Just a Girl Standing in Front of a Boy
by Lucy-Anne Holmes
Publication date: 30th January 2014
Publisher: Sphere
Pages: 416
Summary
‘My love story may not be the sort you read about in books or see in films . . . Love stories have glorious highs and ghastly lows. But when it comes to my own life, I’d have to say, you can keep your fabulous highs and I’ll happily steer clear of the terrible lows.’
After a rocky start in life, Jenny Taylor, 27, star receptionist at the local doctors surgery, has things all worked out thanks to ‘The Smiling Fanny Manifesto’ – a list of 10 daily things she must do to keep the blues at bay. But her life is turned upside down when she meets aspiring musician Joe King. And reliable boyfriend Matt proposes. And then her mum leaves her dad and moves into Jenny’s flat determined to ‘bond’.
Just a Girl, Standing in Front of a Boy will make you laugh and cry – and it will make you look at your own love story in a new way. Lucy-Anne Holmes is the bestselling author of 50 Ways to Find a Lover.
Source: Goodreads
Thoughts
After my previous read, I wanted something lighthearted and fun to read next. Lucy-Anne Holmes‘ “Just a Girl Standing in Front of a Boy” was exactly that. Named after a quote from “Notting Hill“, this is an entertaining rom-com following the love life of Jenny Taylor, nicknamed Fanny, her friend Phillipa and the adventures they get up to in the quiet town of Tiddlesbury.
“My name is Jenny Taylor but everyone calls me Fanny. I admit, it isn’t ideal being called Fanny on a day-to-day basis, but it could be worse. ‘It could be worse’ is my catchphrase. I have need for it a lot. I don’t have the best of luck.”
I really enjoyed this book at first, instantly drawn in to Fanny and her world. Engaged to a man her friends and family are not sure about and secretly head over hills in love with a man she meets in the local chemist, Fanny was someone you could relate to – chatty, realistic and personable; someone you actually wanted to root for and can easily warm to. I developed a particular fondness upon reading a whole paragraph about her love for Jägerbombs and knew this was the book for me!
Holmes writes with such ease, each idea flows and moves smoothly into the next, truly representing to mind and thoughts of our main character, and Fanny’s mind was certainly full of humour too. As she took comfort in comedy and comedians, on many occasions I found myself smiling and having a little chuckle at the many mishaps or bizarre thoughts throughout. Likable friends Phillipa and Al were also great comic additions to the plot.
I’m sorry to say that despite all of this, I began to get a little bored. At 416 pages, for me, this story was far too long. Things began to get a little repetitive; Fanny thinks about and then dismisses the thoughts of her dream man, Joe King, again and again and again. I felt as though I was reading the same things over and over again, making the plot somewhat predictable and not something I will remember for a long time.
Overall rating: A fun easy read full of love and laughs, a town full of likable and entertaining characters and a plot full of twists and turns. Enjoyable, just slightly too long and repetitive for me which scores this book 3 stars.
