Sweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules. And the number one rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don’t get guys like gorgeous, handsome William, heir to Neve's heart since university. But William’s been in LA for three years, and Neve’s been slimming down and re-inventing herself so that when he returns, he’ll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her.
So she’s not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she's an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she’d better get some, well, experience.
What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia’s colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he’s such a man-slut, and so not Neve’s type, she certainly won’t fall for him. Because William is the man for her… right?
Somewhere between losing weight and losing her inhibitions, Neve’s lost her heart – but to who?
My thoughts:
**Beach Read Alert!!**
I actually read this much earlier in the year when I came across it after reading a lot of praise for Sarra Manning's Unsticky. I just happened to find a paperback copy for cheap and I'm sooooo glad I did!
Title and cover notwithstanding, this is above and beyond just any old chick-lit! Now, the basic elements of the plot are pretty average romantic fare but what makes You Don't Have to Say You Love Me stand out is the realistically flawed characters. You love and completely sympathize with the awkward and inexperienced Neve. Also, the reader quickly realizes that the seemingly shallow Max has a lot more going on than what's apparent on the surface. Oh, and the chemistry...sizzling!
Something else that I really liked about this book is that Max and Neve challenge each other to become better people by forcing the other to get over some serious self-esteem issues. Often in chick-lit self image issues are one-sided (usually it's the woman with the problems) so it's refreshing to see that both of the characters need to get over some major hurdles. Anyways, if you liked Bridget Jones or are just looking for some good summer fluff, I highly recommend this book!
4/5 stars
Other reviews:
The Allure of Books
This sounds like a great summer read, it is going on the TBR list!!!
ReplyDeleteYay! I think you'll really like it Anne :)
DeleteFirst of all, this cover rules.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, this sounds awesome. The lightness of the beach read is certainly something I'm down with, but the character growth on both sides sounds even MORE awesome!
It IS more awesome! :)
DeleteI've already reread this book once after only reading it a few months ago - the characters are just fab!
I haven't heard of the book before now but it sounds like a perfect summer read for me!
ReplyDeleteIt would be a great summer read! Yeah, it's hard to find here in the US because I think it was only published in the UK or only published in a limited quantity in the States. Buuut, you can find some used copies on the cheap on Amazon :)
DeleteI heard about this a while back but then forgot about it. It sounds really cute! I'll definitely be trying to find a copy!
ReplyDelete