ARC - A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 2 days

Blurb From Goodreads

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson, author of The Greatest Love Story of All Time, is a hilariously funny and gorgeously romantic story about falling in love when you least expect it. Charley Lambert has put considerable effort into achieving a perfect life. She has The Job. The Wardrobe. And The Flat. Her womanising, junk food-loving housemate Sam lowers the tone a bit but that aside, things are peachy. Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her unrequited love propose to someone else and - worst of all - is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy while she recovers. Workaholic Charley fears that she will soon go mad. Desperate for something to do, she discovers her talent for helping the lovelorn online. And then William arrives in her inbox. Within hours of his first email, her world starts to change. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with this man and begins to realise that she's not who she thought she was. But will she be brave enough to turn her back on her old life - all for a total stranger?

My Review

High powered business woman, ,Charlie Lambert, is all about her job. She loves what she does and it comes second to nothing in her life, it doesn't hurt that she has been lusting after her boss for 7 years. She flat shares with Sam, her complete opposite. He hasn't managed to land his big break, lives on junk food as opposed to her organic strict food regime. He has a different woman on the go practically daily whilst she hasn't been with anyone since her fumble with her boss years ago. When an accident keeps her from her beloved job she starts up a business, helping out people online to find their perfect partners. William arrives in her inbox and before she knows it she is questioning everything and forgetting about her boss.

This is a story that has giggles, tender moments and the realization that sometimes the things you take for granted are the most important and work isn't the be all and end all. Charlie is a hard character to like, I felt, she is a workaholic and her life is mostly focused on her job and obsession with her boss. After the accident and "meeting" William she becomes very bunny boiler like and obsessive to the point where before she had been so professional and business like then puts her new business at risk with her ridiculous behaviour. I warmed to her nearer the end when she assesses everything in her life and seems to have an epiphany but for the most part I disliked her. Sam is a great character, he is fun, caring, sweet and loyal - I liked him from the get go.

The story is well written and when I got to the emails part I was totally hooked. I also loved the letters from the past, sorry to be vague but I hate spoilers. I disliked being left hanging after the big scene at the office, I like clarification and what happened after. It had no reflection on what then happened with Charlie but I would have loved to have found out how it followed up.

This was my first time reading this author, I found her writing style unique in that I can honestly say she didn't remind me of anyone else I had read before. I would read her work again. Thanks for RealReaders for sending me an ARC of this. The book is out on the 31st of January 2013 from any good retailer.

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