#1 The Shelf by Helly Acton (Jul-20)
When Amy's long-term boyfriend surprises her with a dream holiday, she thinks he's going to finally pop the Big Question. But the dream turns into a nightmare when, instead, she finds herself on the set of a Big Brother-style reality television show, The Shelf. Along with five other women, Amy is brutaally dumped live on TV and must compete in a series of humiliating and obnoxious tasks in the hope of being crowned 'The Keeper'.
In my opinion: I absolutely loved this and I knew I would right from the very first page when I read Amy's rant about "being force-subscribed to a daily update of dribble, snot and tears" after “Jane’s posted another close-up of the twins....smeared in a rank blend of banana and carrot.” I could totally relate.
In fact this book could have been written for me. I totally agree with and share many of Amy’s (new) life goals after the show’s therapist, Dr Hicks’ (and the baby challenge) help Amy realise that “trying to find someone to do life with” doesn’t necessarily have to mean mortgages, marriage and kids but could be seeing things and having experiences, “maybe it’s a secret beach in Asia somewhere.”Although it’s Amy’s best friend Sarah (and not the celebrity life coaches) that best sum up my feelings ‘on doing life’ with the sentiment: “Live life for yourself....If you meet someone who wants what you want, great. If you don’t, those are the cards you’ve been dealt.”
It's not all life lessons or feminism, however, it’s light-hearted, deeply satirical and brilliantly hilarious. I was literally crying with laughter at the baby challenge when housemate Hattie reluctantly leaves her baby with Jackie who accidentally dislocates her arm, handing her back with the limb reattached the wrong way round and a near-detached head. Such a great cast of diverse characters too, particularly in the form of the housemates – Selfish Jackie, Distant Gemma, Boring Hattie, Bitter Kathy, Easy Lauren and of course Desperate Amy.
My rating: 5 stars
#2 One to Watch by Kate Stayman London (Jul-20)
www.katestaymanlondon.com
In my opinion: Obviously based around reality show The Batchelor, this was a captivating plot as much like reality TV itself it quickly sucked you in with its superficial drama, love/hate characters and intrigue about who'd eventually be crowned the winner aka 'Main Squeeze'. I was hooked trying to work out, like Bea, if any of the guy's were genuine or not, vibing Sam, hating Jefferson and trying not to be charmed by bad boy Luc. Annoyingly though it was also quite repetitive with the constant reminders that Bea is a plus size girl and quite American with lots of references and words that I just didn't understand. Entertaining, trashy, escapism.
My rating: 4 stars
#3 Married at First Swipe by Claire Frost (Sep-20)
Learning that her best friend’s online dating business has taken a hit, Hannah comes up with an idea that just might solve both of their problems: finding a man using Jess’s dating app and meeting him for the first time at the altar.
In my opinion: Loosely based on one of my favourite TV shows 'Married at First Sight', sadly I was disappointed as it wasn't anywhere near as dramatic as the show nor as funny as other similar stories. The big problem for me was that this focused way too much on the pre-wedding and not enough on the wedding or marriage. I wanted more of their first impressions of each other, more of what happened on the honeymoon, more dates, more getting to know each other, more Toby - just more of everything really. The other problem was main character Hannah - who I found slightly annoying and totally selfish.
My rating: 3 stars
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