Sunday 16 November 2014

Book Review: Billy And Me - Giovanna Fletcher

It may be wrong to judge a book by its cover, but how can you resist when it's this pretty?
Since I first heard about Giovanna Fletcher taking up writing, I have wanted to read her debut novel, Billy And Me.

Billy And Me follows the life of Sophie May, an introverted kind of girl who is happy living a quiet life in a small village in Kent. She is very much out of the celebrity world and when she meets Billy Buskin, a huge Hollywood actor, in the cafe she works at, she has no idea who he is. Billy instantly takes a shine to Sophie and before she knows it, she's whisked off to London, seeing herself in newspapers and caught up in Billy's hectic world. Can Sophie cope with the showbiz world?

Before reading this I heard very mixed reviews about it. This left me wondering if perhaps Giovanna only got offered this book deal because of who she is married to and the good reviews were from McFly fans. I hoped that wouldn't be the case because it would be an unfair way of making money/getting famous and I would also feel sorry for Gi if she was super passionate about writing but people only liked her books because of who she was.

I actually really liked Giovanna's writing style, it was very chatty, informal and it felt as though Sophie was genuinely talking to you. 

I gave the book 4* on Goodreads but it wasn't a brilliant book. It was an easy, entertaining, light read but the plot didn't really hook me or make me fall in love with the characters etc. 

The book began with me thinking that all the characters were decent people but by halfway through, Sophie May had found her way into the Top 10 most irritating characters and Billy Buskin had become a bit of a dick.

Sophie seemed like a perfectly nice girl, a likeable character. However, she grew increasingly more irritating as the book went on. She definitely didn't understand the way the outside world worked and to be completely honest, I found her wingey and pathetic, she was like a damsel in distress always needing a man to rescue her. It was a disappointing turn when what I really want to see from a book is a strong, independent, real woman -not one from centuries in the future with a bow and arrow who kills anyone and anything. 

Billy ended up being a bit of a dick to Sophie at times but that didn't excuse Sophie's ridiculously dramatic reactions.

I can see why some people wouldn't enjoy the book. It's marketed as a typical chick-lit book, targeted at women maybe 20/23+ but really it's more of a teen girl read (I'm only 16). I think a lot of people above my age, probably 19 upwards (depending on reading ability and how much they enjoy reading) would find the writing style quite "childish" and "immature" and "basic". It's a lot like reading a fanfic. That's completely just my opinion/view though.

Anyone read this book who agrees with me? Disagrees?


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