Book Review: Welcome to my World by Miranda Dickinson

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster...
And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton's world. All her life she's dreamt of travelling the globe, but fate always got in the way.
Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.
With boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harris is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri is soon discovers a whole new set of problems. Now Harri is locked in a ladies loo cubicle at the village hall drowning in her sorrows.
Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri's leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

I missed Miranda Dickinson's first book, Fairytale of New York so I didn't really know what to expect when I was sent Welcome to my World to review. What I got though was a lovely book that I couldn't put down. The book starts with Harri hiding in the toilet cubicle at the village hall, believing her life is over. We then see her recollections of what has happened in the past to lead up to this point. I love structures like this as you know that something dramatic has happened so of course you want to find out more.
There is a lot of irony in this book; Harri is a travel agent with an obsession with travel books and programmes, yet she has never left the country to actually explore the exotic destinations that she dreams about. Then we have her quest to find her friend Alex a girlfriend when her own relationship appears to be falling apart. However I did like her as a character; she is genuinely nice and goes out of her way to help several people in the book.
Alex is a great character too and it is evident from the beginning just how much he cares for Harri and just wants the very best for her. Along with Alex's mum, Viv and her aunt Rosemary, Harri has plenty of people looking our for her.
Miranda Dickinson explores how scary it can sometimes be to follow your dreams and what happens when you realise that what you really want has been right in front of you all along. It's hard to review this book without giving too much away and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Welcome to my World is a great read though, extremely entertaining and romantic.


Welcome to my World is in shops now, may thanks to the lovely Charlotte at Harper Collins / Avon for sending me a copy to review.