A Glasgow Kiss by Sophia Gravia

A Glasgow Kiss by Sophie Gravia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 292

Publisher - Orion

Source - Amazon

Blurb from Goodreads

A headbutt or a strike with the head to someone's sensitive area

Meet Zara Smith: 29, single and muddling her way through life as a trainee nurse in Glasgow. With 30 fast approaching, she's determined to do whatever it takes to find love - or at least someone to sext! Cheered on by best friends Ashley and Raj, Zara embarks on a string of dating escapades that are as hilarious as they are disastrous. From online dating to blind dates, hometown hook-ups to flirty bartenders, nothing is off limits.

But when Dr Tom Adams, aka Sugar Daddy, shows interest, it's a game-changing moment. Zara has had a crush on Tom since her very first day at the aesthetics clinic she works at part-time. As things heat up between them, Zara can't help but wonder: is this it? Or is it another disaster waiting to happen?

Filthy, hilarious and painfully relatable, Zara Smith is Bridget Jones for the millennial generation, from the writer of the Sex in the Glasgow City blog. Fans of Fleabag, Girls and Lucy Vine will love A Glasgow Kiss.



My Review

EVERYBODY has been talking about this book for ages and I hadn't gotten around to it but FOMO (fear of missing out) and it was (and still is at time of posting) only 99p on kindle so I got it. Zara is a student nurse trying to get to her end goal of becoming a nurse and working at an aesthetics clinic in between. One of the docs there is older and HOT but he is her work college so one can but drool and dream. We follow Zara and her dating disasters and what happens when your love life crosses over into your work life EEEK.

Guys this is your warning now, if you don't like spicy books this isn't for you, if you don't like graphic scenes with very descriptive body fluids scenes, this isn't for you. Zara has some "interesting" moments with those she dates and some very cringe moments. She is like Bridget Jones if Bridget covered more graphic/body fluids than the innocent/more gentle side of Bridget J we know.

I laughed, I cringed, I was mortified, I got annoyed at her and wanted her to have a backbone at times. I air punched at one point but that was more to do with someone I hated to someone I actually switched to liking. It is entertaining, shocking, boke inducing at times, friendship, relationships and the old when someone makes dumb decisions when dating someone they are hooked on. Zara tends to fall/forgive quickly which some will identify with some with be irritated with. Modern day dating, shameless, I had a riddy for her at parts but you definitely wanted to see where it went. Loads of folk LOVE this book, I liked it and will read book two but defo not in the omg it is amazing. I would say for those who haven't dated in a long time it is an eye opener of modern day dating, whilst it is fiction, from folk I know who are currently dating in these times, it isn't far off the mark in the truth stakes, it is wild out there, folk be wild lol, 3/5.

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Sweet Temptation by Lucy Diamond

Sweet Temptation by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 447

Blurb from Goodreads

Maddie's getting it from all sides. Her bitchy new boss at the radio station humiliates her live on air about her figure, her glamour-puss mum keeps dropping not-so-subtle hints that Maddie should lose weight and her kids are embarrassed to be seen with her after the disastrous Mums' race at their school sports day. Something's got to change...


My Review

Three main characters, Maddie, Jess and Lauren all are trying to lose weight so they join FatBusters club, not all exactly voluntarily. Maddie is pushed on by her horrible boss at the radio station and her journey publicly cataloged. Jess is desperate to be everything her partner wants her to be, including thin enough to be his bride. Lauren is a successful business woman who runs a dating agency but lost her husband to another woman and wants to slim down a bit. The woman find friendship when none are looking for it and come together to battle the bulge and overcome personal difficulties.

I can't remember if I have ever read Diamond before however this will not be my last. Chick lit at its best, humour, emotional, touching, friendship, families, weight issues, diets, abuse and love are only some of the subjects tackled in this tale. Whilst some scenes and exchanges make for uncomfortable reading it mirrors the reality of some of the real life struggles individuals experience. I do like when art imitates life, it adds authenticity to the story and gives weight to the characters. 4/5 for me this time, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys chick lit with some serious undertones.

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Review - Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 5 days

Pages - 386

Publisher - Jonathan Cape

Blurb from Goodreads

What do you do when your girlfriend’s sixtieth birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s thirtieth?

Is it better to die of Botox or die of loneliness because you’re so wrinkly?

Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?

Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?

Is it normal to be too vain to put on your reading glasses when checking your toy boy for head lice?

Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?

Is it normal to get fewer followers the more you tweet?

Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?

If you put lip plumper on your hands do you get plump hands?

Is sleeping with someone after two dates and six weeks of texting the same as getting married after two meetings and six months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?

Pondering these and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of loss, single motherhood, tweeting, texting, technology, and rediscovering her sexuality in—Warning! Bad, outdated phrase approaching!—middle age.


My Review

Oh how I have missed Bridget! I have read the previous two books and watched the movies countless times so I couldn't wait for this book. Sadly I had heard the spoiler, which incase you have not, I will not repeat here. This of course gave me a heads up I may not enjoy the book but I decided to go in with an open attitude approach, since I had left it on the tbr for a long time.

We open in 2013, 18th of April & it is a Thursday. She is true to form sticking to the diary format and upon reading the first page, the reader, isn't disappointed, well I wasn't. Bridget is dating again, only this time she is in her fifty first year and the object of her affection is Roxster, thirty years old, fit, lean, young and utterly attractive. Whilst trying to keep her diary up to date, she is juggling a toyboy, two young children, trying to follow dating rules, not focus on the past, learn twitter & texting etiquette, keep her weight in check and get the kids to school in one piece. The introduction also gives the reader a headsup briefly to Mark Darcy. We then head back, to one year ago and the build up to present day, Bridgets trials and tribulations, done in a humerous or frank entry to her diary.

The first few pages and chapters, it was like sliding into your old favourite slippers. Bridget is humerous, bumbling her way through one mishap after another. Never fitting into that perfect sized dress, focusing on her weght loss and often failing to maintain her weight. However, once I got into it I noticed, quickly, that Bridget had changed to quite a different person. She still has the humour and I don't mean her age rather, just about every thing else. Her circumstances have completely changed she is not focused on her job pursuits in the way she has done previously. Her home and financial situation again has completely changed and I, for one, found that something I could relate to previously.

I think bringing children into the story was a downside, Bridget is still scatty and trying to impress the male species fumbling through dating, with two children it just didn't seem right with the added background. Sorry to be vague but I hate spoiler reviews. Of course parents date but Bridget has quite a unique take and recent sadness that it just didn't fit. There seemed to be two themes for me, the original funny Bridget trying to do all the things, with the addition of mother duties now, and a serious theme that, whilst not the main focus, certainly brings the overall feeling down. Even Daniel Cleaver, who still is a naughty boy in a mans body is still in the story, however even he has some adult catastrophy issues that ruined so much. You can't do heavy themes like that in a comedy, well I don't think you can and I don't think it had its place in Bridget Jones.

I would love to reach out to Fielding and beg her to make this book a Dallas moment, you know when Bobby was magically in the shower as it was all a dream. Make book four about Bridget and Marks wedding and all the silliness that can and does go wrong. The inlaws, cousins from abroad, families meeting and clashing, the dress disasters, I imagine it to be something like bridesmaids but funnier and all about Bridget.

I think the one thing we all loved about Bridget was her likeability, how we could relate to her, imagine ourselves doing all the silliness she does. This book was just so far removed from our original Bridget and her ordinary circumstances it really pulled the book down for me. I thought I would hate the book, I didn't but I disliked it for a lot more reasons than just the change in Bridgets relationship status. 2/5 for me this time, would I read another Bridget Jones diary? If the third one was disgarded as a dream and we go back to Bridget in her 30s, where we left her, then yes I would. Otherwise I think no, it was just too sad in some parts although I did enjoy reading the diary entries and Bridget trying to grasp dating, twitter and other disasters.

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