Daisy Does It Herself

What a wonderful story! The characters were perfect; the story had me captivated from the very beginning, and it was hard to put down, (even though I had to go back to work). I can’t wait for her second novel, and definitely recommend it to anyone.

Adorable, G-rated, New Adult, romantic comedy, set in a quaint village in England

Daisy Monroe is 26, and for the past six years, she has been in a romantic relationship with a wealthy control-freak named Phil, who is approximately a decade older than her. He calls her by the demeaning pet name, “Goose,” which she has always hated, but somehow she has never quite mustered up the gumption to insist that he stop using it. For the past two years she has lived with Phil in his fancy apartment in a prestigious part of London and has convinced herself he is “wonderful” because he is successful, handsome, and has “a rugby player’s build in a Gucci suit.”

Though Daisy was an indifferent student in a formal education setting, in the years since she left school, she has relentlessly studied on her own, in particular, teaching herself computer programming and digital marketing. While working as a temporary employee, she landed an assignment a year ago with a prominent London business where she has gradually become their de facto digital marketing and web person. She has done such a terrific job, in truth, that she has had valid reason to believe she would be given a formal offer of a permanent position doing that same work. Unfortunately, she is dumped from her temp job when the position she sought is handed to a far less qualified man.

Daisy stumbles home much earlier than normal in abject despair, only to come upon Phil at their shared apartment, locked in a blatantly sexual embrace with another woman! Daisy backs away in horror, with only one thought in her mind, to get away from her cheating bum of a boyfriend. Phil’s unapologetic, patronizing gaslighting, declaring she should come back into their apartment immediately because she didn’t see what she actually saw, does not stop her from skittering away from him. In a complete daze, Daisy ponders what her choices are and realizes she has no friends, because domineering Phil has, over their years together, systematically isolated her from everyone but him and her mother, who is Phil’s biggest fan. Daisy’s retrograde mother has been constantly urging Daisy to hold onto Phil by employing 1950’s style, submissive, womanly wiles, because she considers Phil a tremendous catch, whom she can’t imagine how Daisy ever managed to latch onto. When Daisy calls her mother to tell her what happened with Phil, hoping for moral support, completely in character, her mother urges her to overlook Phil’s cheating, stating that it’s just the way things are with men of his social standing. Fortunately, Daisy ignores this awful advice and instead wanders in a daze to the nearby London train station. There, she randomly hops on a train, exhausts herself weeping, and falls asleep, until the conductor wakes her and tells her she has to get off. It’s the end of the line. Daisy has arrived in a little village she never heard of before called Upper Finlay.

Thus begins Daisy’s adventures involving a handsome bookstore owner, Alex Dean, who is her same age, his lovable Great Dane, and Alex’s colorful coterie of loyal and welcoming friends.

I enjoyed everything about this terrific, G-rated, contemporary romance. Unlike a great many British romances I have read previously, which are actually chick lit, in spite of being marketed as romance, this novel truly is a romance. Yes, it is written in first person point of view (POV), which has never been the expected manner of writing novels in the romance genre. They are written in the third person POV of both the heroine and the hero. It is chick lit that is written in first person POV. But unlike chick lit, which is typically about a twenty-something woman’s dating disasters in a city setting and stresses female rejection of romance in favor of BFF relationships with a loyal band of hard-drinking women, this novel is set in a village and stresses Daisy’s growth from a pliant doormat with insufferable Phil, to an independent, self-confident woman and an adorable, “friends to romance” connection with marvelous Alex.

I very much enjoyed that though there is plenty of vibrant, exciting chemistry between Daisy and Alex, unlike virtually every other G-rated, adult romance I have read, this author has an extremely well motivated reason for why there are no sex scenes between two consenting adults at all in this book.

The setting is also a big plus in this novel. It is very well drawn such that I got such a strong sense of place, I felt like I was right there with Daisy in the delightfully quaint village of Upper Finlay.

All in all, from start to finish, this is an extremely well plotted dramedy, and I enjoyed every part of the book.

I rate this romance novel as follows:

Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Daisy Coming into Her Own: 5 stars
Setting: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars

After losing her job and discovering her live-in boyfriend with another woman, Daisy has nowhere to go and no idea what to do next. She boards a train in London and falls asleep, waking up at the end of the line in Derbyshire. There, she meets Alex, a handsome bookstore owner. He offers her a room for the night while she awaits the next train, which doesn’t arrive until morning.

On a whim, Daisy decides to take a job at the bookstore while she decides what to do next. Could love be in the air for Daisy and Alex?

This book is part chick lit, part small town romance. It’s a delightful read, but it gets off to a slow start. The story doesn’t really begin until Daisy reaches Derbyshire. It’s worth skimming through the opening to get to the good part.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Disastrous day sets Daisy on path to greener pastures: sweet, positive

4-4.5stars
This was a lovely, sweet story that takes adversity and turns it into an exciting challenge, both for heroine Daisy and for the yummy, struggling bookstore owner she champions. It’s a very feel-good plot with Daisy adopting the rhythms and admiring the quirks of the small Derbyshire community she ends up in by chance. The romance is simmering but sweet; Daisy is a character who ratchets up strength and self confidence through the course of the story; the Derbyshire secondary characters are each relatable, likeable and distinct; and the overall effect is a very enjoyable read.

Thanks to Books Go Social and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.