved in the end!

Seriously, pre-order this book right now! It will have you laughing, gushing, gasping and shouting at your book over several of the scenes – in a good way, especially near the end. It’s a great chick-lit and I’m so glad I got to read an ARC copy of it! I finished it curled up in bed, watching the snow fall down today and it made me heart go all gooey when it came to the end. I will definitely be reading more books by Lucy Robinson, starting with her first book “The Greatest Love Story of All Time”

Synopsis

Libby has been in love with Tony Marchetti since she was seven years old. The problem? Tony is her best friend’s older brother. Lately Tony has started looking at her in a new way and he emails her all the time. Could it be possible that he is starting to see her as more than his kid sister’s best friend?

Tony knows Libby McKay is off limits. She’s his sister’s best friend for crying out loud! But she is also smart, funny, and seriously hot. Plus she’s not afraid to get a little sweaty– on the track that is. Tony can’t seem to help himself, besides what’s a few emails? The occasional phone call? He can keep things light and friendly– Can’t he?

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My Review.

So, i bought and read this book last Christmas when I got my Kindle, and I loved it, but the other day Amazon emailed me telling me that this book had been updated and new content had been added. They asked me to reply with a ‘YES’ if i wanted them to send me the new copy. Of course I did! So now I’ve re-read it, I guess its time for my view on the new content.

Libby and Mel have been best friends all their lives and Libby has been in love with Mel’s brother Tony the same amount of time too, fancying him when she was just 7 and he was 11.

The book takes you on a long journey throughout both Libby and Tony’s lives over the span of 15 years, throughout the trials and tribulations of their ‘relationship.’ From becoming friends instead of just being the little sisters best friends to both falling in love with each other but the timing never being great for either of them, plus in the younger years, age has always been an issue with Tony as he is four years older than Libby and Mel.

Communication for both Tony and Libby over the book made me want to put my hand through my kindle and shake them both. Things go horrible tits-up on some parts of their story and you just want them to sit down and talk instead of walking away and ignoring one another – Libby was the main culprit for this – for months on end.

Jealousy for both characters was a main point throughout the book, mainly for Tony. For someone who kept making excuses he seemed to see green a hell of a lot especially when Libby spends 2 years in Rome for uni and a culinary course and spends time with a guy called Gio which was obviously to get over Tony.

It was a real ‘will they, wont they’ book and I could see Tony’s view point over the age thing, but 4 years is nothing and Libby’s feeling for him were so strong at points that I felt so sorry for her when he kept confusing her.

Despite everything over the years happening between them, they still upheld their friendship because if nothing could happen between them, then they still had each other in their life. You really root for them to get together, because you see both their view points on their relationship and see how hard it is for both of them.

The epilogue was the cutest ending to the book and you get an insight from an email from Gio as to how Libby’s life panned out.

NOW the new content was put at the end of the E-book and showed us Mel’s wedding to her fiancé John – whose relationship is shown throughout the book. You obviously know Tony and Libby are together but the ending of the new content, I grinned because no one matter how long you wait for someone, when you finally get them, there is nothing in your way anyone and it summed both Tony and Libby up. They waited so long for each other, both loved each other since they were younger, and now, now they had each other and no one and nothing would get in their way.

I really enjoy soppy books like this, especially the ‘forbidden’ kinds, much like best friends siblings, student/teacher (young teachers) relationships etc, so as I’ve said, when I first read this last year, I knew I would love it, and reading it again, I remembered everything I loved about it.