Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Book review: “Fates and Furies” in many ways is two books in one. The first "book", entitled Fate, tells the story of Lotto and Mathilde. You meet them at age 22. They are on a beach enjoying each others company having just eloped, their young love shining through the pages in this breezy intro.

However as their marriage goes through its course it isn’t always so breezy. “Nothing like having a wife who works herself to death to stifle the mood for love. Nothing like dying dreams, and disappointment.”

However always at the core of their story is a love of each other. But the marriage does end in tragic circumstances and thus “Fate” ends, back where it began on the beach, Lotto and Mathilde as they once were.

Then the second part of the book is “Furies”. Whereas the first part was from Lotto’s perspective, now you get to see things from Mathilde’s point of view, as she picks things up from where they were left off, with a lot of anger. She also fills the gaps in to the backstory because, as the blurb says, “every story has two sides”.

Altogether I enjoyed this book and the writing style, with unique style, like its use of square brackets for asides, and the bit-part characters with names like Freckles and Miniskirt. And, as I said, it is like two books in one so you get double the value. All-in-all then a good read.

Publication date: 17 Sep 2015

Available on AMAZON (Go check it out!)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

Book review: "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." And so begins the career of probably the world's most famous secret agent for those are the opening words of Casino Royale, the book that Ian Fleming wrote introducing Bond, James Bond to the world.

The plot seems simple enough and is well known. Bond is sent on a mission to bring down Le Chiffre whose investments have left him needing to make a lot of money. "Le Chiffre will endeavour to make a profit at baccarat of fifty million francs on a working capital of twenty-five million (and, incidentally, save his life)." That's because Le Chiffre is an agent of the USSR, and they know of his bad investments which he foolishly used "Leningrad Section III" monies for. Now they want it back and SMERSH, an organisation specialising in death to spies, are after him. Bond is to out-gamble Le Chiffre so that he can't repay his money. And it is HM Treasury who put up the money for him to do this. I can't imagine George Osborne doing that these days but this story wasn't written in these days.

Then the other part of the plot involves Bond meeting Vesper Lynd who is also assigned to the job, and trying to rescue her after getting herself kidnapped but instead getting caught and tortured.

The way the book is written is fantastic. Fleming is a great writer. You meet Bond already in the heart of the action at the glamorous casino. Then he introduces the mission and Le Chiffre via a dossier, an excellent tool to introduce the villain and his back-story, before returning to Royale, France. He also inserts the rules of baccarat into the novel seamlessly to allow non-casino goers like me understand what is going on (something I didn't understand from the films where it was assumed people would know, and I don't think Bond uses the Evelyn Tremble method in the book either, although he does explain his method in detail).

Bond the character is of his time. He smokes 70-a-day, loves his drinks, although a "vodka Martini, shaken not stirred", is not one of them, and is terribly sexist. "These blithering women who thought they could do a man's work. Why the hell couldn't they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men." He is also very meticulous, which is probably what makes him such a good spy.

There are other bits in here too that are classic James Bond like the car chase, the narrow escapes and Felix Leiter.

But once the main thrilling part of the novel finished the story seemed to meander off course a bit with Bond recovering in a hospital bed, discussing "the nature of evil" with Mathis, before falling in love with Vesper rather too easily it seemed to me.

Still thanks to this book we have James Bond and we can all be grateful (or not as the case may be) for that.

Originally published: 13 April 1953

Available on AMAZON

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter

Book review: Set in Guernsey in 1994 "Paper Aeroplanes" is about a friendship between two 15-year-old girls, Renée and Flo, united by their "loneliness and their dysfunctional families".

They're not friends at the beginning though. They're not yet throwing paper aeroplanes with messages written in them to each other during lessons at school. Instead they have different friends. Renée has Carla and Gem, but is their "tag along", and Flo has the mean and bossy Sally. But Renée and Flo find each other and become friends, although it isn't always smooth.

The book is in part inspired by the author's teenage diaries, and I think this works well as you can definitely feel that the two voices that the story is told through, those of Renée and Flo, are those of two 15-year-olds. But other parts are quite deep as the characters explore their inner thoughts, and those bits do feel like you are reading bits pulled directly from someone's diary rather than bits of a story.

The blurb says this is an edgy book which is presumably because of some of the language and the things that go on, the sort of things 15-year-olds do for the first time. And the story is a bit girly in places, boyfriends, clothes, period pains, but that's probably to be expected. The story is gripping, and moving, and you do root for the two main characters. It is well worth a read.

 

Published on 3 May 2013.

 

Available on AMAZON

The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek by Ben Davis

Book review: “The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek” is, as the title suggests, a sequel, not that you need to have read the original book before this one although it does feature the same characters.

 

On his blog Joe writes about his life. This includes his home life with his heavily pregnant mum, whose pregnancy has made her a bit mental, step-dad Jim, step-brother Gav, who is also the school bully and who Joe shares a room with, and mad nan Doris. Then there are his school friends Ad and Harry, Harry who speaks in an old-fashioned way calling people “old chap” and all that as he contemplates life’s problems by sucking his empty pipe. And then there is his girlfriend Natalie who Joe is worried will dump him at every turn.

 

The main stories running through the book are Joe’s attempts to win over his girlfriend’s dad who is very much his adversary. Then there is the DJ competition in which Joe acts as manager to his friends Harry and Ad and their double act as they take on another adversary, the smug, son of an MP, Seb.

 

The front cover of this book makes the comparison to the Wimpy Kid series and with Joe getting into plenty of embarrassing situations which escalate you can see the similarities. However there are fewer pictures here than Wimpy Kid, and the material is more suited for teenagers.

 

I laughed at Joe’s “pain and humiliation” and recommend you do too.

 

Publication date: 2 April 2015

 

Amazon UK link: The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek

The Out of Office Girl by Nicola Doherty

Book review: "The Out of Office Girl" follows Alice Roberts at a point in her life where she is just coming to the end of a relationship, and is feeling pretty insecure about herself because of it. She is also insecure over her job as an assistant editor in a publishing house. One of their books that she is working on is that of Hollywood-badboy Luther Carson, who is failing to deliver. "He talks a good talk, but whenever we actually sit down to do anything, which isn't very often, it's like catching quicksilver."

When Alice's boss falls ill preventing her from plane travel it is Alice that is sent to Italy to sort out Luther, despite her lowly position as the out of office girl - "the person who's named on her out of office email." Can Alice deliver the book, and is there romance along the way too?

The book has a good feel throughout. You can feel the busy social life of a young professional when in London and when in Italy you can feel the more laid-back Mediterranean lifestyle coming through, not to mention the better weather. The book is a nice jaunty one ideal for holiday reading.

Publication date: 5 July 2012

Amazon UK link (£6.99): The Out of Office Girl

The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman by Maman Sánchez

Book review: 

"The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman" is, unsurprisingly, about the disappearance of Atticus Craftsman, a 30-year-old Englishman in Spain.

He had traveled to Madrid, Spain, on his father's bequest to close the family business's literary magazine there, "Librarte", thus putting its five female employees, each with their own back-story, out of work. But whilst there he disappears as a plan hatched by the employees to save themselves comes to fruition.

Meanwhile the local inspector Manchego is on the case, except he doesn't appear to be doing very well as many things conspire against him.

It's only when Atticus's father, Marlow Craftsman, has had enough and goes searching for his son himself, going "into the jungle to save his son from the clutches of the natives who were about to devour him in a cauldron full of Twinnings Earl Grey", that things get resolved, with all ending happily.

Overall then a tale that is mainly farce, what with the clash between "aristocratic, antiquated  and cold Englishness" and the Spanish way of things, plus an inspector who seems incompetent, before all is revealed and love comes to the fore.

Amazon link: The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman (from £7.13 at the time of writing) 

Release date: 26 March 2015

Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow by Tilly Bagshawe

"Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow" is the sequel to "If Tomorrow Comes". Although it is not necessary to have read the first book before this one, as the bare bones of the back story are filled in along the way, it probably is best as then you have all the detail, and know the characters from before.

This book brings back characters from the original "If Tommorrow Comes", the main two being Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney, "the second-most-talented and the most-talented con artists in the world." They marry and go straight, leaving behind their past lives. But that leaves a void in their lives. Jeff fills his by getting a job as curator of antiquities at the British Museum. Tracy meanwhile has the sole obsession of "trying, and failing, to have a baby", but not having the void filled leads to cracks in the marriage and then to a split, helped by an enemy who secretly couldn't stand them being together. The split ends up with Tracy disappearing into thin air.

But by the end of the book their common enemy is revealed and Jeff and Tracy are able to come together once more.

There are plenty of clever cons along the way, expertly written as Bagshawe makes you believe they are doomed to failure before the heroes successfully complete them. The story is good. This is an enjoyable read.

Publication date: 9 Oct 2014

Available on Amazon UK: Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow

The Inheritance by Tilly Bagshawe

I read "Do Not Disturb" by Tilly Bagshawe and liked it so thought I'd read this book of hers too.

Anyone who has read Tilly Bagshawe before will know the formula. There will be an arrogant, driven, womanising man as the male lead in the red corner, and a successful and beautiful female lead in the blue corner. There will be friction between them. In this book the friction is over a house - The Furlings, "the most beautiful estate in Sussex, if not the whole of England," in the picturesque village of Fittlescombe.

The Furlings estate was under Flint-Hamilton ownership for three centuries and Tatiana "Tati" Flint-Hamilton, an only child, believes it is her birthright. But her father disinherits her after some scandalous behaviour in her teenage/young adult years. So the house goes to some distant cousins, "a family of rich Australians" - the Cranleys, of which the father, Brett, is the arrogant womaniser character.

Tati makes it her aim to get her house back but the court case goes against her so what can she do now? Meanwhile Brett Cranley has secretly fallen in love with Tati and, with just one card to play to keep her in his life, he makes sure that Furlings stays in his possession.

Overall the story has a lot of interweaving storylines, mainly involving the residents of the village, Fittlescombe, and lots of love triangles as you'd expect. I didn't think it was as good as "Do Not Disturb" because the friction between the two leads was not played out as effectively, and neither was I completely satisfied with the ending, but in its own right "The Inheritance" is a good read nonetheless.

Publication date: 19 June 2014

Amazon UK link: The Inheritance

Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters

This book is essentially a love story set in World War II, and the regrets unfolding from it many years down the line in 2010.

Dorothy Sinclair is the owner of the suitcase, a suitcase that has a role to play throughout the book linking the past and the modern day. She was 39 in 1940 when she met Jan Pietrykowski, the love of her life, although circumstances contrived against her, with the War being one of them of course. Fast forward to 2010 and she is 109 and has a lot to get off of her chest, and that will be to her grand-daughter Roberta who has already discovered that some of her grandmother’s (or babunia’s) backstory doesn’t match up and wants to discover why.

There are two perspectives to this story. The first is that of Dorothy, who was “a thoughtful woman, a woman of intelligence” who “just wanted Jan”. Theirs was a chance encounter, but love at first sight. 

Then there is Roberta, the grand-daughter, with the modern-day perspective, and she also has an unfulfilled love story to tell with her life always being spent at the bookshop “the Old and New, the place where I am always to be found,” hence the book spines on the front cover. She is a collector of all the letters, postcards, drawings and stuff like that that can be found in the second-hand books that come into her shop. This includes one her grandmother had, a “stupid letter which seems to refute all that my grandmother has told me about her early life.”

All in all this is a heart-warming tale of lost love, of the one who got away, and the one that didn't. 

Publication date: 27 February 2014

Amazon UK link: Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

“Crazy Rich Asians” gives you the opportunity to be a voyeur into another world, the world of the super rich Chinese. It is a place “filled with jaw-dropping opulence”, a world where you wouldn’t think twice about using your private jet to travel half-way across the world in an instant.

It starts with a family tree to give you an idea of what you are getting yourself into. Here your background matters. And this is the “uppermost echelon of Asian wealth – a secretive, rarefied circle of families virtually unknown to outsiders who possessed immeasurably vast fortunes.” Outsiders, even the newly rich Chinese, are not welcome.

The book has a dual storyline, both of which have the common theme of an outsider being in a relationship with these people. The first strand follows double heiress Astrid Leong and her crumbling marriage to husband Michael, who “everyone in Singapore thinks married you for your money.”

But the main storyline follows Nick Young who lives in New York as a professor and is dating fellow professor Rachel Chu. He is taking Rachel back home for the summer. But news travels ahead of them as “this exotic strain of gossip spread rapidly through the Levantine networks of the Asian jet set, and within a few hours, almost everyone in this exclusive circle knew that Nicholas Young was bringing a girl home to Singapore. And, alamak! This was big news.” And inevitably the gossip leads to claims that she is nothing more than gold digger, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Nick doesn’t prepare Rachel for this despite the warnings that “the minute she walks into that house an innocence will be lost,” and “you can’t just throw Rachel into the deep end like this.”

Meanwhile Nick’s mother is doing her own preparations as she prepares a dossier on Nick's girlfriend. “The investigator thinks that they were most likely working class. In other words, they are PEASANTS!”  

So there are clashes along the way but the ride is great, giving you a glimpse into the high-life, and there is a happy ending. What more can you ask for?

Publication date: 5 Dec 2013

Amazon UK link: Crazy Rich Asians

The Last Kings of Sark by Rosa Rankin-Gee

“The Last Kings of Sark” is about love and about the long summers like you experienced when you were young and carefree. “The world was blond, the wind was warm. These were the days that were golden.”

The first part of the book is written from Jude’s point of view and sees her arrive in Sark at the beginning of summer to provide tuition to the only child, Pip, of Eddy and Esme. Things don’t start too well as they thought she would be a boy. (“My name is Jude. And because of Law, Hey and the Obscure, they thought I was a boy.”

Sark is painted as a small island with Jude being shipped in with meat supplies, and there are no cars on the island, and no roads, only golden paths which “were tree-lined, but the trees had grown up and bowed until they met at the top.” Bicycles are the mode of transport here.

Jude is 21, Pip is 16 and the hired help, Sofi, is 19 and, although at the beginning “I could tell straight away that Sofi didn’t like me,” their relationship develops into something special, what with Eddy often away on business and Esme bed-ridden. “It somehow worked, the three of us, tea after tea, tale after tale at the table.” And they also ventured outside to experience all the island.

But summer passes. “Our skin got darker and our hair got lighter, and summer passed like sand through our fingers.” And the love they develop for each other is lost forever although there is the promised reunion under the Eiffel Tower to look forward to. “I can’t wait to go. Baguettes man.”

The second half of the book is written differently with multiple points of views from the three characters from the first half as they all live in France but yet do not really see each other. And when Pip does meet Sofi “it feels forced, almost formal.” The feel is darker too with death and responsibilities rearing their heads.

Then the last chapter is a return to Sark to reminisce about that perfect summer once more “when we were young, when we were kings.”

So a coming of age novel where you can reminisce over the lost summers of youth, and also get into the lives of three characters you’ll come to love and long for them to be reunited once more.

Amazon UK Link: The Last Kings of Sark

Publication Date: 7 Nov 2013

Do Not Disturb by Tilly Bagshawe

When I ordered this book I didn’t realise that it was over 600-pages in length. I was hoping then that it wouldn’t be rubbish as I was going to be stuck with it for a while. Luckily I needn’t have worried. It just meant that I had longer to spend in the character’s world that was built up right from the beginning.

The book is split into two halves. The first half focuses on the rivalry of two hotels and their managers. “Honor Palmer and Lucas Ruiz are the protagonists at the heart of what is being dubbed the Five-Star Wars, a battle for supremacy between two great Hampton hotels: the world-famous Palmers and the new architecturally acclaimed Tischen, the Herrick.”

Honor is the "spiky tomboy" grown up into the Palmers riches, but determined to keep the family legacy alive, i.e. the once great Palmers that is now just “another dime-a-dozen “luxury” hotel, perhaps even a little shabbier than its rivals”. Lucas is the “handsome, cocky, arrogant” womaniser driven by ambition to be the greatest hotel manager in the world before realising his “fantasy of one day owning his own hotel. His hotel would be an aura not just of luxury but of peace” all under the name “Luxe.”

Lucas is directed from on-high by the owner of the Herrick, Anton Tisch, who wants “Palmers out of business by this time next year. I want her penniless and scrounging at my feet”.

But then Lucas gets too big for his boots, “ever since the boy had started taking sole credit for the Herrick’s success” so Anton Tisch destroys him, along with Palmers at the same time. The second half of the book looks at the aftermath now that Honor and Lucas have a common enemy.

The book is a good read with lots of characters that have distinctive characteristics and motivations. It is a light read and a good world to inhabit through its 600 pages plus. If you like your 600-page bonkbusters then get it.

Publication date: 14th May 2013 (this edition, originally published on 7th Feb 2008) 

Amazon UK link: Do Not Disturb

Vlad All Over by Beth Orsoff

I came across the author Beth Orsoff through her book Disengaged, which is very much a Rom-Com. This book on the other hand is a more serious affair, but still with the romance in there.

The story follows Gwen Anderson, a woman who was adopted after her real mother abandoned her leaving her only a painted icon of Saint George. This plays a key part in the plot, but given the way Gwen feels towards her birth mother who never has attempted to find her so she can't care less about her, it seems strange that she should hold on to this and keep it as a good luck charm, but never mind.

Gwen has nightmares about her killing lots of people. She meets Alex Romanescu and he, behind her back, uncovers that she is in the Vlad Tepes aka Dracula family line, which upsets Gwen so much that they fall out. ("He'd lied to me from the moment we'd met. Betrayed my trust. We were through.")

And that is the basis of the book.

The first half sort of plodded along, mainly because the two lead characters lacked life. It's only when the big revelations come into it, and the conflict starts, that the book comes to life. So the second half was good. And it is good to see that the story is going to continue into another book, where hopefully Alex and Gwen get back together.

Overall the book is ok, but is not as good as Disengaged, the other book I've read by the author.

I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed on Amazon UK HERE.

Disengaged by Beth Orsoff

Disengaged is a good title for a story about getting engaged and the rocky journey that follows because of it.

It starts off with a proposal by Brad to Allie at a party held in honour of a soap star's Emmy Award (cue outrageous soap plot-lines that are so outlandish they could be real). Jax Montgomery applauds the pair believing they are actors new to the soap rehearsing their first scene but embarrassingly that is not the case. And thus the main characters are introduced.

The rest of the book follows Allie as she prepares for this wedding, although the interfering mother-in-law-to-be, who Allie has an icy relationship (leading to some humorous, barbed exchanges) takes over, much to Allie's dislike. It turns the wedding into a relationship-ruining affair and makes Allie reconsider her love for Brad.

And at the same time through the process Allie seems to be innocently meeting the Jax fellow from the opening scene ("And that's how I ended up on a second non-date with Jax Montgomery.")

Throughout much of the book I had a smile on my face. It is written in a light-hearted fashion but still has length. The humour never breaks up the story and the characters are defined, although maybe some a little one-dimensional (Brad possibly, and his dad who only seems to watch televised sport).

I enjoyed the book throughout, despite me being a man and it being aimed at women, and recommend it.

I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.

Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind by Andy Robb

Geekhood is essentially about finding out that it is best to be yourself, even if you are a geek in which case embrace your inner-geek.

Archie is the 14-year-old hero of the story. He terms himself a geek, and he has issues. His inner monologue is constantly talking to him, mainly to belittle him. Later he comes into contact with a girl, and for a geek he builds this up into something big, even trying to change himself for her by honing his psychic self. And through this and the impact it seems to be having on him and his life he realises, perhaps, that it is better just to be yourself.

The book contains humour, mainly through the teasing of Archie's inner monologue and the banter from his close band of geeky friends. I wouldn't say Archie comes across as a geek in the traditional glasses and inability to communicate sense though, but then you can define geek as whatever you want probably (there is a good opinion put forward in the book on this).

I enjoyed the book and it made me chuckle in places. It would probably suit young men from 13-years up. 

http://www.geekhood.co.uk/

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

This is Life by Dan Rhodes

This novel is set in Paris and follows lead character Aurélie who is a student doing an art project. She decides to throw a stone in a public place to hit a random person to spend a week with for her art project - it hits a baby. After a bit of explaining herself remarkably she is given the baby to look after for a whole unsupervised week. And the book follows that week where her world changes, as does that of the characters around her.

Also at this time an artist is in town presenting his remarkable work of art "Life".

So that is the plot but what the book really is about the characters, and the romance. The characters are well-formed. Some traits may be there for comic affect but that is fine by me. The book is pretty light-hearted throughout bar one moment with a gun. And there is a fair amount of romance in the novel too.

Thoroughly recommended.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

What in God's Name by Simon Rich

This is a good book that I read with a smile on my face throughout. 

It’s about heaven which is an office, where the CEO is God, and the employees are angels. The main focus of the book is on the miracles department where Craig works. He welcomes new girl-angel Eliza who used to work in the prayers department. She then sees God in his office and takes exception to her previous prayers work not having been read. God sees her point of view and decides it is time for him to retire so he sets a date for the end of the world. Craig seeks a reversal of this decision and is given a lifeline because God agrees not to destroy Earth if Craig can answer a prayer within 30 days. Unfortunately of the possible prayers he has been given to answer most are out of date so they are stuck with one set of prayers where a girl and boy both want to get together with each other, except they are the two most awkward and shy people possible.

So the two angels set about working their mini-miracles to try and make this happen, but there are a lot of things still outside their control, as there are rules involved in what they can and can’t do. They watch events unfold on their computer screens, and it is quite interesting the juxtaposition of these two angels watching and commenting on the lame attempts of the humans trying to get together when they too are in a similar situation.

Just a word of warning though. The book is very Americanised with references to American sports like the NFL and NASCAR; then talk of the East Coast and the South etc. and also the language. This is most apparent at the beginning but does become less in the later part of the story. All us English readers will just have to muddle through these parts, but the reward is worth it.

(I got this book for free through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern

This book is a series of anecdotes from the author’s (Justin Halpern's) life as he tries his luck with the ladies. As you can tell from the title of the book these attempts are not altogether successful leading to some embarrassing moments which are funny.

Other funny moments in the book obviously come from Justin’s dad’s off-the-wall and no-nonsense comments and advice, especially in the bits of the book where Justin is still living at home. At these times I could just imagine William Shatner delivering the lines deadpan just like he did in the TV series ($#*! My Dad Says).

Obviously this book is being marketed as the sequel to the very successful "**** My Dad Says" (it’s mentioned on the cover don’t you know) and having not read that I can’t comment on whether this one is better, or whether it repeats stuff, but in it’s own right I really enjoyed this book and it made me laugh on multiple occasions. It doesn’t suck. 

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is available to buy here.)

Noughties by Ben Masters

This book is about Eliot Lamb who is out with his Uni mates as they celebrate their last night at Oxford University. They go to a pub, a bar and then a club. In between Eliot reminisces about his three-years there, which means he reminisces mainly about girl trouble. 

If I were to mark it as if it were a thesis I would mark it thus:

Good points:

There is some good stuff in this book. I like the author’s way of describing things. Straight from the off there are good descriptions, e.g. “Scott with his question-mark nose, Jack with his inverted-comma eyebrows, Sanjay with his square-bracket ears…” 

I like the humour in the repartee between characters.

Bad points:

There is a lot of swearing and smut in the book, a bit too much for my liking.

It gets a bit confusing in places. Are the ideas conveyed too clever for me?

The bits with literary references went over my head in a lot of places.

Ella’s ending is unfinished.

Overall:

Frustrating – with more work this could have been better as there are snippets of story here that work well and which had me wanting to read on, but then as a whole it wasn’t as coherent. 

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace

I have read Danny Wallace's Yes Man and have also read lots of the columns that he writes for the Shortlist magazine, some of which have been published, but this was his first novel and I was wondering whether he could carry across his humour etc. from non-fiction into fiction. Well the answer is yes.

This book has a sense of fun running right through it. It follows Jason Priestley who is going through a bad time in his life. He inadvertently ends up with a disposable camera from a girl he fancies (with the moment happening on Charlotte Street, as do a few other moments in the book). He develops the film and uses it to try and track down the girl, but will he do it? And should stalking be encouraged anyway?

It was interesting the way Jason Priestley got into a few embarrassing scrapes along the way. This is where Danny Wallace's humour comes across best and I could just imagine him from Yes Man ending up in similar scraps. It was like he'd put himself into the shoes of Jason.

Anyway essentially this is a novel about "Making it happen", hence the attempt to track down the girl. So why don't you make it happen today and buy this book for a read which will put a big smile on your face.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)