From Notting Hill with Love... Actually by Ali McNamara

What better book could I find to review on here than one about a 20-something woman obsessed with films? I think I'd struggle.... actually.

Scarlett is bored of life with her fiance David. He is reliable and he loves her. But he refuses to spend more money than absolutely necessary and insists on doing the refurb on their new house all himself (and bugging her with all the details). Scarlett wants the romance, the big declarations of love, the happy film ending. But her friends and family are insisting she leave the films alone and wake up to reality.... but can she have the film ending in her real life? Or is that just a silly dream?

Scarlett's decision to get away and clear her head for a month by house-sitting in Notting Hill brings all sorts of comedy and drama to her mundane and oh-so-normal life in brilliantly witty ways. The film references are never-ending from Notting Hill to Brief Encounter via Sleepless in Seattle. She meets the fabulously camp Oscar when he accidentally spills orange juice down her top (Notting Hill for those who don't know) and even has two guys fight over her in a fountain (Bridget Jones). 

Her mission to prove her family and friends wrong and find film moments in her everyday life leads her to people she didn't expect to meet and even a quest for her mother who left her and her dad when she was only a baby. 

This is a brilliant and heartwarming debut from McNamara and well worth a read for any film buff who has wished she had a little more Mark Darcy (or perhaps a little bit of Daniel Cleaver) in her life. There's even a film quiz at the end of the book!

Enjoy.


LE xxx


Rating: 4 out of 5 FOBLES