ON THE RAILS.

ON THE RAILS by SUZAN COLLINS.

SOURCE: A blogoversary win courtesy of JB at BROOK COTTAGE BOOKS.

For sexy thirty something widow Nikki, a freelance reporter, life is pretty much on track. She has some good friends, a great job, and no money worries. So what if her heart is a little bruised. 

When an assignment to cover a children’s charity do in London comes up she leaps at the chance to rub shoulders with a few celebrities. Here she meets Simon, a star from a TV soap. It’s lust at first site, and Nikki quickly wrangles a job with the charity, hoping to catch his eye.

Her new commute quickly becomes enlivened by a series of entangled affairs 'of the heart'. There’s Richard, a member of station staff, who’s 'slow and subtle attention' entices Nikki into foreign adventures but it seems he’s a long way from all he appears. There’s the gorgeous Luca, her new colleague, with his smouldering Italian good looks who is well on the way to derailing all her good intentions. And finally there’s Simon, who seems to be emerging as a narcissistic man, far more in love with himself than with any of women that have fallen for his undoubted charms.

With an assortment of warm friends, complete with ready shoulders, wicked humour and endless advice, Nikki’s travels on the rails are an adventure dotted with sex, celebrity and some hard choices.

Will she find happiness in the end, will her heart be mended and her life, at last, complete?
...... Outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE (Chapter 1): Nikki was in love.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 81): As she lay on the floor she saw the bare hairy legs in front of her, and realised it was the man's trouser leg she had been holding onto and that she had pulled them clean off, as she fell.

MY THOUGHTS: Essentially chick-lit but with the addition of some real life events that affected England and Londoners in particular. I was delighted that rather than being too much of a 'sexy rollercoaster of a ride' as stated on the front cover much of the novel (and laugh out loud moments) revolved around Nikki's (mis)adventures 'on the rails', Tube and buses.

Whilst I felt On The Rails wasn't a novel that flowed especially well or had a particularly strong plot it certainly had several other things to recommend it, the main one being lead character Nikki herself.

Though not a character I was instantly drawn to, Nikki slowly but surely became a character I grew to really like and in some ways identify with. Vulnerable and, despite being in her thirties, rather naive when it comes to men (the phrase 'wore ones heart on their sleeve' could have been coined for her). Kind, compassionate and very observant, it is through her eyes that we get such a compelling snapshot of modern British living.

The first in a series of books, I'm looking forward to reading more of what I hope are Nikki's escapades in Back On The Rails.

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