Hall of Fame Review: The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood

Wednesday 15 April 2015
Title: The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance
Author: Kirsty Greenwood
Publisher: Pan
Publication Date: 9th April 2015
Format: eBook
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781447247326
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon
Jessica Beam is a girl who knows how to party. Only lately she's been forgetting to turn up for work on time. Or in clean clothes. Down on her luck, out of a job and homeless, Jess seeks the help of her long-lost grandmother.

Things aren't going well for Matilda Beam, either. Her 1950s Good Woman guide books are out of print, her mortgage repayments are staggering and her granddaughter wears neon Wonderbras.

When a lifeline from a London publisher arrives, the pair have an opportunity to secure the roof over their heads - by invigorating the Good Woman guides and transforming modern, rebellious Jess into a demure vintage lady.

The true test of their make-over will be to capture the heart of notorious London playboy Leo Frost and prove that Matilda's guides still work. It's going to take commitment, nerves of steel and one seriously pointy bra to pull this off . . .

Where to start?! You know when a book is just perfect from start to finish, faultless, amazing, epic, all the words? Well, that's The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance and it is hands down one of the best and most fun Women's Fiction books I have ever read. No exaggeration. And it's funny, like serious laugh-out-loud funny. Lindsey Kelk level. From just the very first chapter I knew I was going to love this book.

Jessica Beam finds herself thrown out by her boss and 'best friend' Summer, and with nowhere else to go she suddenly remembers about her long-lost (and rich) grandmother, Matilda. Turning up on her doorstep for a loan, Jess is disappointed to discover her grandmother isn't rich, her 1950s Good Woman guides are out of print, and she can't keep up with the mortgage repayments. An idea is formed for a new book, where Jess will follow the Good Woman guides, and transform herself into a lady that will capture the heart of the notorious Leo Frost, proving that this outdated advice still works in the present day. What can possibly go wrong? 

I loved Jess from the very first page, whilst at the same time being a little bit thankful I wasn't with her at the time of some of her more outrageous moments, it's easy to see why she drives some people crazy. But for the most part, she is just fabulous and I wish she was an actual real-life woman. She's somebody that readers will root for from the very beginning. When her bitch of a best friend kicks her out (I spent half the book hoping that something horrible would happen to Summer), she's definitely in need of a new one (ahem, me) and that comes in the form of Peach, her grandmother's assistant. Even the secondary characters in this book are amazing.

I really liked Matilda, and enjoyed watching our two very different characters clash and I especially liked how they both managed to change each other for the better. I loved how each chapter started with advice from the Good Woman guides. Some of it hilarious, bits of it shocking and some of it just downright wrong but not all of it irrelevant. It was a lot of fun watching Jess being transformed, or rather her trying to change. It was definitely a challenge. I did have a couple of ideas about where the main story arc would go, but in the background there's a little bit of a mystery involving Jessica's mother, and I loved this part of the story, and was desperate to find out what happened in the past. And there may also be more than one love interest... I did change my mind numerous times as I read this book.

Without wanting to sound repetitive, there is just not one single thing about this book that I could fault, not one. It was so refreshing to read a book like this, something so different to other books like it at the moment. The Women's Fiction genre at the minute is just fantastic, incredibly strong, and I have no doubt that Kirsty Greenwood is going to become a firm favourite of mine. I am already eyeing up Yours, Truly on Amazon. This is easily one of the best books released this year so far, so if you are thinking about buying it, don't even hesitate. If you don't love it, I'll give you your money back! I am still sulking that it's over, so sorry TBR but I'll be snarling you for a while longer before starting a new book. In case you couldn't already tell, this book comes very highly recommended by me.

5/5

And it's not just me that loved this book, check out these brilliant reviews from some of my favourite bloggers: Agi (On My Bookshelf), Rea (Rea Book Review), Holly (Bookaholic Confessions), Ananda (This Chick Reads) and of course the King of Chick Lit himself, Kevin (I Heart... Chick Lit)

1 comment:

  1. I have been waiting to read this for a while now - need to grab myself a copy!

    ReplyDelete

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