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.."
Rating: 4/5
You can buy How To Get A (Love) Life as an eBook now.
Rosie Blake's debut novel is one that has been on my radar for a long time now, but for some reason, I just haven't gotten around to reading it. Flicking through my Kindle library one night, I saw the book sitting there unread and decided that I had to give it a go. I love the colourful and bright cover (although it's just black and white on my Kindle!), and it sounded like it was going to be a really funny read too. I follow Rosie on Twitter too and find her tweets funny, so hoped that her book would be just as good and a very fun read.
Nicola is determined to find her Mr Right. Well, not exactly. Her colleague and friend Caroline desperately wants her to loosen up and find her Mr Right, but Nicola really isn't bothered. In fact, she quite enjoys her home to herself, doing what she wants and having everything in a nice, neat order. It makes her happy. But when Caroline challenges her to find her true love before Valentine's Day, Nicola accepts, perhaps more to shut Caroline up than anything else. Nicola soon finds that many of the local men just aren't her cup of tea, and it's slim pickings out there for a fussy woman like herself. But with a countdown clock ticking, and Nicola not wanting to lose the bet, she'd better start taking her hunt for Mr Right more seriously...
I found the book really easy to get into, and I felt the story flowed well. The character of Nicola was brilliant. She's quite strait-laced, likes making sure the front door is double locked, and has a set menu for each day of the week so she knows exactly what she's eating and when - there's no room for changes either. So finding a man who can suit her lifestyle isn't easy, but she's determined to do it. I liked that she wasn't hugely keen on the idea, but realised that she needed to brighten up her life a little bit, that perhaps being alone isn't always the best thing. Her colleague Caroline was the instigator of the whole thing, and I liked the contrast between their lives - Caroline's married and a mother to young children with a somewhat hectic life, compared to Nicola's calmer and more lonely one.
Nicola goes on a few horrible dates, which do create a few laughs, although you do have to feel sorry for Nicola having to sit through some of them! It's quite clear she isn't a good match for any of the men, especially the sports surfer, sounded like my idea of a nightmare to be honest! It certainly made for some rather funny moments. The inclusion of Nicola's brother was a good addition to the story, he and Nicola have a wonderfully close relationship and he was the source of a lot of funny moments too, pretty much treating his sister's place like his own home too! In terms of Nicola finding her Mr Right, I did set my heart of one particular person in the book, and I felt that this was where the story was going, and luckily for me I was right and I got the ending that I wanted- I love it when that happens!
Rosie Blake's debut novel is a really fun read, it's a fun and easy way to spend an evening reading, and with lots of likeable characters, especially the leading lady, there's lot to keep you reading. I have to confess that in terms of Nicola hitting her target of Valentine's Day to find true love, I did find it hard to work out how long she had left to do so because there wasn't much talk of time passing and therefore it wasn't clear how close she was to actually winning her bet with Caroline, but it's a minor point that I feel can be over-looked because of how enjoyable the rest of the book was. I loved Nicola, and loved her little quirks, she was certainly a unique individual! I really enjoyed the book, and look forward to more from Rosie Blake.
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