A Proper Charlie by Louise Wise

I have just finished my second book on my kindle and what a great read it was. A Proper Charlie by Louise Wise looks like a true chick lit, romance style book with its pink cover and a red head Charlie on the front. Do not let this cover fool you it is so much more than what the cover promises!

Plot

Charlie Wallis has everything a girl could wish for: a loving boyfriend, a fantastic job as a newspaper journalist for London Core and resides in a trendy flat.

Trouble is Charlie’s boyfriend’s a loser, her job title really reads `clerk` and her flat, at the top of a high-rise, isn’t that nice after all.

Her new boss, Ben, is a huge bear of a man. A gentle giant, with chocolate brown eyes that hold a secret.

While London Core investigates the disappearance of local prostitutes, Charlie wants in on the action, deciding that dressing as a hooker and walking the streets is good research.

Bumping into Ben was the last thing she expected.

A story of opposites that not only attract…but ignite!

My Opinion

This is another one of those books where I read the synopsis and think is this really going to be a piece of me? I will always give a book which is submitted to me to review a chance but if by the end of the first chapter it really doesn’t interest me I do not carry on. I am glad this is not what happened with this novel. The story gets off to a comfortable start introducing us to our main character Charlie who seems to lack confidence in herself and her life just seems to be heading in the wrong direction. I instantly take a liking to Charlie from the moment we met her.

At the beginning of the book we have to different storylines running alongside each other which eventually merge together. We have the insight into our main character Charlie and her troubles on one hand and then on the other hand we meet Ben Middleton who has just lost his mother but that is where his problems only just begin. I feel the structure of this book worked well by bringing to separate stories together as it gave us, the reader, a chance to see the insight of both Charlie and Ben’s lives.

I loved Ben, we warm to him just as quickly as we do Charlie and I would say he is one of my favourite male characters I have ever read. If you like the character Luke Brandon in the Shopaholic series you will love Ben.

There are many characters who pop up in this book one of the main ones being Melvin who is Charlie’s best friend who is gay and provides a little humour to this more in depth storyline. I did like his character but by about half way through the book he was doing my head in keep calling Charlie Baby Doll every time he came up in the book!

The book starts off at a comfortable pace as we get to know our characters but as their two lives join together to form the main storyline to this book the pace of the book picks up and remains at this pace for the rest of the book with no dull points to it. When the storyline started to involve Charlie heading out to the redlight district I thought this was when I was going to lose a little interest but Wise manages to still keep you gripped giving you enough information without the storyline becoming overly seedy. 

Although some parts of the story where predictable the suspense of other parts of the book truly makes up for those parts.

I would defiantly recommend A Proper Charlie especially for anyone wanting to try something a little different as it is quite unlike any other books I have read. This is available at an unbelievable price on Amazon Kindle at the moment so get in quick!!