This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
January is the most depressing month in the calendar. Nothing is covered in twinkly lights anymore and my bank balance is cause for concern, so I’m sure I could be forgiven for just wanting to curl up under the duvet and not leave until February. But then ‘Love From Both Sides’ dropped through my letterbox and I discovered one of my new favourite books. ‘Love From Both Sides’ tells the story of Jamie Newman and Laura McIntyre, both single, both hating it and both having to sit through the most horrific and laugh out loud funny dates. Jamie, a freelance writer, chronicles his disastrous dates on his blog whilst Laura recalls hers through a series of diary entries to her mother. Both of them decide to give up on the world of dating. Until Laura runs Jamie down on a Vespa, knocking him out in the street as he crosses the road with an enormous rubber pot plant. And so begins the story of Jamie and Laura. And what a perfect one it is. Once I was fifty pages into this book I had to put it down until I could see through the tears of laughter streaming down my face. The tales of Jamie and Laura’s dates are uncut, hilarious and scarily close to real life. As each one writes about the night they’ve been on you laugh both with them and at them. The dialogue is well timed and the descriptions of both characters and situations explosively funny. Even once Jamie and Laura meet and the story becomes more focused on their progressing relationship, the laughter doesn’t stop. ‘The Fajita Incident’ will go down in history as one of the funniest scenes I have ever read. As well as being hilariously funny Love From Both Sides is also cute, warm and easily relatable. Nick Spalding is clearly very talented at writing from the point of view of both a man and a woman. I always felt like both characters were equal and I loved hearing from both of them about the same date and how they felt afterwards. As a girl you always wonder what the guy is thinking at the end of a really good date and being able to read how Jamie reacts when he first meets Laura and then as he gets to know her is beautiful and funny in equal measure. I had started and finished this book within 24 hours, something that hasn’t happened to me for a long time and I was over the moon to discover that the follow up ‘Love…and sleepless nights’ will be published in June. (I wish it was sooner!) I could gush about how much I loved this book all day, but it would make for a very long review so instead all I will say is go out and buy it and I will give it… 10/10 MORE ABOUT LOVE FROM BOTH SIDES BY NICK SPALDING