Girl 99 by Andy Jones

 

Before Tom finds The One, he needs to find himself.

When Tom’s girlfriend walks out on him the day before Christmas, he feels humiliated but not necessarily heartbroken. Sadie wasn’t, after all, The One. If we’re being precise, she was number eighty-five.

Tom’s first mistake is sharing this information with his best friend El. His next mistake is listening when El suggests that he bring his eighty-five up to a nice, neat one hundred.

It was never going to be a good idea, not least because everything else in Tom’s life is in complete chaos. His best friend is dying of a slow and cruel disease, his teenage sister is at war with his well-meaning but dogmatic father, his elderly neighbour is having romantic problems (and makes a dreadful cup of tea), and he has to shoot four commercials with four children and a bad-tempered producer.

And then Tom meets Verity. Whether she’s The One remains to be seen, but she’s certainly more than just another number.

This is my second book by Andy Jones with the first being The Two of Us which I thoroughly enjoyed and I was over the moon when I started reading this to find that our much loved El from that book is in this one and for me it was the biggest highlight. El and our main character Tom are best friends and after Tom makes a mistake which results in him becoming newly single its El who sets the wheels in motion putting a bet forward for Tom to get his bed post notches up to 100!

This is a typical lad lit novel that brought out a few chuckles here and there as we follow Tom on his somewhat entertaining mission to win his bet but there are more than a few bumps along the way. We do get to see a more caring side of Tom when time is spent with friends and family so he doesn't come across as some cheap playboy but his actions do none the less feel very ladish and it was great to see him come unstuck at times.

It was an easy read with humour, loss, friendship and a little romance aside from the obvious but still for me I really looked forward to the parts which feature El and Tom together and I greedily wish there was more moments with them but I appreciate this book was Tom's story not El's.

The Trouble with Henry and Zoe by Andy Jones

Henry and Zoe have more in common than they realise. For a start, they both have pasts they'd rather leave behind. 
After jilting his childhood sweetheart on the eve of their wedding, Henry makes a break for London. He has no friends, no job, no home, no plan. 
Zoe has great friends, two jobs, a new house, and a big scary plan. After a traumatic, life-changing event, she plans to leave London and spend a year travelling. Alone. 
If Henry and Zoe had met one year ago, things might have worked out differently. But that s not the way life works. They meet seven months after their worlds have been turned upside down. And four months before Zoe is due to climb on a plane...




After thoroughly enjoying The Two of Us by Andy Jones last year you can imagine my excitement when a copy of his second book The Trouble with Henry and Zoe arrived through the post.

We are introduced to our main characters Henry and Zoe and it is safe to say that they have both had a romantic past that they are keen to leave behind and they both have their own plans moving forward with Henry trying to make a new start in London and Zoe planning to jet off and travel the world taking in the sights and finding herself but will she still embark on her life changing adventure after meeting Henry only months before?

What made this such a delightful read were the engaging main characters who brought both humour and emotion to the storyline. The relationship that slowly builds between Henry and Zoe is very realistic especially taking into account the emotions both of the characters are still trying to overcome from their past relationships and rather than the author rush our characters into a predictable, unrealistic and quick happy ever after we actually watch the characters take their time in getting to know each other and just enjoy spending time with each other with no expectations or pressure which actually leaves us wondering if they will get together properly or if their relationship is just what they need to get over their past but are actually destined to take a different past and it is the constant uncertainty as to what will become of Zoe and Henry that had me hooked the whole way through.

The author manages to write perfectly from both Zoe and Henry’s points of views and yet you can still tell that it is a male author I think this is due to the humour but personally I love the different writing style as it is refreshing to have a new take on romance fiction. Although this is still a slightly emotive read this one didn’t have me blubbing like The Two of Us so you will be safe to read this one in public! It focuses on the big choices in life that we make and at the time they may seem like a bad choice but no matter what happened life goes on and it is a new chapter to look forward to and often good things can lie ahead. I couldn’t say that I enjoyed this one more than the author’s debut because they are both very different books that I loved equally but for different reasons.

The Two of Us will always be a memorable book as the storyline broke my heart but The Trouble with Henry and Zoe is a book that has come along at the right time for me with my own big decisions to make and I found this to be a heart-warming read with a light humour so it gets the thumbs up from me.

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The Two of Us by Andy Jones

Falling in love is the easy part. What matters most is what happens next... Fisher and Ivy have been an item for a whole nineteen days. And they just know they are meant to be together. The fact that they know little else about each other is a minor detail. Over the course of twelve months, in which their lives will change forever, Fisher and Ivy discover that falling in love is one thing, but staying there is an entirely different story.

I have heard so many great things about The Two of Us by Andy Jones and I was excited to delve into his book because I love my romance books which more often than not are written by women so I was looking forward to seeing how Mr Jones compares.

Our main characters are Fisher and Ivy and the book starts off after the pair only having known each other less than 3 weeks, they seem to have had a heady whirlwind romance up until this point but suddenly Ivy has changed, something is a little off but little does Fisher know his relationship with Ivy and his life altogether is about to dramatically change.

This book is told from completely from Fishers point of view which I loved, it is great to read from a male perspective and in particular it was nice to have a down to earth male character who wasn’t trying to play the hard man but actually expressed his thoughts and feelings. Fisher was a character who made me laugh and by the end of the book he really felt like a friend. Whereas Ivy on the other hand I really could not take to and I wondered if as the book progressed if she would slowly grow on
me but she didn’t if anything I disliked her more which only made me love and feel sorry for Fisher all the more.

I loved how because both Ivy and Fisher have only just met we get to know the characters at the same speed as they find out details about each other and by doing this we uncover small parts of each of the characters pasts.

There is a smaller storyline that is weaved in between the main plot and this is the friendship between Fisher and his friend El who is dying of Huntington’s disease and for me I enjoyed reading about this friendship rather than the relationship between Ivy and Fisher. El provided a gentle humour to the book and it is obvious what is going to happen later in the book to El but although I expected it I still found it brought a lump to my throat.

I thought Andy Jones delivered a great storyline at a great pace with a couple of twists which kept my interest piqued. The storyline was realistic and heartfelt it sure brought out a lump in my throat but I didn’t find this to be a weepy read and I think that is thanks to the touches of humour and the loveable characters that keep it more upbeat.  Without giving too much away there is a part of this book that Andy managed to write about so tenderly and with such raw feeling but I can't say any more as I don't want to spoil anything! I read this book within a day and it is definitely one I would recommend, I look forward to this author next release.

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