This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
REVIEWED BY KIRA SLAUGHTER
Everybody wants to be famous, don’t they?
Not Jessica Granger. Her father is the movie star who played the world’s favourite James Bond and, worse, her mother was voted sexiest-ever Bond Girl for her role as Heavenly Melons. Like it or not, fame is in her blood.
But Jessica desperately wants to be someone in her own right.
So she flees Hollywood for London, seeking independence in a city where nobody knows her name. But when she finds a job as a celebrity booker on a chat show she realizes the more friends she makes, the harder it is to keep up the lies about who she is. And when Jessica falls for Paul, a writer on the show, her life as a double agent causes double trouble.
As the truth about who she is becomes unavoidable, can Jessica convince Paul she’s the real deal? Or will a sprinkling of the old 007 magic spice up her love life?
I was chuffed when I received this book through the post as it had been on my Amazon wish list for a few weeks. I’d only read the first few chapters of the author's first novel for some reason, and I’ve always meant to finish it. After reading From London with Love, I shall hunt out the unfinished copy straight away.
Jessica is a twenty-something who is desperate to do something important with her life, pretty much like the majority of twenty-somethings out there. Except for one tiny thing her parents are two of the most famous actors in Hollywood. She can’t go anywhere or work anywhere without being noticed or without her Dad interfering. She only gets jobs in LA because of who her parents are and she’s getting pretty fed up.
I know some people who read this book might think ‘How can you feel sympathy for this character when she has everything she’s ever wanted?’, but I found myself feeling sorry for Jess. Yes she’s rich and lives in an amazing house in Malibu, but she wants to achieve something off her own back, and not just be regarded as some rich, airhead socialite.
She decides to up sticks and move to London for a bit to stay with her Aunt Pamela, and to find herself a proper job. What happens from there on in is cram-packed ith drama as Jess tries to hide who she really is. What she doesn’t plan on is falling for a writer at the BBC where she's working as an assistant to the celebrity booker on a chat show.
The story is fast paced, and there’s never a moment where you’re left thinking ‘God I wish this would pick up’. With an interesting sub plot involving Jessica’s parents separation, and a heart warming story with her boss and his wife, From London with Love is a fabulous novel that I found very difficult to put down.
8/10
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