I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk

I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
Buy I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Kerry King
Summary: Passport, bridesmaid dress and Louboutins in hand, Angela Clark has decided to flee her cheating boyfriend and is headed for The City That Never Sleeps. I Heart New York is a perfect beach read for those SATC fans among us who are still bereft by its absence.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 280	Date: June 2009
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 978-0007288380
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Holed up in a New York hotel room, Angela is getting a New York makeover from her NY NBF, Jenny. And how, we ask ourselves, did our heroine end up in The City That Never Sleeps? Well, if you had caught your boyfriend of ten years having sex with a skinny (grrr!) blonde on the back seat of your car (where the car seats of your future children were supposed to go), during the wedding reception of your best friends, and that everyone – including your best friends - apart from you had known what he had been up to for some considerable time, you may very well have kicked off your Louboutins, hitched up your bridesmaids dress and headed for the nearest airport too!

Angela is not so much broken-hearted as broken-pocketed as she quickly realises that she is in a city to which she has never even been, that she doesn't know a soul and she has no job. Enter Jenny, hotel receptionist, impromptu tour guide and Angela's Brand New Best Friend. Jenny must have a magic wand because as if it is too good to be true (and this is prime chick lit, so it is too good to be true), almost immediately, Angela somehow manages to land her dream job as a writer slash blogger (à la Carrie Bradshaw) at the city's hottest magazine and pretty much all the stuff of a girl's favourite fantasy is part of her job description. Cue munificent spending sprees at Bloomies, dates with one hot boy after another, clubs, bars and generally more single girl fun than you can shake a stick at. And how much does Angela love her new life? Will Angie heart New York more than she hearts home? Well, you will have to read I Heart New York and find out for yourself.

I love a good romp in the Chick Lit aisle and I Heart New York is certainly better than I had anticipated. Though Angela definitely falls on her feet in every way possible (and we all know what a case of Swine Flu real life can be in actuality), perhaps she deserves to? Kelk certainly creates very likeable characters and whilst I did experience a case of Kinsella déjà vu, Kelk does manage to write with undeniable humour in the appropriate places.

To summarise, I Heart New York will be lauding it over others in the genre on the Bestseller list for weeks and months. For a first novel, Kelk has delivered a riot of girly colour and quite a passable travel guide, to boot and it would be churlish to say otherwise.

If this kind of book is your thing have a look at anything by Sophie Kinsella and also Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes, which is a wonderful book, with much more depth than the cover would suggest (if like me you are a teeny bit prone to judging your books by their covers). You should also take a look at the rather delightful Other People's Husbands by the very charming Judy Astley, who knows just how much we, at Bookbag, love her. You might also enjoy An Englishwoman in New York by Anne-Marie Casey, It Happened In Venice by Molly Hopkins, or Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn.

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You can read more book reviews or buy I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk at Amazon.com.

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