Ten reasons to be cheerful — or not
JENNY Taylor is 27 and, despite her Smiling Manifesto — a list of ten things she must do daily to keep herself happy — she is confused and not especially happy either.
Having had a difficult childhood (thanks largely to a very fractious relationship with her dad), she was also badly bullied at school.
After leaving home as a teenager, Jenny has no contact with her parents — until, that is, her mum leaves her dad after years of abuse and pitches up on Jenny’s doorstep, keen to talk about the stuff her daughter has refused to engage with for years.
As the mother/daughter bond gets stronger, Jenny’s relationship with her uber-controlling fiancé, Matt, goes from bad to worse. The fact that she sleeps with her flatmate, then falls in love at first sight with gorgeous local musician Joe King, only adds to the confusion.
As Lucy-Anne Holmes says, it turns out that if you’re just a girl, standing in front of a boy, don’t, whatever you do, tell him that you love him. Jenny is an appealing protagonist with a great sense of humour and a zany cast of friends. I laughed, I empathised and I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes.
This is a witty, honest and thoroughly modern love story that will make you think about your own relationships, romantic and otherwise.
AFTER I LEFT YOU
by Alison Mercer
(Black Swan e-book ☎ £6.99) THIS IS grown-up chick lit, beautifully written and stuffed full of intelligent, emotional and interesting characters.
Anna has not been back to Oxford University since she took her finals 17 years ago. She also chose to separate herself from the close-knit group of friends she made there. But when she randomly bumps into her old boyfriend on a London street, she is forced to confront her old pals and all the secrets she thought she had safely buried in her past.
Anna must revisit the history of her youthful broken heart to finally move her life forward, deal with the painful feelings of betrayal thanks to her boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend, and at long last put it behind her.
Mercer has created an engaging and clever character in Anna, and the story of what happened to her on that last fateful night in Oxford and why she chose to avoid her friends ever since will stay with you long after you finish the final, captivating chapter. This novel will resonate with anyone who has loved and lost.