Review: I HEART NEW YORK by Lindsey Kelk **

"When you're running away from a broken heart, there's only one place to go...the summer debut of the year. Adjusting tiaras at the foot of the aisle, Angela and her best friend prepare for the wedding of the year. But events don't go as planned. And when a girl is in possession of a crumpled bridesmaid dress - and can't go home - New York (for the very first time) seems like an excellent idea. Angela's new friend Jenny Lopez gives Angela a whirlwind tour of the city that never sleeps, and a makeover. Who hasn't dreamed of starting afresh with a sassy New York wardrobe, a new haircut and a trip to the make-up counter? Before she knows it, the new Angela is getting over her broken heart by having dinner with two different boys. And, best of all, she gets to write about it in her fabulous new blog. But it's one thing telling readers all about your romantic dilemmas. It's another trying to figure them out for yourself! Warm, funny and unputdownable, I Heart New York is an unforgettable debut."

(summary)

Firstly, it should be clear that the blurb above praises the book far too much as it's hardly good, let alone great or unforgettable. It's cute but boring.

I guess what I liked most about this novel is that it is occassionally witty - but it only made me chuckle a couple of times and not laugh out loud so it should not even be compared to Sophie Kinsella as there really is no comparison whatsoever.
The opening scene of the book was the best, really quite funny and it also had potential, but then it all went downhill. It was all too perfect: a girl comes to NYC, finds BFFs immediately, two most gorgeous guys in town fall head over heels in love with her and her silly blog is a total win. And yep, that's pretty much all there is to the story. No drama, no dilemmas, no twists, nothing. Action is almost non-existant too and I felt the ending was rushed. Furthermore, I didn't like neither the main character nor the others; the men were just too perfect ... Basically, everyone was really one dimensional. There's "drama" at the end, but it's really uncalled for and resolved far too quickly. Oh and commas, argh, a bunch of them were either missing or put in a wrong place. I know that's silly, but I can't help judge a book by that too.

The book wasn't really horrible kind of bad, it's cute and all, but it's just not my cup of tea as it's just too damn simple. I'd recommend it if you like a really, really easy read - as the main character says (and I expect she's just echoing the author's words), her wish is to just write, nothing necessarily deep or meaningful, just something that will help escape from their every day troubles. I really don't want to sound mean as I'm glad that other people enjoyed the book (according to Amazon), but it just didn't work for me. Props to whoever designed the gorgeous cover as it really saved the book and I'm sure the book will sell.

overall rating: 2/5
plot: 2/5 | writing: 3/5 | characters: 2/5 | cover: 4/5