Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to similar audio books?
Excellent
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Exciting, Different, It will get you hooked
Disadvantages:
Not much to read in the book after you've read online
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
What is Hollys Inbox?
Hollys Inbox has been compared to Bridget Jones's Diary and is the new "Chick Lit". Hollys Inbox was launched in February 2007 and has been a hit all over the world with thousands of reader's logging in from Germany, America, Australia etc.
The story starts with Holly's first day at Huerst and Wright, a busy investment bank in London, as a Receptionist. Holly really struggles when she starts as she hasn't any previous experience in this role before and her new Colleague, Patricia, isn't helpful in the slightest. The story begins detailing the hard time Holly is having at her new work with Patricia, although, they soon form a fantastic friendship throughout the novel. Holly receives e-mails on a daily basis from her best friend Jason, her ex Colleague at a nearby Hotel. As well as Jason's e-mails, Holly receives e-mails from Aleisha (another friend), her Mum, Granny and Sister Alice and Brother-in-law Matt and many more. However, there is a secret which Holly is keeping from everyone, which you will have to read about as I don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't! Her secret does eventually catch up with her and you find out what happens at the end of the novel.
However, what makes this story so different from others, is the fact the story is told online in the form of Hollys e-mail inbox with new e-mails being sent and received daily.. Once you log on to www.hollysinbox.com and register your details, you then have your own unique user name and password. After logging in, you are free to browse Hollys e-mails. What is great is the fact it remembers where you last read (if you are logging on, on the same computer) so you don't have to scour through loads of e-mails to find where you last left off!
Every day, between 3 and 20 e-mails are received in Hollys Inbox and it feels as though you are really logged in to Holly's personal inbox. You can read e-mails which Holly receives and sends from her Bosses, Colleagues, Friends and Family on a daily basis. You can also view her Colleague Patricia's inbox and her Ex Boyfriend Toby's. You are able to view Holly's contacts list which allows you to find out who is who and is great for a quick reminder. As well as this, there is a Chat Forum where you can speak to other reader's about the story and speculate on what may happen next in Holly's life as well as getting updates regularly. There is also a help and settings function to make life easier for yourself.
The idea is that you can read up on Holly's life as though she is a real person and you are sneaking through her e-mails on Outlook. You can find out what she has been gossiping about, find out what her bosses are giving her in to trouble for, find out who the latest is in her love life etc. There has been much speculation on whether the e-mails are real or fiction, however, they are fictional.
Once I began reading the first lot of e-mails in Month One, Week One, I really was hooked. I was gutted when the e-mails stopped coming through but when the novel came out, I went and got it to find out what happened next. The design of is was absolutely brilliant, which is probably what hooked me more, as it was different and there hasn't been anything like it yet. Although there are many online blogs now, nothing has compared to Hollys Inbox.
Hollys Inbox became a novel in August after a publicist heard about Hollys Inbox and offered the writer a deal. The paper-back book is now available for you to purchase for around £5.99 in shops such as Waterstones or online at Amazon. This sadly meant that the online inbox no longer receives new e-mails, although if you haven't been on yet, you can read from the start until Month 3, Week 2, where the novel stopped online. There are extra's in the novel which you didn't get online, however, I'll leave that for you to find out!
As a thank you to the regular reader's, the writer's of Hollys Inbox have included a thank you in their novel for them, acknowledging their support. As well as this, the writer's issued every reader who was on the site from the beginning of Holly's Inbox a Holly's Inbox Mug as a gesture of their appreciation for the support they received.
There is talk of Hollys Inbox 2 being available from January 2008 and a new site being developed for this. Again, I'm sure a novel will be published.
I loved this story and thought the idea of us being able to access an almost "real" inbox fantastic. This was something new and different which I had never experienced before when reading a story as well as many of the fans that had gathered on the site. The fact that you had to wait in suspense for the next part of the story to come through via e-mail made it slightly more exciting. The book is very cheap so you can finish the rest of the story off to find out what happens next in Holly's life. There were two things I was disappointed about with Hollys Inbox. 1) Turning this in to a novel kind of spoilt the element of excitement that the Hollys Inbox site gave. It was different and I think this is what made the story so special. 2) After buying the book, I only had to read five or six pages to find out what happened in Holly's life as the rest had been read on the site. I guess this is quite annoying as when I bought the book, I expected a little more!
All in all, this is a great book and I highly recommend it to all you girls out there… and boys! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and many others.
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
