HI, I'm Steph, 20 from Warrington! I also write on the review site DooYoo under the same name :) Th...
HI, I'm Steph, 20 from Warrington! I also write on the review site DooYoo under the same name :) Thanks to everyone who rates me, especially the E's! I am very grateful for all rates! :o)
Member since:30.05.2009
Reviews:166
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I was bought this book for my birthday from my friend who knows how much I love to read, I have a huge bookcase full of unread and some previously read chick lit books. As I am alone all night most nights, I find comfort in picking up a good book and having a read for an hour or two before going to sleep as I find it helps me to switch off. This book was sat on my bookshelf for months, well since February when it was given to me...! I always skipped past it when choosing my next read as I don't know why, but I thought it was going to be an American book, I have no idea why I thought this...not a clue, but I did. And the blurb on the back of the book didn't read too well, it sounded like all the books I have read before, and I wasn't all that excited to read it. But I had taken it upstairs to bed with me and popped it in my drawer ready for the next one to pick up, thinking I had to read it at some point whether it was now or when the rest of them had run out, and I read my books in order of the ones I think I'll least enjoy up to the ones I am looking forward to, I do this for no known reason...I think I just like to keep the best 'til last.
So The Chocolate Run came to bed, I was thinking the book was going to be one of those books where chocolate was the main aspect of the protagonists life, that she would be one of the people who hated those who didn't like chocolate blah blah blah, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up the book and finally read the first chapter.
The Plot Amber
lives in Leeds, her best friend Jen also lives there along with her boyfriend Matt and his best friend Greg. They have all been friends for three years since Jen and Matt got together. Matt and Greg were best friends since college, as were Jen and Amber, and so they have a very close connection. Greg is a womaniser, who at first Amber cannot stand, she hated his guts when she first met him and thought he was a, and I quote, "tosser", and didn't want anything to do with him. But after three years of been forced to see each other, he became her best friend, he often stopped over in her spare room, they went out to watch films and eat. But one day things go terribly wrong when Amber ends up in bed with Greg. This is where the book begins.
Amber is a commitmentphobe, she has never had a serious relationship, apart from Sean, who she got very close with, which ended very suddenly 18 months previous, since then she has been celibate, she didn't want to think about let alone have sex. Her work colleagues hate Greg for his antics (which you will read about!) and think Amber is stupid to get him out of his ahem pardon the pun, sticky situations.
But now she is at the receiving end of one of the sticky situations, and with Greg telling her he is falling for her, she doesn't know what to think, he has had a string of short relationships, he even carries his own little black book around in his pocket and has 80 booty call numbers stored on his mobile phone! But Amber gives him a go, for 6 months, she will be the owner of his little black book, and his booty call girls, after they have lasted 6 months, she can burn the book and the numbers and they can tell people about "them", if he cheats on her before that or if they don't last, well she'll burn his book anyway, but he's not to know that!!!!
The Characters Amber is actually quite a believable character, she reminds me of me in some ways, she is apprehensive to be with someone as she knows what his past has been like, she knows Greg too much to be able to fully trust him. She is a very funny character making jokes when she gets into tricky situations, and normally offending someone along the way! She's smart, unlike many of the female protagonists you find in chick lits, she actually has a bit of sense about her, she knows that what she has with Greg could go very very wrong and she is wary of that at all times.
Greg is a typical single man, he is sexy, attractive, a charmer everything a womaniser needs to be, I have known a few Greg's in my time, I have had friends who thought they could "change" a Greg like character. He sleeps around, he's shallow, he's after one thing, but he really does have feelings for Amber. But he annoys me- he thinks just because he wants her he can have her, no matter what she wants, he usually gets his own way and he is used to it by now, so he expects he'll get Amber too. But as he says, Old habits are hard to shake...!
Jen&Matt are a loved up little couple, or Jen is. When they decide to move in together, I got the impression Matt wasn't at all into it, he would rather stay in the bachelor pad he shared with Greg. But it's a cheap 30th birthday present for Jen, so he gives it her. Jen annoys the hell out of me!!!!! Before she and Matt moved in together, she and Amber set aside a day every week where they would get together at each others houses, cook, drink and gossip, this had been the arrangement since college. But when Matt moves in, she changes, no longer will she wear he combats and trainers, oh no, it's Prada shoes and short skirts now. She cancels on Amber at every opportunity, and Amber knows their close knit friendship is slipping away. Just like the rest of the characters in the book, I have also known a Jen. She dumps her friends once she is in a relationship, she stops calling stops doing anything with her friends who she has known most of her life, just to spend every waking hour with her boyfriend. But they don't realise, if they leave, if they go, the friends are the ones who support you through this, the friends are the ones who hold you up, get you back on your feet, get you through the hard times...even if it's only temporary. Oh yes, I have known a lot of Jens...!!!!
My Opinion Well as I said before I was apprehensive about picking this book up, the blurb sounded boring, the story sounded predictable, and it didn't feel like a book I would enjoy. But I was proven very wrong. The Chocolate Run has definitely been one of my favourite books this year which I have read, the characters I can relate to, which is always something of a plus in a book.
The story for me right from the first page was gripping, it had me hooked from the word go. It was nice and easy to read making it perfect bedtime reading as it allowed me to switch off easily. I like books which are eary to read, but not predictable, I like to think I know what's going to happen, then it all gets twisted up and churned around. I like a shock!!! And this book definitely gives me what I want. If you like your girly books, by authors like Jill Mansell, Marien Keyes, Belinda Jones, Caroline Matthews, you'll love this book. I am definitely thinking of buying her other books! :)
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Aug 6th, 2009
exceptional by (25%):
very helpful by (75%):
