Book Review - Getting Over Jesse Franklin by Stephie Chapman

Amazon UK

Title: Getting Over Jesse Franklin

Author: Stephie Chapman

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied

Publisher: Self published 

Publication Date: 18th May 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

What happens when you find your 90's boyband crush on Facebook, and then add him? 

Years ago, Cassie loved Jesse. But he was the bass player in her favourite band and didn't know she even existed. Fourteen years on, the band has broken up and she's found him on Facebook, and it turns out that after finally meeting in London, he quite likes her, too. Their relationship quickly intensifies and Cassie and Jesse find themselves in a long distance relationship spanning five thousand miles. But just as she's beginning to think all her dreams have come true, a misunderstanding tears them apart and as she tries to piece her life back together in London, Jesse is planning a way to win her back with the help of her best friend... and a ukulele.

I'm sure most people have had a huge crush on a band member or singer when they were growing up, and a good amount of those, will have followed their crush all over the country. But have you ever thought about looking them up after they are no longer famous? In the case of my obsession as a teenager, its irrelevant as they are still going strong today.

However in the case of Cassie, this is exactly what happened. She was a huge fan of  a smallish American band, and she and her best friend Rachel followed them all over the UK when they came over, to real obsessive tendencies.  

One night Rachel and Cassie look up the band on Google and it leads to them finding Jesse Franklin the bass player from the band. A few days later Cassie randomly sends Jesse a friend request on facebook and things move forward from there. 

We get to see a lot of the Facebook correspondence, and it looks as though Jesse is a nice guy, and not at all how you would expect an ex-famous person to be. He manages to arrange a meeting in London, and there is an instant connection between them both. 

I loved watching the long distance relationship unfurl, and the time spent in Los Angeles is fantastic. I found Jesse to be the ultimate American boy next door sexy guy type of person, and he seemed delightful. Cassie also seemed like a lovely character, but a little self obsessed at times. 

There are a lot of references to things from the 90s in this book, which really made me feel a bit nostalgic, and I also liked a reference to a town that is near me, that I don't see mentioned in books often at all. 

Ultimately I really enjoyed this book, but there is one thing that let it down, and that is the blurb. It gives a massive clue to what turned out to be almost the ending of the book. So I already had a good idea how the second half of the book would pan out, and not through the writing being predictable (which it isn't), but from the synopsis. Although I did enjoy the journey, I  generally don't want that much of a hint to the outcome before I have even started reading the book.

Getting Over Jesse Franklin is a great debut novel, one that I enjoyed reading I found it to be a quick and easy read, and quite fun, from a clearly talented new author. 

Thank you to Stephie Chapman for offering me this review copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my honest opinion.