Review: 'About a Girl' by Lindsey Kelk (2013)

I’d lost my job. I’d lost the love of my life. My mum wasn’t talking to me. My best friend was epically pissed off. And my flatmate probably had a hit out on me by now. I never meant for things to get so out of hand…

Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when her carefully constructed Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider.

After accidently answering her flatmate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, why shouldn’t she try out being Vanessa? With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right?

But Tess is soon in big trouble – she isn’t a photographer, she isn’t Vanessa, and the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster.

Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run…

Lindsey Kelk has to be one of my absolute favourite chick lit authors of this day and age. Ever since I picked up ‘I Heart New York’ several years ago, I fell in love with the main character Angela and I find myself continuously looking forward to each new exciting part of the ‘I Heart...’ series (I can't even describe in words how excited I am about 'I Heart Christmas'!). When I heard rumours of a new Lindsey Kelk series, I was overjoyed, but I also wondered whether anything could top the ‘I Heart...’ novels. However, one way or another, I would get to read a new Lindsey Kelk novel and thanks to the lovely people at Harper Fiction that happened even sooner than I initially expected. I was curious to meet new heroine Tess and find out all about her adventures on the island of Hawaii!

Tess Brookes’ life is a complete mess: within a matter of days she finds herself without a job, stuck in an apartment with her horrible roommate, a best friend that is suddenly not her biggest fan anymore, and the love of her life knowing all about her feelings which he does not share. So, when Tess is unexpectedly offered the chance to get away from it all by hopping on a plane to Hawaii for a photography assignment, she can’t say no. The only catch: the upcoming week she has to take on the identity of her photographer roommate Vanessa, who is possibly the biggest bitch Tess has ever had the pleasure of meeting. Pretending to have a different name, taking a few photographs... How difficult can it be? Soon Tess not only finds herself in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with one of the most gorgeous men she has ever laid eyes on, but she also realises this plan might not have been as great and thought-out as she expected it to be...

I absolutely adore Lindsey Kelk’s writing style. It’s entrancing, flows easily and she's absolutely hilarious. Her novels are always filled with jokes and situations that make me crack up over and over again, and this is something I don’t personally come across with authors very often. I also loved the characters in the novel: Tess is a fabulous, entertaining and relatable heroine, even though it took me a bit of time to get used to her; Charlie and Nick are two gorgeous men and I’m still not completely sure which team I’m on; Vanessa is such a queen bitch, she made me want to step into the pages of the novel and slap her myself; and Amy is the hilarious and greatest best friend a girl could wish for. Add the dreamy descriptions of Hawaii, which made me long for cocktails and sun loungers on a gorgeous white beach, and you’ve hit the jackpot!

I can’t conclude anything else than that Lindsey Kelk has managed to do it again. ‘About a Girl’ is a thoroughly entertaining, funny, sparkling read that every chick lit fan will instantly adore. I can’t wait to read more about Tess and the other characters, and that is why I am so excited that this is going to be an actual series and not a single novel. Lindsey Kelk has come up with the perfect recipe for a fabulous and glamorous new chick-lit series which I am already really looking forward to!

Rating:10/10