*** Review*** From Notting Hill With Love... Actually by Ali McNamara

On the Back of the Book

Scarlett loves movies.

But does she love sensible fiancé David just as much?

With a big white wedding on the horizon,

Scarlett really should have decided by now...

When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill – the setting of one of her favourite movies – Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too.

Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

Pre Read Thoughts

I picked this up in The Works as part of a 3 for £5 deal. I’m not sure what attracted me to this book as it’s not a genre I normally read. It may have been the title but it’s more likely to have been the shiny snowflakes on the cover. What can I say? I’m like a magpie when it comes to shiny things.  Once I’d picked up the book the synopsis really caught my attention. I decided to buy it and take it home for when I was having a bad day. Well the bad day has arrived and the book has been picked up.  I hope it puts a smile on my face.

Post Read Thoughts

***This may contain spoilers. Sorry, I just want to get my point across.***

I really, really liked this book. It had me smiling and laughing out loud as I read about Scarlett’s adventures in Notting Hill and a few other places but to find out where you’ll just have to read the book. The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was the film references. I think this is because they got repetitive. Scarlett’s meant to be a film buff but so few films were used in the book. However we all have something we obsess over (well I know I do) so I forgave Scarlett quickly. The writing was pretty darn good and drew me into the story speedily. I read the book in less than a day and considering it’s 428 pages that’s not bad at all.

Aside from her obsession with about three films, I liked Scarlett. A lot. She was sweet and funny and I love how she grew as a character throughout the book. I can get why she had issues choosing between David and Sean as they are complete opposites but for me, as the reader, there wasn’t any competition. Sean seemed to care more about Scarlett and more willing to accept her as she was. David wanted her to change and be someone that she wasn’t and that’s not acceptable. I also liked how Sean helped to track down Scarlett’s long lost mum when all David could say was leave it. I wanted David to prove that he deserved Scarlett and he never did. I just quickly want to say that I loved the quirky side characters. Maddie was hilarious, Ursula was pretty awesome but my favourite was definitely Oscar. What a guy! The outfits really had my brain working overtime.

Overall this is a very enjoyable book that makes you feel good. There are some hilarious moments and my personal favourite happens at Disneyland Paris. I’m saying nothing else about it aside from it had me in stitches. The ending is so funny and heart meltingly romantic at the same time. Actually I think that funny and heart meltingly romantic sum up this book nicely. I definitely recommend this to fans of chick-lit or even just for women who want to read something different. I don’t think it would do a guy’s street cred any good to be seen with it though, so if you’re a dude and you want to read this, I have one word for you: Kindle.

My Rating

4 stars – it doesn’t matter how much I loved this I never considered five stars, this isn’t an insult to the book, it’s very high on the scale of four. I think the reason I can only give this four is because a few of the movie references went over my head. Other than that this book is almost perfect. In fact it’s good enough to make me want to go pick up Breakfast At Darcy’s... except I’m not allowed to buy any more books until I have my Kindle (Hurry up Christmas)!

A Final Note

There was one swear word that I can remember and also this is an adult book. Saying that, I’ve read worse in YA so I don’t see why a teen shouldn’t read it.