TAKE A LOOK AT ME NOW.

TAKE A LOOK AT ME NOW by MIRANDA DICKINSON.

SOURCE: A win courtesy of Avon books.

What a difference a day makes…

Nell Sullivan has always been known as ‘Miss Five-Year Plan’. But when she finds herself jobless and newly single on the same day, Nell decides it is time to stop planning and start taking chances.

Nell blows her redundancy cheque on a trip of lifetime to a place where anything's possible – San Francisco. There she meets a host of colourful characters, including the intriguing and gorgeous Max Rossi. Very soon the city begins to feel like Nell’s second home.

But when it’s time to return to London, will she leave the ‘new Nell’ behind? And can the magic of San Francisco continue to sparkle thousands of miles away?
..... Outer back cover

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1: The day that changed my life}: When the thing that was going to change my life arrived, it didn't look anything like I'd expected.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 44}: She reached into an overhead cupboard and produced a box of English breakfast tea like it was the most precious gem in the world.

MY THOUGHTS: No matter what the 'official' definition of chick-lit (and believe me there are many) I personally always think of it as being a light read (often verging on the fluffy) that, usually with a romantic edge, is written for women about women (albeit generally about women unlike any I've ever met).

A book that ticks all the boxes and then some. Sadly Take A Look At Me Now took 'light reading' to a whole new dimension in that the story required no imagination whatsoever, every word, thought and action recited as if to a child. The characters bland, one dimensional and juvenile - considering that they were in their late twenties/thirties for the best part of the book it was like reading a teenagers diary, the word 'hun' overused and infuriating.

With themes of food pretty much in vogue at the moment, the author takes advantage of this in that in main character, Nell, we have a baker extraordinaire who dreams of running an authentic American diner serving pancakes and waffles but even this is cloyingly saccharine sweet and over done.

Perhaps a novel best left to those more into chick-lit than myself. The only positive thing I can say about it was I enjoyed the descriptions of life a la San Francisco even if all of the characters from Nell's cousin (the typical Brit living abroad), to Greek taxi driver, Apollo, and diner owner, Annie, (all of them, along with the homeless, nauseatingly cheerful and living the dream) were unimaginative stereotypes.

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