Friday 10 April 2015

The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood


Jessica Beam is a girl who knows how to party. Only lately she's been forgetting to turn up for work on time. Or in clean clothes. Down on her luck, out of a job and homeless, Jess seeks the help of her long-lost grandmother. Things aren't going well for Matilda Beam, either. Her 1950s Good Woman guide books are out of print, her mortgage repayments are staggering and her granddaughter wears neon Wonderbras. When a lifeline from a London publisher arrives, the pair have an opportunity to secure the roof over their heads - by invigorating the Good Woman guides and transforming modern, rebellious Jess into a demure vintage lady. The true test of their makeover will be to capture the heart of notorious London playboy Leo Frost and prove that Matilda's guides still work. It's going to take commitment, nerves of steel and one seriously pointy bra to pull this off . . .


The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance is the second book by Kirsty Greenwood and after thoroughly enjoying her first book Yours Truly I was really looking forward to reading this and it came at just the right time I had read a lot of deep, dark reads so I was looking forward to something light and witty and that is exactly what I got.

Our bubbly main character is Jessica Beam and I absolutely loved her, she was a real live wire who is mischievous and loves life, running and pear cider! As her life looks set to go down a certain path things then take an almighty plummet and she loses everything and with nowhere to turn she ends up at her Grandma’s house who she hasn’t met before.  Although Grandma Matilda lives in a grand house she is down on her luck too but a lifeline is thrown Jess and Matilda’s way which will mean using Matilda’s traditional, classic Good Woman tips on Jessica.

This was such a fun down to earth read. The book is told from Jessica’s point of view but also at the beginning of each chapter there is a tip taken from Matilda Beam’s Guide to Love and Romance, 1955 book which was a lovely touch and there was also a diary entry from Rose who was Jessica’s mum and it was great to slowly get the picture as to what had happened to Rose earlier on in life.

The storyline has a classy modern feel to it the classy side definitely doesn’t come from Jessica but from her Grandma whereas Jessica brings a modern, fun and energetic feel to the book. There were great supporting characters in this book too, Peach was a very friendly, loving character who was a very reserved and timid character until Jessica came into her life. There was also her friend ( if you can call her that) Summer who I took an instant dislike to, but the character that really shocked me was Leo Frost my opinion of him went full circle.

The storyline kept me entertained and the book flowed at a fast pace. There was some swearing in this book but it was in the right places and didn’t feel out of place it just added to Jessica’s out of control character, I found myself smiling away at Jessica’s attitude because she is unbelievable and funny.


This truly is a fun, fast paced and uplifting read and I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope Kirsty doesn’t leave it so long for her next book we need another fix!


Paperback                Kindle

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