Review: If I Could Turn Back Time by Nicola Doherty (5/5)

If you love Lindsey Kelk and Mhairi McFarlane’s YOU HAD ME AT HELLO, you’ll love this book…

What if you found The One, then lost him again? 

Or not so much lost him as became the neurotic, needy girlfriend from hell. The girl who tried to make him choose between her and his job, and got seriously paranoid about his relationship with his female best friend… 

Zoë Kennedy knows she doesn’t deserve another chance with David Fitzgerald. But if there’s the tiniest possibility of making things right, she’ll snatch it. Even if it means breaking the laws of physics to do so…

I was very excited to read this book and I was not disappointed! One of my favourite ever films is Back to the Future and I used to be majorly obsessed with time travel as a kid, to the point where I would tightly close my eyes and wish that when I opened them I'd gone back in time. Well, it never worked... The problem is a lot of time travel fiction that I've read just isn't very good. Most recently I read STEP BACK IN TIME by one of my favourite authors Ali McNamara and the time travel element there was excellent, and the one here by Nicola was too!

I absolutely loved the character of Zoë. She's definitely somebody I could be friends with. She was such a fun character who you could easily have a fun night out with or a night in with watching Gossip Girl! I could also relate to her retail job! The book opens with a prologue of Zoë waking up in what should be a cold December morning but when she looks out the window it is in fact a hot summer day. She is also in her ex-boyfriend's bedroom...

We then go back (or rather, forward?) in time to December where Zoë is at work with her very annoying boss. She serves an old lady who leaves her purse on the counter and when Zoë chases after her to give it back the old lady tells her to make a wish when standing outside the shop window of the department store where Zoë works. She does this and wishes for her boyfriend back and just like that it works and she finds herself waking up in the past and still in a relationship with her boyfriend, David. We learn more about their relationship and they split up due to Zoë's jealousy over David's best friend Jenny. Again this is also something I can relate to. Jenny came across a snotty bitch and somebody I instantly took a disliking to. 

At first the time travel seems simple once Zoë gets her head around the fact it's actually happened... All she has to do is bite her tongue regarding Jenny and her and David will be happy. She also realises her knowledge of what's about to happen in the fashion world can help her get on in work and there's also something she can do to help her best friend, but which will hurt her best friend at the same time. Nothing's ever that easy though and there are plenty of problems along the way, especially when Zoë blurts stuff out that hasn't happened yet and then has to try and explain how she knows about it! Also thrown into the mix is a new flat mate in the form of David's best friend Max who goes on to play a huge role in the story. 

I absolutely loved this book. Nicola has taken all the right ingredients for an excellent chick lit novel and mixed them together perfectly. Just the right amount of humour alongside loveable and believable characters. And a fantastic storyline to go with it. Fun, fabulous and hilarious this is not a book for chick lit fans to miss. Lindsey Kelk, Ali McNamara and Jane Costello fans will love this book. I certainly did!

Thanks to bookbridgr for the review copy! 

If I Could Turn Back Time is out now and you can buy it from Amazon
 
You can also follow Nicola on Twitter

Or find out more on her blog