Review – Made in Essex by Laura Ziepe

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

With fake tans, champagne and bikinis named ‘Essex Showgirl’, welcome to the most outrageously Essex book of the year. Jade and Kelly have been friends for a long time. Both glamorous Essex girls, they like the finer things in life and have spray tans regularly, but they are driven and determined in equal measure. The girls have set their hearts on running their own bikini designing business from Jade’s dad’s office, which Kelly has recently redesigned to reflect their personalities – enter pink sparkly pens and glitter rugs! Don’t be fooled though, these girls have both the talent and the drive to succeed. As their website is being designed and they are busy ordering materials for their stunning new fashion line, the girls have never been happier. Until their old friend Adele arrives that is. An old rival of Jade’s, Adele is a little sick and tired of Jade always being the centre of attention and she isn’t about to sit back and let it continue. Adele has a powerful secret that could destroy Jade’s relationship with her long-term boyfriend, Sam, and pull apart everything she’s worked so hard for. Our televisions have been taken over by a wave of reality TV shows such as TOWIE and Made In Chelsea lately, so it was only a matter of time before authors started jumping on the bandwagon, right? The aim is to fill our bookshelves with tales of designer lifestyles and outrageous behaviour, and Made in Essex is no exception to that genre. Jade and Kelly are your typical Essex girls. They prance around in sky-high heels whilst using words like ‘reem’ and ‘babes’ in every other sentence, but they do have hearts and, as the story picks up pace and their lives become more complicated, I found myself warming to their characters. I believed in the girls’ friendship and I liked their drive to succeed. When their business is threatened by a mysterious rival company, I felt a need to protect them and the venture they were so passionate about. Adele is the kind of character you love to hate. She is typically manipulative and incredibly bitchy (most girls have known someone like her at some point in their lives), and she had me boiling with rage. She moves the story on well and creates a lot of complications. Mainly between Jade and her boyfriend Sam, who is struggling to deal with the fact that Jade’s job takes up more of her time than he does. After getting outrageously drunk one night, has he now ruined things between them for good? One of the things I loved about this book was that it wasn’t ashamed to be itself. That might be a silly thing to say about a book, but its an honest read that’s unashamed of its Essex roots. Laura Ziepe clearly knows how to write characters that grab your attention and the book is well researched and put together. I couldn’t help imagining that Laura may have known a few real-life characters like this at some point in her life. Is it over the top? Yes. A little superficial? Yes. A little cringey? Yes. But if you like tongue-in-cheek humour and drama sprinkled in glitter from your chick-lit then this book is perfect for you. 6/10 MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK