I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me by Jimmy Rice, Laura Tait Published by Transworld Digital on 10th April 2014
Genres: Chicklit, Contemporary, Fiction, General, Humour, Love & Romance
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: from Netgalley
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle, Audible
Everyone remembers their first love.
Holly has learnt that life isn’t about seizing the moment. She might have harboured dreams about travelling the world as a teenager, but she let go of those – just as she let go of Alex.
But what if the feelings never really went away?
Alex wants to make every moment of his new job count. It’s a fresh start in a new city, and he knows that moving to London has nothing to do with Holly. Well, probably.
How do you know if it was meant to be or never meant to happen at all?
A brilliantly funny, feel-good story of first love, second chances and everything in-between, perfect for fans of romantic comedies like Love Actually, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones.
Thank you to Random House for approving this book on Netgalley.
I saw this book advertised on Goodreads and the cover intrigued me. So I looked it up and as soon as I read the blurb I knew it was for me. I didn’t realise until after I’d read the book that it’s written by two authors. You would never guess it. The story is fluid and works perfectly.
This is a classic Rom-com style book. Holly and Alex were besties in school. However Holly had a secret crush on Alex, and Alex one on her. The day before Holly is to leave for Uni she plucks up the courage to tell Alex that she loves him and she want to make it work even if it’s long distance, except when she gets there he’s weird with her. So off she goes to Uni and she lives her life.
We then skip back to the current day. I really enjoyed the way each chapter the POV changed between Holly and Alex. I enjoyed getting inside each of their heads. Even though sometimes I wanted to smack them for both being so blind.
Holly is a down to earth girl who’s just trying to make her way in the world. She’s not doing any of the jobs she thought she would be.
Alex is doing exactly the job he said he would when he was in high school. A Teacher. The only problem, he doesnt feel like he’s making a difference and that’s the reason he went into teaching.
I really enjoyed the way this book was written in the present but with flash backs to the bits in the past that were needed to fill in the story.
The two main characters are easy to fall in love with and this book has a great selection of secondary characters. Kev was very funny and a very good friend to both Alex and Holly. Jenna was a great friend to Holly and I love how blunt she was about everything it was very entertaining.
This book will make you laugh and cry. I really enjoyed reading this and hope that there will be more from these authors in the future.
About Jimmy Rice
I’m a 33-year-old novelist and journalist living in London.
My debut novel, a rom com co-written with journalist Laura Tait, is called The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me and is published by Transworld in 2014. We’re currently working on the follow up.
I wrote a dating diary called Plentymorefishoutofwater which was serialised on Juice FM, and I’ve worked as a journalist for the Sheffield Star, Dewsbury Reporter, Liverpoolfc.com and Sky News.
About Laura Tait
Reader & writer. Novelist (debut out 2014) & dep. editor of Creative Solutions at Stylist/ShortList. Good listener & bad timekeeper. Lover of comedy & cocktails. And kittens. Obviously, kittens.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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