Review 'How To Get a (Love) Life' by Rosie Blake (2014)

Some people book last-minute holidays, walk barefoot in the grass or party on a week night. Not Nicola Brown. Nicola is the kind of girl who double-locks the front door, leaves the plastic covering on new furniture, sticks to a super-strict diet and definitely, absolutely Does Not Date.
Her colleague Caroline – loopy, warm and exasperated by her, knows that Nicola's reluctance to lose control means she's living only half a life. And so she lays down the gauntlet: Nicola must cast aside her hang ups and go on as many dates as it takes to find true love in time for Valentine's Day.
The pick of local men is, quite frankly, a bit rubbish. And there are only three months until February 14th. Surely it's an impossible task? But, as Nicola is about to find out on her dodgy dates, letting go isn't quite as scary as she imagined. In fact, it's rather a lot of fun...
I can’t believe it has almost been a year since popular women’s fiction website Novelicious announced its own digital imprint! So far, Novelicious’ releases have been paired with quite a bit of attention and excitement and this was also the case with Rosie Blake’s debut novel, ‘How to Get a (Love) Life.’ I’ve been following Rosie on Twitter for quite some time and her Tweets are incredibly funny, so I was really looking forward to checking out her book. Thanks to Rosie herself and Kerry at Novelicious I received a review copy and couldn’t wait to sit down with it and read!
Nicola Brown is nearing the end of her twenties and as single as can be. Not that she has a problem with that; Nicola likes to control everything in her life, from what she eats to at what specific time she eats it, and letting a man into her life doesn’t really fit in with that. However, Nicola’s colleague Caroline has different ideas about this and believes it is time for Nicola to find her Mr. Right. She challenges Nicola to go on as many dates as possible in order to find the perfect guy to celebrate Valentine’s Day with. This gives Nicola three months to find her way around the dating scene, including dating her brother’s friends and being set up on blind dates. Will Nicola be able to let go and have fun or is three months simply not long enough to find the right guy...?
When this book was released, it caused quite a bit of a hype on Twitter and within the book blogging world. Everyone seemed to be talking about Rosie Blake and her debut novel (which, by the way, has a fabulously bright and lovely cover I instantly adored); this made me quite curious but also gave me certain expectations. Thankfully, the book definitely lived up to them! I immediately warmed to Nicola, the protagonist; she’s likeable, down-to-earth, and I could relate to her in numerous ways, which I’m sure numerous other female readers will be able to do as well. Her dating journey to find Mr. Right was hilarious and entertaining, and because of that I wouldn’t have minded if it had consisted of a couple of more dates. Next to a great heroine and enjoyable storyline, the book also has a lovely collection of support characters, such as Nicola’s brother Mark, her colleague Caroline and her boss James (whom I definitely developed a small crush on while reading!).
I have to agree with some other reviews that the book ended a bit suddenly, but it did have the ending I was hoping for, so I wasn’t disappointed. The book was exactly what I expected and hoped it would be: a thoroughly enjoyable and funny read, and it has only left me with a feeling of wanting more of Rosie Blake’s wonderful writing. ‘How to Get a (Love) Life’ is a fun, light-hearted and uplifting read, a story which I’m sure any chick lit fan will enjoy!
Rating:

      9/10
For more information about this book: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads    Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.