BOOK TOUR: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joanna Bolouri

I really struggled with festive reading last year but I am on a roll this year and The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joanna Bolouri has been one of my favourites so far! 

Thirty-eight year old Emily has a satisfying job, fab friends, and most importantly, a wonderful flat, exactly 411 miles away from the crazy interfering family she reluctantly sees twice a year. In fact, the only stress in her life is her twenty-something neighbour Evan and his penchant for flirting, loud music and even louder sex...but he's nothing she can't handle.
Emily also has a boyfriend called Robert and it's going really well. So well, in fact, that this year Emily wants to take him home for Christmas. Finally she won't be subject to endless pitying looks from her parents and younger married siblings. But when she and Robert break up a week before Christmas, Emily is gutted. How on earth is she going to face her family now? Enlisting the help of party-boy Evan, Emily is determined to take Robert home for Christmas come hell or high water, even if it isn't the real Robert...

Publisher: Quercus

Pages: 416

I really did love this book! I liked Emily from the very beginning and her family was simply brilliant. Emily had been looking forward to taking her boyfriend home for Christmas but they unexpectedly break up the week before. Emily does not want to lose face so she ends up asking  Evan, her next door neighbour to come with her and pretend to be Robert. One of the many problems is that Emily can't stand Evan. He has kept her awake many nights, entertaining a constant stream of women in his bedroom which happens to be on the other side of Emily's bedroom wall. But she can't go home on her own so Evan is her only choice.
They set off to Scotland, luckily it's a long car journey from London as Emily needs to make sure Evan has all the information he needs to pretend to be Robert plus they need to appear that they have been together for over 8 months.
So ensues four days of Emily and Evan pretending to be madly in love in front of her parents. However, their feelings start to develop when they are behind closed doors. Emily is so confused as to what is happening. She can't stand Evan so why does he give her butterflies  and now her family think he's Robert, she really has dug herself a hole.
Joanna Bolouri has written an excellent book, I totally fell for Evan (think Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love) and the chemistry between him and Emily is perfect. The author provided me with so many laugh out loud moments; Emily's family were hilarious but still entirely believable.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year has the perfect balance of romance and humour. It's lovely that the book is set at Christmas but for me it was all about Evan and Emily- they are now on my list of top fictional couples. I highly recommend this book, I may give it another read before Father Christmas comes!

Many thanks to Alainna at Quercus for inviting me to be part of this lovely book tour! 

BLOG TOUR: The List by Joanna Bolouri

I am pleased to be part of the blog tour for The List by Joanna Bolouri, the lovely Emma has organised this tour in conjunction with Quercus, you can check out her blog here. This List is a really fun read, definitely worth checking out:

Phoebe Henderson may be single but she sure doesn't feel fabulous. It's been a year since she found her boyfriend Alex in bed with another woman, and multiple cases of wine and extensive relationship analysis with her best friend Lucy have done nothing to help. Faced with a new year but no new love, Phoebe concocts a  different kind of resolution.
The List: ten things she's always wanted to do in bed but has never had the chance (or the courage!) to try. A bucket list for between the sheets. One year of pleasure, no strings attached.
Simple right?
Factor in meddlesome colleagues, friends with benefits, getting frisky al fresco and maybe possibly, true love and Phoebe's got her work cut out for her. 

Publisher: Quercus

Pages: 400

The List by Joanna Bolouri is a lot of fun and a book that I would highly recommend. I felt as though I worked out quite early on what was going to happen but in some ways I enjoyed the book more because of this as I could just sit back and enjoy what was happening.
Phoebe Henderson has been single for over a year after walking in on her boyfriend Alex in bed with another woman. It is the new year and Phoebe has decided that she needs to do something drastic, so she enlists her friend Lucy to help her compile The List. The list is made up of ten sexual acts that she has always wanted to do. However, she can't do these things on her own (well not all of them) so she ropes in her best friend Oliver to help her complete her mission. Will the list change Phoebe's love life and will her friendship wit
h Oliver survive this year of unadulterated pleasure?
I liked Phoebe a lot; she 's a similar age to me and works in advertising sales for a newspaper, the exact job I did seven years ago. She was funny, likeable and a bit feisty at times, I think a lot of readers will identify with her. Oliver is a fantastic creation, I had a crush on him as soon as he appeared in the book and this just grew as the story developed.
Joanna Bolouri's writing style is witty and face paced; the book is quite long at 400 pages but I didn't get bored at any point.
If you are on the look-out for a fast paced fun read then I urge you to buy a copy of The List, you might even learn a thing or two!

Many thanks to Emma for organising a fabulous blog tour and to Quercus for sending me a review copy. Check out the top of my blog to see who's next on the blog tour!