A Proper Charlie / Louise Wise

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Chick-lit

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Louise Wise lives in England with her husband and four children - all boys.  She is  a reviewer, a blogger, a reader and a writer.  Louise has a blog named Wise Words where she champions Indies and Small-Press authors.

Description:

How do insecure vulnerable people get together?  

Charlie Wallis wants the two Cs: commitment and a career.  Having been raised in an orphanage after the death of her parents, Charlie wants to belong some where, anywhere really.   She has aspirations of being a writer so her best mate helps her get a job at The London Core, where he is the senior copy editor.

Ben Middleton is a geek with family problems and the new head, after a corporate buy-out, of the British tabloid The London Core.

Appraisal:

Charlie is a mess; she is cute, good natured, witty and terribly insecure.  She allows herself to be used by her on again/off again boyfriend Andy, in hopes that he will ask her to marry him.  The author does a good job rounding out her characters, I found Charlie interesting and sad.  I really didn’t like her much, which made it hard for me to invest in her story.  I loved her best mate Milton, who was a bit overbearing, but he was just looking out for Charlie’s emotional welfare.  He also provided a lot of comic relief that I enjoyed.

Ben Middleton is the new corporate head and is totally smitten with Charlie.  He is the son of an overbearing wealthy father who wants to see his wimpy son marry a high society woman.  Ben is good looking, vulnerable, insecure and has a hard time relating his feelings.  Complicating the matters is the death of his mother, the revelation of a family secret and the running away of his little sister.   He is trying to hold his family together and make this corporate merger a success.

The dialogue is witty as these two story lines converge.  There are misconceptions and suspenseful twists that make it an interesting and enjoyable story.

FYI:

Very British

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: *** Three Stars