Sunday 19 July 2015

Books Read: Annie Lyons - Life or Something Like It

Step into someone else’s shoes for a day…

And it will change you for a lifetime.

Cat is very good at her job. She runs a PR company with her best friend (and secret crush) Jesse, and is never happier than when her high-profile celebrities are glittering in the spotlight.

But when her footballer client gets in the press for all the wrong reasons, Cat’s career takes a sudden nosedive. So when her brother Andrew unexpectedly needs her to look after his kids for a few weeks, she can hardly say no. She’s happily single, hasn’t exactly been the ‘World’s Best Auntie’ over the years, and what she knows about looking after children would fit on the back of a postage stamp. But it’s only temporary until she gets her real life back on track – isn’t it?

Amazon link: Kindle

Having read and enjoyed all of Annie Lyons' previous books, I didn't hesitate to say Yes when Annie emailed me asking whether I'd like to review her new book Life or Something Like It.  I knew that if it was anything like the rest I was guaranteed an entertaining read, which is just what I need at the moment, and I can say that it definitely delivered on that expectation.

When we first meet Cat she is a complete workaholic, she puts her heart and soul into making a success of her PR job doing what she can to promote her clients, but that doesn't leave her much time for her and her non-existent love life.  Even her own family are practically strangers as her job comes before everything else so when asked to step in and look after her niece and nephew at short notice she really hasn't a clue how to look after them.

The interactions at the beginning behind Cat and her niece and nephew were hilarious, put Cat in control of the stroppiest celebrity and she can handle anything that's thrown at her, but get her to look after two young children and it's a whole different minefield.... For most of us, even non-parents like myself, it would be obvious that too much treats would give you a sugar rush and could involve vomit but Cat certainly learnt the hard way!

At first I wasn't too sure about Cat, I know it's great to be dedicated to your job but at the same time family is important, especially when you haven't got much family, so I struggled at first with this side to her character.  But it was great to see how the more time that she spent with Ellie and Charlie the more she began to relax and go with the flow, especially when they all took a break to the Suffolk seaside, rather than trying to dictate and control everything.    

I loved young Ellie in particular, she was such a livewire who certainly knew which buttons to press to get Cat, her dad, and brother Charlie, to agree to almost anything.  And she certainly had a way with words, some of her one-liners had me in stitches.

And of course it wouldn't be a romantic comedy without a potential love interest, in this case Finn, the uncle of Ellie's best friend Poppy. As you'd expect because of the girls close friendship they find their paths crossing at regular intervals but it's definitely not a case of love and first sight between Cat and Finn.  But I'm glad that their 'will they won't they' relationship was not the main focus of the storyline, instead we see Cat flourish as she spends more time with her family and friends and reassess what exactly is important in life and what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

Life or Something Like It was just the perfect tonic I needed to enable me to forget about my own life for a few hours and enjoy this entertaining tale from Annie Lyons.

I'd like to thank Carina UK for this review copy of Life or Something Like It which I received via NetGalley. 

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