Who's That Girl? - Mhairi McFarlane

Description

When Edie is caught in a compromising position at her colleagues’ wedding, all the blame falls on her – turns out that personal popularity in the office is not that different from your schooldays. Shamed online and ostracised by everyone she knows, Edie’s forced to take an extended sabbatical – ghostwriting an autobiography for hot new acting talent, Elliot Owen. Easy, right?

Wrong. Banished back to her home town of Nottingham, Edie is not only dealing with a man who probably hasn’t heard the word ‘no’ in a decade, but also suffering an excruciating regression to her teenage years as she moves back in with her widowed father and judgy, layabout sister.

When the world is asking who you are, it’s hard not to question yourself. Who’s that girl? Edie is ready to find out.

Review

I only just got around to reading this book as it is part of my own personal book shelf. I love Mhairi's writing and so wanted to make sure I was up to date with her books.

Something about this book didn't sit with me as well as her other books. I'm not sure if it was because it was set in mine and Mhairi's home town and so although I could picture everywhere she mentioned, it felt a bit laboured in the descriptions. Precise location of where districts where? Did we need to know that? At times colloquial references left me wondering if those not from the area would know what was meant.

The plot itself was a good one, and really went off in a few different directions before becoming a book which was in the end a bit of a romcom. I've written before that her books are more than a romcom, but this one was nearer the mark to that than the others were for me. Mhairi was as usual spot on with her social observations both in real life and this time more on the social media side too. A real life take on what social media can now do to someone with cyber-bullying.

Great characters,although for some reason Elliot felt a little one dimensional to me. I loved Margot the next door neighbour - what a fab character. Not for the first time with one of her books, I felt myself shouting out loud at the happenings in the book - luckily in the confines of my own home and not on public transport.

I didn't like the ending - I don't like loose ends!

I'm giving this book four out of five stars, just because there was something missing for me.

Comments

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