Queen of chick lit Lindsey Kelk has not disappointed with her new novel, The Single Girls To-Do List. It ticks all the boxes ; its light hearted, its funny, its romantic, the characters are loveable and its inspiring. You couldn't wish for anymore.
The Single Girls To-Do List tells the story of Rachel Summers who embarks on a life makeover after her boyfriend of five years dumps her out of the blue. Instead of moping around in the flat that they own though, Rachel's two best friends - the feisty Emelie and drop dead gorgeous but unfortunately gay Matthew come to the rescue. Together they devise a to-do list for the new singleton, which, instead of just featuring ways to get over her ex, it changes Rachel's whole life - for the better.
My favourite part of this book was how much I could personally relate to the main character Rachel. Who hasn't fallen into the typical routine with their other half and, without realising it, stopped making the effort? More importantly, who hasn't 'settled' at one time in their life? With her ridiculous amount of memorabilia that lines her flat walls to wasting hundreds of pounds on underwear, I could definitely see some of myself in Rachel. I think this is because Lindsey Kelk is young for an author (or at least she looks young from her photo!) and I've often found a lot of authors are older, giving their characters traits that we cannot always relate to, or writing the love interest as someone we wouldn't actually fancy at our age!
The two other main characters, Emelie and Matthew, are also very loveable, creating the perfect mix between taking chances but not going overboard!
I cannot count how many times I laughed out loud at this book, there were so many moments that were so funny but so realistic. This book was so well written that it was filled with a blend of hilarious scenarios and heart warming messages. I think this book was also a slight coming-of-age book in that Rachel has to adjust to being single in so long. However, along the way she also finds herself and learns how to be more independent.
The best thing about this book was how inspiring it was - it immediately wanted me to take a notebook and make my own to-do list of all the things I'd like to do with my life. I adore the messages behind this book too - it teaches you to never, ever settle on what makes you 'content' and instead go for the stuff that makes you really head over heels ecstatic. It also teaches you that giving your life a makeover certainly helps getting over a break up, but you can certainly make do with some close friends and a bottle of vodka!
If you're a fan of the I heart...books then you will definitely love this one. It is written in a similar matter - Lindsey Kelk has a special noticeable way of writing that is always inspiring - but is still completely different to the I heart...books. I loved that Jenny from the I heart...books also made a sneaky appearance!
