2 1/2 stars. I did not really connect with this story as much as I had expected to and ended up skim reading after 50%. Maybe it’s because she felt quite young but I could not relate with Grace at all. Her “voice” did not resonate with me and the premise as per the blurb was not as engaging as I expected it would be. I also didn’t feel any chemistry at all between her and either of her potential love interests. I did like the friend circle with Etta and Daisy and think the author has a good writing style. Might suit other readers but not for me.

I wanted to love this book from the title alone but honestly I just could not get into this one! I found the main character incredibly unlikable and in the end dnf-ed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book.

Not the book I originally thought it would be interested in, it was more focused on the self discovery of the the main character rather than love.

Grace works for a window distribution company and doesn't exactly love her job but does the minimum to get by. A Dear John email lands in her inbox one Friday which sends her into a spin as she doesn't have a boyfriend plus sending an email to finish with someone is just mean. After discussing it with her friends she opts to reply to the email on Monday.

In between getting sent on a work conference to land a client with the sales playboy, she emails back and forth to Mr Obnoxious (as she has called him). Falling for the charms of the playboy, a sexual assault from the new client, secrets and lies lead to Grace completely overwhelmed.

This book was exactly what I needed! It had so many highs and lows and was so well written. I loved the story Grace went through, and am I the only one who guess who Mr O was after a certain point. So happy I was right though! The friendship between Grace, Etta and Daisy was something everyone needs and I loved getting more and more involved in their story. Jack is also garbage and needs to get in the bin where he belongs.

I started this book after reading a more serious and dark murder mystery novel so I appreciated this lighthearted romance.
I could completely relate to Grace and her friends. Who didn't live for the weekend and going out with friends in their early twenties? I just didn't have a gorgeous upstairs neighbour. But that must really only happen in romcoms, right?

I think most of us have had something similar to a Jack in our lives at one stage or another. He's a total arse and his character became even more dislikeable as the story went on. I cringed for Grace, wishing she would open her eyes.
There are a few very nice and sweet scenes between Grace and her friend Harry. I couldn't help but hope he was responsible for the emails. Grace's relationship with her friends was lovely and I liked how the four of them were a tight unit. Grace does keep people at arm's length to some degree and this is something I could relate to as well.
This was a really fun and cute RomCom. It is more lighthearted rather than laugh out loud funny but it was a quick read and I found myself unable to put it down. I read it in one day and I loved it

A big no from me on this, I just didn’t like the story, the characters or anything about this. The main character, Grace I found completely unlikeable and downright infuriating at times. It just made me not want to read it. Then the ending, just no. I didn’t enjoy this at all.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I was gifted this e-book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of this book grabbed me, being dumped by a mysterious stranger through email out the blue, being in a job she hated and having a crush. I thought I was in for some serious romance and self discovery. However, this book just did nothing for me. My aim with this review isn't to bash the book or tear it down, there is every chance you will enjoy this book, these are just my opinions on my experience reading the book.

Starting with the characters, I struggled to connect with Grace just in general. She came across very immature, more teenager that mid-twenties adult. I found it stranger her only interest was getting drunk or when she'd next get drunk. She just didn't feel real and very unlikeable. When the potential love interest came into play, I got nothing from it, just fickle, weird narrative. Which is a shame as there was a great concept around manipulation and victim blaming in there. Grace also came across super naive and there wasn't enough done to build and connect the events throughout the book for them to feel real. The only time Grace felt likeable or real was when she was emailing Mr Obnoxious.

I didn't really feel much romance in the entire book, which is fine but there were so few moments between Grace and Mr Obnoxious that it didn't quite feel like the connection was there at times. I don't know, there was just that something missing for me. The side characters, well I didn't learn much about them and I understand after getting to the end sort of why that is but it does present all the characters at time as not caring for each other, in which case why are they friends. This does start to make more sense as we actually learn something about Grace that isn't alcohol but its pretty much at the end. I do wish we had more of the openness that end of book Grace at the beginning to help us connect to her struggles.

I did like some of the themes presented in this book even if they weren't presented in a way that didn't suit my reading style. There are themes of manipulation, victim blaming, assault, low self-esteem verging on a type of depression and bullying that can really hit home with readers but like I said they just didn't feel real to me at parts. The last 15% of the book seemed to do a 180 and the writing, plotline and characters all suddenly developed into real people and interesting pros as part of Graces transformation but it's almost too little to late. Part of that 15% is tackling the themes I've mentioned and in that respect I did start to enjoy the narrative as everything seemed to become more rounded.

I really do wish I liked this book more, but unfortunately it just didn't hit the mark with me. Others will definitely love this book as it does cover some important themes. I'd love to hear what others what to say on it as it could give me a better perspective.

I got a lot of Bridget Jones vibes from this book, but unfortunately I think Helen did it better.

I didn't love Grace's constant mentions of Primark. I imagine it was done to make her super relatable but unfortunately all it did here was annoy me.

I hated the way Grace's sexual assault was swept under the rug and poorly dealt with for fear it ruin another, thír party person's career.

I expected a lot from a secret budding romance book but it fell flat for me. I even guessed who Mr O would turn out to be halfway though.

That all said, I really loved Grace's friends, and I love close knit friendship groups in books which was done so well here.

This book was unfortunately not for me. I liked the premised and thought I would enjoy it more than I did, but I couldn't push myself to care about the main character, whom I disliked immediately.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my e-book. I enjoyed this debut from Kate G. Smith. The story took me a few chapters to get into, as I felt that it took some time to build the characters up, but once I got there I enjoyed it.

I loved the concept of receiving an email that you weren’t meant to get, and over time that changing different parts of your life. The book was easy to read, and it was relatable as I’m sure we’ve all had moments where we are struggling for motivation and where we are fed up with our love life. I liked Grace and the depiction of the relationship with her friends Daisy and Etta. I also liked that over the course of the book as Grace found herself the tone of her narrative voice shifted to be less self-deprecating.

I do think that the book could have had a content warning as there is a sexual assault that was a bit unexpected. It is part of the narrative, so it’s not gratuitous, but I think that could be better signposted.

I also spotted a couple of typos (though not unexpected in an ARC!)

Overall I enjoyed this, and I would read another book by this author - it is a good romcom debut.

#WARNING THE BOOK CONTAINS A SCENE DIPICTING MILD SEXUAL ASSUALT WITH FURTHER DISCUSSIONS THROUGHOUT THE BOOK #


You've got mail is an easy feel good rom com I could so this as a movie and I would watch it. Although I'm a psychological thriller girl the occasional laugh to break it down is great.

Grace is works for a window sells company with best friend Daisy who she also lives with, along side Etta. Grace hates her job and I'd on her final warning but when she is sent to a conference with Jack the guy she's had an office crush on for like ever she starts to get excited. However the trip goes terribly wrong and Jack makes her sear she won't say why. Meanwhile she has recieved an email from a stranger dumping his girlfriend. She ends up corresponding with him and then finds herself telling him whay he should say. This becomes somewhat a hobby as once word gets out how good she was people start to pay her.

As I said this is a rom com. The protagonist is a day dreamer. As Grace is narrating throughout its quite funny to her what she's thinking and where she goes internally. I'm no psychiatrist but I would say she shows clear signs of borderline personality disorder. However Grace's inner monologues are quite hilarious at times. Although I did wish she would concentrate in conversation ad I wanted to know what others were saying

Her friends are over protective but for a good reason Jack is a slimball but Grace doesn't see it her friends wish Grace would focus and walk away from unhealthy self destructive relationships I.e Jack and focus on her. But she loves him and cannot see how poorly he treats her. I thought the book with go from bad boy goes good. It doesn't which actually was better but it was hard to read in parts esp when they go to the conference.

In all honesty this isn't the type of book I would normally buy let alone read but I'm glad I did. If your mind works like mine you will guess the twist in chapter 2, if you don't it is a lovely surprise. Tgis book has loads of mixed reviews but it's exactly what it's says it is so if this is your genre read, if like me you need a break from the heavy stuff this is a light and easy book to read in between . If you like Tracy Bloom you will love this . Happy to give 3 🌟 stars.


Thank you to netgalley, the author and publishers for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my fair and honest opinions.

I had high hopes for this - the blurb sounded fun, I love a penpal type situation, I love an enemies to lovers type thing - but this just isn't that. The heroine's banter with her friends is the best thing about this, but it it's just full of horrible people making bad decisions and doing bad things. I love some competency porn in my books and Grace is emphatically *not* that. Her attitude to her job made me have real problems wanting to spend time with her and engaging with her as a heroine. I made it to 2/3s before I skipped to the last few chapters to see if it got better/how it ended.

And trigger warning for a sexual assault as well.

This book. I cannot decide if I even liked this book; the protagonist is infuriating and at every turn I wanted to slap her silly. That said, I couldn’t stop reading this book. I stayed up all night and into the wee hours of the morning to finish this book. I think I hate read this. The premise is fun and the ending is good if predictable, but the protagonist drove me insane. There was some insight into why she might be the way she is, but it came a bit too little too late for me.

This is is such a lovely debut novel. It has definitely left me smiling and feeling much better on a rainy day. 
I was initially attracted by the title and gorgeous cover. I definitely haven't been disappointed by this.
This is a novel which is well-written and engaging. I have had moments of laughing out loud reading this one.
This starts off with Grace getting dumped, well they say everything happens for a reason. The author takes us on Grace's journey. I definitely haven't been disappointed.
I have found this book hard to put down and have fully enjoyed reading this one.

DNF at 10%. Unfortunately this book didn't work for me. I didn't enjoy the writing and wasn't at all invested in the characters of the plot at all. I can imagine other people would enjoy this, and it was a light easy enough read, but I didn't want to invest anymore time into a book I was likely going to give 2 stars.

This is such a wonderful light read. I loved the romance and felt the email conversations added great humour and fun. The characters are engaging and relatable (apart from the obvious) and I was willing for Grace to have the confidence to find her one. It was great to see her grow and develop as a character and Etta and Daisy were just the best, best friends.

I loved the concept of this book but sadly it was not what I expected it to be.
I've recently read some great romance/rom com novels and when comparing this to them, it was glaringly obvious that this wasn't quite up to that level.
I just couldn't connect to the story or any of the characters, which made this an infuriating read for me.
I did persevere, hoping that it would get better or that there would be some redeeming arcs/character development but sadly it did not.
Given how I still enjoyed some books that I rated 3 or 2.5 stars, I couldn't give this any more than 2 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly thank you to Orion Publishing for a free review copy.

As far as debut novels go I have to say this is one of the best I have read! I absolutely loved this story so much so I read it in less than 24 hours. I don’t want to gush too much but it was such a fabulous easy read.

It captured me from the first page and I couldn’t put it down. I have never read a book that pretty much reflected me, I am near enough Grace except i’m no 25. It was literally like reading about my day to day life and so I feel it is definitely relatable for everyone.

It is a classic story of romance with a side of email banter. It made me laugh out loud at some of the email conversations that took place. It wasn’t until almost the end of the story that I worked out how the story would end as Kate made sure that there was always a possibility it wouldn’t end how you thought it would.

I loved the connections between the characters and how the friendships formed and blossomed. They were relatable and it was easy to connect with them. It was like having an extra friendship group and I felt invested in all of them as the story progressed.

I was drawn to this book because it shares the title of one of my favourite films and I loved this just as much as I did the movie even though it wasn’t quite the same.

It was escapism and lighthearted all in one, a thoroughly enjoyable read that I will recommend to everyone in the future. I can’t wait to read more from Kate!

You’ve Got Mail was a fantastic premise and it was this, along with the cute cover, that really drew me in. It’s one of those books that feels so comfortably relatable, magnificently representing what it’s like to be young, single and scraping by in London. It’s the perfect time to live with your friends, make mistakes, and deal with most situations by looking for someone who is more adult than you.

This book follows Grace Wharton, a twenty-something woman in London, who works for a windows company and who is looking for something more from life. When she gets an email to her work inbox dumping her, she is pretty affronted. Especially because she doesn’t even have a boyfriend! On top of this, the office pretty boy Jack is going with her to a conference and she’s hoping that this could be the start of something great.

Throughout the book, we see Gracie navigate this new online email exchange, along with her blossoming relationship with Jack. Suddenly her dull life seems to have a lot going on! Unfortunately, I have known way too many men like Jack. Charming, has everyone at his beck and call and is a huge part of the problematic lad culture in his company. I would definitely be avoiding him in real life!

A really great part of this story was Gracie’s inner thoughts and this book was actually really funny! Her inner monologue was very relatable too, and her thoughts were not dissimilar to ones that I have had in the past. There were definitely some parts that made me snort out loud (for those who have read it: the part where her co-worker makes her tea with ‘extra love’). There were some times when I wanted to see a little more oomph from her, particularly early on, but even so I really appreciated her journey in self worth as we travelled through this story. I am pretty sure this is a personal preference, as I’m impatient to get to the part where she realises her worth is so much more than some people have let her think so far.

As with any modern romance, the focus was also on her friends a lot as well as her impending romance. The moments she spends with her flatmates and Harry, whether it’s digging through bins or chilling out over breakfast, were small pockets of familiarity that I really enjoyed.

This was a refreshing and really great romcom that was quick to read. If we’re ever allowed to go on beaches again I would definitely take this one with me!

Did not finish at 38%

Unfortunately I couldn’t get on with any of the characters. I thought Jack was going to be a suave playboy I could get on board with but became a whimpering douche that is ok with keeping sexual assault under wraps. The main characters doesn’t like her job, and seemingly only actually like to get as drunk as possible in as many occasions as possible. Slightly redeeming is the mysterious Mr. Obnoxious but even that wasn’t enough to keep to sticking to this book.