Book Review - Just The Way You Are by Lynsey James - Blog Tour

Amazon UK

Title: Just The Way You Are

Author: Lynsey James

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Carina

Publication Date: 8th May 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Dear Ava,

How do you start writing a letter to someone, six years after breaking their heart?

Ava is unlucky in love as well as in life. The new office bitch has landed the dating column Ava wanted, and she can't remember the last time she had a second date. It's a good thing she has best friends Max and Gwen to pick up the pieces.

Deep down, Ava knows the reason why one date never turns into two – she's in love with someone else. Someone she's never even met.

It all started six years ago, with a letter from a secret admirer, Mr Writer... but then they suddenly stopped and Ava was heartbroken.

Now the letters have started again and Ava knows it could mean winning back the dating column at work. This time she's determined to unmask Mr Writer... and find out once and for all if he's Mr Right or Mr Very Definitely Wrong!

Dear reader, 

How do you start writing a review for a book you have fallen head over heels in love with?  I'm hoping you know, as I'm not sure I have the skills, or know how to turn how much I love Just The Way You Are, into a usable review.

This is easily the most romantic book I have read this year (so far). I was gripped from the first moment, where we meet Ava. 

How do I describe Ava? Well she is unlucky in love, and has just lost out writing the dating column for the magazine she write for. After a humorous incident in the interview, she is given as a consolation prize, a new role - Wedding columnist. Just one small problem she hates weddings, especially after the amount of times her mother has been married.

Ava, although not having had a boyfriend in years, is in love. She has been inlove for the past 6 years with the secret admirer who wrote her letters at university, nicknamed Mr Writer. Mr Writer starts writing new letters to her after a gap of six years, at a time where Ava could be starting a new relationship, with a handsome new colleague at work. 

Max and Gwen are Ava's best friends, and like all good best friends should, they encourage her to go on a quest, to discover the Mr Writer's identity once and for all.

With the quality of the writing, I was falling in love with Mr Writer myself. His letters are designed to make Ava feel incredibly special, and it is so refreshing, to in this modern technology driven time, to receive hand written letters from a secret admirer. 

I'll be honest, I did work out who was sending the letters quite early on, but I was enjoying the story so much, and was so gripped reading, that I didn't mind one bit that I was correct. The journey to the reveal was entertaining. 

There is a secondary love story in Just The Way You Are, its a beautiful, featuring an older couple, that Ava is trying to help. 

I cannot stress enough how refreshing a voice Lynsey James has, and what a glorious writing style she has. I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book (apart from perhaps the characters you are meant to dislike, and even in those cases, they were written with a great deal of humanity, and you could see weaknesses too). 

This is an amazing début novel, and I hope to see a long writing career for talented Lynsey James. If I could give this book more than five stars then I would, as it is, it deserves every single star it can get.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Carina for the e-arc of this book. This was my honest opinion. Thank you again to Carina, for allowing me to be part of the blog tour for this amazing book. This is my first tour and I'm delighted to be taking part. 

Guest Post - Lynsey James' letter to Mr P - Blog Tour

Today I am delighted to welcome Lynsey James, author of the fantastic Just The Way You Are, to Rachel's Random Reads. In the book, secret admirer letters are a lovely feature, and this is Lynsey, writing in the style of the mysterious Mr. Writer, to a Mr. P.

As part of the blog tour for Just the Way You Are, I wanted to write a letter to someone from my past. It was a pretty intriguing experience and cathartic too. Here it is…

Amazon UK

Dear Mr P,
 You are the last person I expected to be writing a letter to. Still, here we are! I’m writing to you as part of a blog tour to promote my novel Just the Way You Are. Who’d have thought it eh, me with a book! Then again, a lot of unexpected things have happened to us.
 I won’t lay the details of what happened between us bare for all to see. We’ve talked about it again and again and have said all we need to say. The past has been raked over more times than is probably necessary and my feelings on what happened are clear. In the time since we split up, I feel like I’ve been on a hundred journeys. I’ve journeyed to rebuild myself, to make something of my life and to find my place in the world. I’m finally starting to see results now and can see how far I’ve come. It feels utterly brilliant.
  Although there was a lot of animosity between us in the past, I wish you only the best now. We’re in a place now where, even though we don’t talk a lot, we can congratulate each other on our successes and commiserate in our failures. There were times when I didn’t think we would get to that place, but I’m glad we have. The heat and the anger burnt out a long time ago; I won’t forget what happened but it doesn’t colour or define who I am anymore. It’s in the past and that’s where it’s going to stay.
  I guess in a way, I should finish off by thanking you. I’m a firm believer that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and my experiences with you taught me I’m made of titanium. Thank you for making me realise how strong I really am, even if it wasn’t in the best way. The times we shared together weren’t all bad either. So, with that in mind, I’m going to cherish the good memories we made, learn from the experiences we had and leave the past in the past.

Lynsey

Author Bio:

I was born in Fife in 1991 and have been telling people how to spell my name ever since. I’m an incurable bookworm who loves nothing more than getting lost in a good story with memorable characters. I started writing when I was really young and credit my lovely Grandad- and possibly a bump on the head from a Mr Frosty machine- with my love of telling stories. I used to write my own episodes of Friends and act them out in front of my family (in fact I’m sure I put Ross and Rachel together first!)

A careers adviser at school once told me writing wasn't a “good option” and for a few years, I believed her. I tried a little bit of everything, including make-up artistry, teaching and doing admin for a chocolate fountain company. The free chocolate was brilliant. When I left my job a couple of years ago, I started writing full-time while I looked for another one. As soon as I started working on my story, I fell in love and decided to finally pursue my dream. I haven’t looked back since.

When I’m not writing, eating cake or drinking tea, I’m daydreaming about the day Dylan O’Brien FINALLY realises we’re meant to be together. It’ll happen one day…

Thank you so much Lynsey. My review of Just The Way You Are will be posted in a few hours, also as part of the blog tour. Make sure you come back and check it out.