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Title: Take A Chance on Me
Author: Carol Wyer
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 23rd September 2016
Rating: 5 Stars
A hilarious heart-warming read about friendship, taking chances and finding love, second time round.
When Charlie’s husband leaves after ten years of marriage, her spirits hit an all-time low. She just isn’t sure how to pick herself up again. So, best friend Mercedes makes it her mission to put a spring back in Charlie’s step with the perfect bucket list.
As Charlie bungee jumps and belly dances her way through an array of adventures, her love life also begins to look up and she’s soon enjoying a few dates as a newly single woman. She begins to realise that finding romance, might not be so hard, especially when you’ve got someone like journalist Jake who has an adorable little boy and is very easy on the eye.
But is Jake too good to be true? As Charlie’s challenges on the bucket list get bigger, so do her questions about Jake. Should she continue to hold out for the fairy-tale? Or is it only in rom coms that dreams can come true?
Fun with surprises along the way, is probably the best way to describe Take a Chance on Me. Really early into reading this book I realised that I was laughing, smiling and generally all around loving this story, and that if I had to review at that point, it would have been described as a fun book. Of course I then read the rest of it, and my opinion didn't change, it has fun at its heart, but it's also inspirational and there are a couple of surprising turns that the story takes.
Two friends on News Years Eve drunkenly agree to a challenge - the have both written Carpe Diem lists (similar to bucket lists) but its been decided they will work through each others lists. Charlie can't remember what she put on hers, and Mercedes who is in charge is also in a wheelchair, so is using Charlie to live through vicariously for some of these challenges.
For Charlie its a chance for her to face some of her biggest fears, and for her to get some of her old joie de vivre back, and being the kind hearted soul that she is, she also managed to turn it into a fund raiser for the hospital radio station she works on, by setting up Challenge Charlie!
The challenges Charlie faces are quite varied, are thankfully feel quite different to other books featuring bucket lists. However she also has challenges in her personal life, her daughter would have been 18 this year, and her romantic life is non existent at the start, but does develop in some interesting ways.
One my my highlights of the book were any time Charlie went over to her next door neighbour Peggy and Bert. Bert is easily one of the most entertaining and charismatic characters, he is a fantastic mimic, hates angry men, and is fabulous at sports, oh and he isn't human either! I challenge you to read scenes featuring Bert and not fail to either laugh or if a bit more cynical, at the very least roll your eyes at what he gets up to!
Charlie's best friend Mercedes is an inspiration, she has been through a tough time over the past few years, but she is still smiling and has a real zest for life. They are fantastic friends, and with quite contrasting personalities, that mesh well together, and she puts her all into doing the things on Charlie's original list, even if they are a bit tamer than she would have liked.
The other venue I really need to praise is the Art Cafe, where Charlie bakes cakes and is a waitress for her day job. There are some detailed descriptions about what the Art Cafe is, what the various rooms are and it's a place that I would love to visit in real life, it sounded like a great business idea - or at least a couple of existing businesses melded together into this Art Cafe!
I could probably continue to go on and on about various aspects of this wonderful book, but I would much rather urge you to take the time to read it for yourself and make up your own minds. I really did enjoy every last second of Take a Chance on Me, and I am so excited to have discovered just how talented author Carol Wyer is for romantic comedies. She is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.
Thank you so much to Bookouture and Netgalley for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.
Two friends on News Years Eve drunkenly agree to a challenge - the have both written Carpe Diem lists (similar to bucket lists) but its been decided they will work through each others lists. Charlie can't remember what she put on hers, and Mercedes who is in charge is also in a wheelchair, so is using Charlie to live through vicariously for some of these challenges.
For Charlie its a chance for her to face some of her biggest fears, and for her to get some of her old joie de vivre back, and being the kind hearted soul that she is, she also managed to turn it into a fund raiser for the hospital radio station she works on, by setting up Challenge Charlie!
The challenges Charlie faces are quite varied, are thankfully feel quite different to other books featuring bucket lists. However she also has challenges in her personal life, her daughter would have been 18 this year, and her romantic life is non existent at the start, but does develop in some interesting ways.
One my my highlights of the book were any time Charlie went over to her next door neighbour Peggy and Bert. Bert is easily one of the most entertaining and charismatic characters, he is a fantastic mimic, hates angry men, and is fabulous at sports, oh and he isn't human either! I challenge you to read scenes featuring Bert and not fail to either laugh or if a bit more cynical, at the very least roll your eyes at what he gets up to!
Charlie's best friend Mercedes is an inspiration, she has been through a tough time over the past few years, but she is still smiling and has a real zest for life. They are fantastic friends, and with quite contrasting personalities, that mesh well together, and she puts her all into doing the things on Charlie's original list, even if they are a bit tamer than she would have liked.
The other venue I really need to praise is the Art Cafe, where Charlie bakes cakes and is a waitress for her day job. There are some detailed descriptions about what the Art Cafe is, what the various rooms are and it's a place that I would love to visit in real life, it sounded like a great business idea - or at least a couple of existing businesses melded together into this Art Cafe!
I could probably continue to go on and on about various aspects of this wonderful book, but I would much rather urge you to take the time to read it for yourself and make up your own minds. I really did enjoy every last second of Take a Chance on Me, and I am so excited to have discovered just how talented author Carol Wyer is for romantic comedies. She is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.
Thank you so much to Bookouture and Netgalley for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.
Yay! Fab review! I love Carol's writing! Her warm, witty, sometimes wicked (in the best possible way), sense of humour shines through. Well done, Carol! Thanks for sharing, Rachel! :) xx
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