This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Rubbish Boyfriends
We’ve all had them – but can Dayna find the diamond amongst the rough? A hilarious and high-concept novel about love in the 21st century for the Facebook generation, published in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. Everyone’s had rubbish boyfriends but Dayna Harris seems to have had more than her fair share. Now, aged 27, Dayna lies on her maternity bed, thinking back, with every excruciating contraction, to the ghosts of boyfriends past. Against a nostalgic soundtrack of 90s pop classics, we’re taken on a journey of her romantic history, beginning with Simon, with a penchant for cuddly toys and the libido of a rabbit. On to earnest Chris, an aspiring musician and professional vegetarian. He’s lovely but he and carnivore beauty therapist Danya are chalk and cheese. Then there’s Cockney geezer Archie. A joker and entrepreneur, she falls hook, line and sinker for him. But then he starts making excuses not to see her – but not for the reason she thinks. A brief blip at an uber-cool party with drop-dead gorgeous artist Gabriel is followed by Mark, kind to kittens, old people and small children and too good to be true. Until Dayna finds out his shocking secret!.Just as she’s despairing of ever finding The One Cristian walks into her life. Dressed like a male model, he knows all the right people and treats her like a princess. So why doesn’t her heart sing? A chance encounter with all of her exes brings her to the present day – and the maternity ward. But who’s the daddy?
I bought this book initially because I loved the honesty of the title and the eye-catching cover. A few pages in and I was totally gripped.
The story flits between Dayna in the present tense, who is in labour (executed hilariously by Jessie Jones) and through flashbacks to the past where we are told the stories of Dayna’s ‘Rubbish Boyfriends’. One of whom is the father of the baby.
The character of Dayna was just brilliant. She was funny, down to earth, very real and extremely likeable. Exactly the kind of character I could find an affinity with and would like to meet in real life.
I loved how each of Dayna’s past boyfriends were so completely different from each other. They were visually written so I had no trouble imagining them and deciding on who was my favourite (it was a close call between Simon and Chris. Simon was the cute, blokey bloke but I decided on Chris in the end. Perhaps because of the hilarious twist on who Chris actually is –which delighted me)
This is the first book by Jessie Jones (who is the pseudonym of author Maria Beaumont) and I really hope it is not the last. I would love to see a sequel to Rubbish Boyfriends because it was one of my favourite books of this year.
If you are looking for unashamed chick lit that is well written, laugh out loud and crammed full of blokes, then I would totally recommend this book.
Rated 5/5
To find out more about Jessie Jones visit her website here!