Rowena’s review of Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham.
Grade: 4 out of 5
Holly Denham has a lot on her plate. It’s her first day as a receptionist at a busy London corporate bank and, frankly, she can’t quite keep up. Take a peek at her email and you’ll see why: what with her crazy friends, dysfunctional family, and gossipy co-workers, Holly’s inbox is a daily source of drama. But it’s the laughter, friendship, and a hint of romance that keep Holly going.
I’m really glad that I picked this book up. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve read books that haven’t really impressed me much. I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve picked up and put back down because I just could not get into the story. Stories that I’ve been looking forward to reading fell flat for me. As much as I was keen on reading this story, I was afraid that this was going to fall flat on its face for me and I’m so happy that it didn’t.
This book reminds me of The Boy Next Door and Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot because it is written entirely through emails. We meet, greet and get to know Holly and the many characters in her life and it’s so easy for us to fall in love with her. She’s got a quirky personality that definitely leaps off the pages and had me laughing from the beginning to the end.
I enjoy chick lit books exactly like this, that are lighthearted and cute. What I liked most about this book was the way that this story flowed flawlessly from one email to another as the story kept unfolding. The secret from Holly’s past kept me turning the pages, wondering just what the heck it was and why she hated Toby so much. I’m disappointed to say that I fell for that asshole James Lawrence. I was so miffed with myself for falling for such an asshole but what I didn’t understand about that dumb ass was why did he want to meet Holly’s parents if he was seeing that tramp Jennie on the side? I mean, seriously? That seemed so dumb and then what was his reason for dumping Holly in the second place? Because she told him that she used to be married?
Another idiotic reason. But whatever, I’m glad that things didn’t work out with that dummy at the end because the book ended the way that it was supposed to end. My one complaint for this format and also for this book was that there was not nearly enough Toby in it. I hated that we had to wait until the very end of the story to find out what went down with Toby and then we didnt even get to live vicariously through their happy reunion, we had to wait for it to be over to find out what happened. That sucked but everything else was cute and fluffy and everything I like in a story.
I really enjoyed getting to know Trish, Jason and Aysha. I thought that they were great additions to the story..now, what I’m curious about is if there will be more stories coming out that we will find out what is going on with Aysha and her married self and then Jason. I really want to read those books.
Overall, this book flowed nicely and it was told in a manner that kept me interested from page to page. I enjoyed the story and thought that it was an easy weekend read. I think anyone who is looking for something light and fluffy will enjoy this story so you should definitely pick it up, I’m glad I did. =)
This book is available from Sourcebooks. You can buy it here.
Sounds like a great beach read…maybe even this weekend!
Great review!!! This one sounds really cute!
Thank you for your review – I agree re James – I loved writing his character, but he had too much confidence which lets that type of guy down till the very very end, (when in years and years to come they suddenly know how stupid they’ve been and what beautiful people are all about – inside etc. by then it’s too late.
xxx
Holly