Lisa Becker

4/5

Amazon.com
Amazon.UK

The cover was bland and sort of faded into the background as an icon on Amazon, and had I seen in on a page in between all the other brightly coloured chick lit books (instead of being directed straight for it) I'd not have noticed it. 

The author's name was a tiny scrawl that I couldn't read unless I clicked 'look inside'. But the title, a single word, immediately spoke modern or technical and intrigued me enough to glance at the blurb.

Through the blurb I found out Click An Online Love Story is a romance told in a series of emails and I'm immediately put off: I'm hit with the thought that other people's messages are without character, meaningless and, well, boring. 

Reluctantly, I have a look at the sample and I am awash with names yet I'm still on page one! Renee, Mark, Ralphie, Shelly, Mel... I just can't see how a story can be cultivated from a series of email conversations, but the reviews of this book urge me to keep with it and so I keep reading.

We have a group of friends: Renee, Mark, Ashley, Shelley and Lisa. Renee is the main character and her 30th is looming. She's single and not happy about it (a chick lit cliché!) Mark convinces her she should join with him and sign up to an online a dating agency. There were some genuine laugh out-loud moments (or emails) as Renee went about meeting one bad guy after another.

There were a few 'text words' that sailed over my head, but not many, just enough to make it look authentic, so kudos to the author for that.

Renee and Shelley were lovely as characters, and I could visualise their BFF relationship. At first I thought Click had character over-load but I began to get to know them and they all had their own distinctive voice.

I didn't see the ending coming. It was a 'of course, should've spotted that!' moment, so very well done again to the author on that score.

Over all, the reviews were right, it was a fun read. It took me a while to get into the reading the style, and I don't think I relaxed until almost a third into the book. If you want a challenge give this little gem a try.

No editing issues.

Blurb

Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical "B" celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will root for Renee to "click" with the right man.

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