You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

Avon, 2012.

Review by Helen Jackson.

What happens when the one that got away comes back? Find out in this sparkling debut from Mhairi McFarlane.

‘Think of the great duos of history. We’re just like them.’
‘You mean like Kylie and Jason? Torvill and Dean? Sonny and Cher?’
‘I think you’ve missed the point, Rachel.’

Rachel and Ben. Ben and Rachel. It was them against the world. Until it all fell apart. It’s been a decade since they last spoke, but when Rachel bumps into Ben one rainy day, the years melt away.

They’d been partners in crime and the best of friends. But life has moved on: Ben is married. Rachel is not. Yet in that split second, Rachel feels the old friendship return. And along with it, the broken heart she’s never been able to mend.

Hilarious, heartbreaking and everything in between, you’ll be hooked from their first ‘hello’.

Last year I read quite a few debut chick lit novels, and none of them really stood out, the characters felt two-dimensional and predictable. I was debating on never reading another debut again. Until I found this; it sounded so good (and the title is awesome), I had to read it.

I was so glad I did.

The novel begins with Rachel and her long-term/live in boyfriend splitting up. Although she knows it’s the right thing to do, it’s still really hard for her; I felt her pain, even though she was doing the best thing for her.

When she sees Ben again, who she’s not seen since university, we slowly get hints of their friendship, and why they haven’t seen each other for 10 years. It helped giving the novel an air of mystery.

Of course there’s then her 3 best friends and their issues – they’re all brilliant characters too.

I bought this on my Kindle app on my phone – I thought I should finally bite the bullet and do it. I loved reading it this way, it was light, and always on me. Brilliant. However, when I really, really love a novel, I like to keep the book, have it on a shelf, and just seeing it reminds me of it, and makes me happy. I can’t do this because it’s not a real book. Gutted.

All in all, I totally would recommend this. I went to an Avon books event a few weeks ago, one of the highlights of my evening was hearing that Mhairi is writing another book. I’ll be buying that without a doubt!

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.