This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
You’ve lost your job, you’re a disappointment to your mother and you’ve just found out that the best friend you’ve secretly been in love with for years has slept with your flatmate (who is also the biggest bitch you’ve ever met). What do you do? Steal someone’s identity and job then fly off to Hawaii for a week. Obviously. Tess has always been the girl with a plan. Fiercely committed to her job, she spends 80 hours a week at her desk waiting for the promotion she’s been promised over and over again. But then Tess is made redundant and realises that her whole life has been centered around her work. When things with Charlie, her childhood best friend and the object of her affections, go wrong too, Tess grasps an immediate opportunity to change her life. That opportunity happens to be a photo shoot in Hawaii. But there’s a catch: the job is actually intended for Tess’s flatmate Vanessa. Oh, and another thing, Tess isn’t even a photographer. Surely life as Vanessa will be better than life as Tess? Tess soon finds that life as Vanessa comes with more challenges than she expected, especially when handsome, egotistical journalist, Nick Miller, makes it very clear that he’d like to get into her pants. This book is hilarious. Fact. I laughed at least once every two pages. Lindsey Kelk’s comedy timing is spot on and I was able to relate to Tess’s feelings with a familiarity that I don’t often get from other books. Tess is the perfect main character: funny, likable, best friend material. I really rooted for her and hoped that she would eventually find some direction. The secondary characters in About a Girl are strong: best friend Amy is a tough cookie but is actually struggling underneath her flippant exterior. Paige, the Hawaiian equivalent of Amy, is the kind of champagne swigging fashionista that says it like it is, with refreshing honesty. Flatmate Vanessa is Queen Bitch and potentially the vilest character I’ve ever read – but I loved to hate her. Then there’s Nick Miller. Dreamy Nick, ruggedly handsome, tortured and emotionally unavailable Nick. I had a vivid and highly pleasing mental image if Nick, and in terms of male protagonists he’s up there in my top five. The book has excellent pace and I raced through it in no time, in fact I was a little sad that I read it so quickly. Tess’ journey is both hilarious and poignant, with plenty of calamity involved. Fans of Lindsey Kelk’s I Heart series and her stand-alone novels will definitely be pleased with this latest instalment, or if you have never read her before, this book is the perfect introduction. 10/10 MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK
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