Poppy and Jazz have been best friends from the
first week of university. Whenever these two get together trouble isn’t far
away and things haven’t changed much. When Jazz gets herself into financial
trouble Poppy, being a good friend, offers to help. She instead ends up being
talked into swapping lives, with Jazz insisting it will be good and help her
get over her broken heart.
Poppy is thrown into a new life, full of crazy
housemates. There’s fitness freak Izzy, horrendously beautiful bitch Grace and
the slightly gorgeous, if not incredibly grumpy Ryan.
Quickly, with the help of Jazz, her life is
thrown upside down. Madness ensues and her need to please everyone gets her in
more trouble than she could ever imagine.
Before she knows it she’s got a fake boyfriend
and is hiding so many secrets she’s scared they’ll spill out any minute. With a
bullying boss, a sex crazed colleague, a mental mother and three brothers each
with their own dramas, life has gotten pretty difficult for Poppy. And all of
this would be much easier, if she could just stop falling over.
Will she get her life back to normal before her
brother’s upcoming wedding? And will she want to?
Laura
Barnard contacted me several weeks ago about reviewing her debut chick lit
novel, ‘The Debt and the Doormat.’ Even though the title didn’t immediately
tell me what kind of novel I could expect, the blurb quickly showed me that the
book is about two best friends who decide to swap lives. I really liked this
idea and was looking forward to finding out more about Poppy and Jazz, so
within a few days I found a review copy in my mailbox to get lost in!
‘The
Debt and the Doormat’ focuses on two best friends named Poppy and Jazz. The two
girls have known each other since their first year at university, and even
though they have their differences, they have been inseparable ever since. Poppy
is the more sensible and organized one, while Jazz leads a crazy fun-filled
life without any rules. When Jazz manages to get herself into thousands of
pounds of debt, Poppy wants to help her friend out and they decide to swap
lives. They change homes and make a pact that whatever the other tells you to
do, needs to be done. Poppy soon finds herself living with Jazz’s roommates,
including the gorgeous but slightly grumpy Ryan. Her life is turned upside down
within a matter of days, the question is: is this really what she needs to
loosen up a bit, or was her old lifestyle not that bad after all?
I really
liked the plotline of this novel; Poppy and Jazz have a great friendship and I
loved how Poppy is willing to help out Jazz, no matter what. The swapping of
lives results in some funny and crazy situations, which made me laugh out loud
quite a few times. There’s an interesting mix of characters at the core of the
story; Poppy and Jazz seem to be complete opposites but make the best of
friends, there are the roommates Izzy (a sweet girl who is a complete fitness
freak) and Grace (the ultimate bitchy beautiful one), and of course, Ryan, the
grumpy but handsome male in the house, for whom Poppy seems to have a soft spot
from the first time they meet. There’s friendship, crazy situations, and a
touch of romance; a great mix for a chick lit novel.
Even
though the plot was easy to follow, I couldn’t help but feel like the novel was
written more like a TV show than an actual book. Most of the chapters started with a new event or situation starring the group of characters, making it feel like all these separate episodes of a TV show instead of flowing like one story. I also noticed some traces of the TV show ‘Friends.’ The book has a lot
of potential, with an enjoyable storyline and a good mix of characters, but somehow
it felt like a collection of events to me, instead of an actual novel. Overall,
‘The Debt and the Doormat’ is a light and fun read that focuses on best friends
and what happens when they decide to pull themselves out of their comfort zone,
resulting in some predictable but definitely enjoyable situations which
undoubtedly many readers will be able to laugh at or even relate to.
Rating:
7/10
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