Ah, to be 21 again. When the world feels like it is spread before you - and 30 seems like some distant planet requiring an epic journey to reach.

For Laura Kemp's creation, Vicky Hope, it arrives all too quickly – and while she has certainly had her share of adventure, she is really not where she thought she’d be (how many of us are?).

The breakdown of her long-term relationship (on her birthday) also leaves her homeless and means heading back to a single bed in her childhood home.

After a lot of soul searching she begins a quest to find her two former best friends but while there is a lot of water under the bridge, it might not be that easy to confine it all to the past, as she soon discovers.

Whatever Happened To Vicky Hope's Back Up Man is a charming tale, funny in parts, sad in others but enjoyable throughout.

Here’s the blurb:

Twenty-one and insecure, Vicky Hope comes up with a plan on the eve of travelling the world with her high flying friend, Kat Lloyd: if she isn't married by the time she's thirty, she'll marry her geeky best mate Mikey Murphy.

Fast-forward eight-and-a-bit years, Vicky, now Vee wakes up on her 30th birthday in Brighton, expecting a proposal of marriage from her arty boyfriend Jez. Instead he tells her their relationship is over and she has no choice but to return to her parents' home.

Devastated and alone in her childhood bedroom, she decides she has nothing to lose and tracks down her two old mates.

With shock, she discovers Mikey, now Murphy, is a successful app designer driven by his tragic upbringing. Kat, or Kate, never made it - but she hides a devastating secret, which threatens the happiness of all three.

I’ll admit, when I first read the synopsis, I thought it would be a straight-forward, breezy read but it’s so much more than that – and all the better for it.

Laura Kemp has nailed what it feels like to be 21 and 30 (or how I vaguely remember them) as well as the complications that often come with friendships – especially when so much has changed in the intervening years. Add in a fantastic plot and you have a proper page-turner.

Format: Kindle (out now).

My rating: Four and a half stars.

Thank you to Aria (via NetGalley) for the ARC. All views are my own.

After reading The Late Blossoming of Frankie Green earlier this year I couldn’t wait to read the next book by Laura Kemp.

So what did I think...

There were so many moments where I was smiling especially the parts that reminded me of when I was younger. The bit about gagging on the smell of CK One particularly made me chuckle! Although there are some sad parts this book manages to be both witty and heartfelt. This is definitely a difficult balance to manage however Laura Kemp manages to do this brilliantly. I was pretty much hooked from the very first chapter.

I took to Vicky right away and it's pretty sad when she comes to realise she has been taken for granted by her boyfriend. Vicky has her flaws but it also makes her seem all the more real, after all no one is perfect!

Some of my favourite parts were the flashbacks to when Vicky and Mikey were teenagers. It was lovely to see the connection that they shared. I was pretty heartbroken for all of them as their pasts are revealed.

I really enjoyed reading the story from all three points of view. I found Kate was the most intriguing character. The relationship with her mum was one of the main things that made Kate feel so lost in her life. So it was interesting to see what had happened and how things would play out.

This book has everything from friendship, love, secrets and betrayal right through to new beginnings. I enjoyed immersing myself in all of their lives. Laura Kemp has written a wonderful account of friendship.

Five stars from me!

I loved this heartwarming story of friendship!

Thank you to Aria & Netgalley for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was an absolutely cute novel, with a great cast of characters. I loved Vee with her bubbly attitude, and Mikey's sarcastic tone, and Kat's desire to please everybody, especially her mother. This was a tender story of friendship and the way it evolves through life and challenges. This was quite a change from my thrillers, in that you already know something bad is going to happen to have caused a rift between everyone, and you find out what the rift is soon enough. What made this story interesting was seeing how each character dealt with the aftermath of the secret. And maybe this is a spoiler, but it is a happy ending - and I am a sucker for happy endings! The prose was quite interesting for me, as I've never heard words like "tosh" in my life - growing up in Canada means we have an entirely different slang vocabulary. This made the whole experience more fun for me. Overall, this novel offered a touching yet light-hearted novel about friendship and love, that kept me entertained from beginning to end!

This was an amazing read. Light and funny, very charming. While it is somewhat predictable, it was so captivating and realistic. It's witty and it has the perfect amount of romance throughout. I loved every bit of it.

I found it took me a while to warm up to the stories of Vicky Hope, her back up man Mikey Murphy and childhood best friend Kat Lloyd. Although towards the end I could feel some empathy for their present day selves, what really had me gripped was the assorted flashback to when they were young adults, and the choices they made then.

This of course may have something to do with my general love of travel, and Vicky and Kat went travelling together after university, although they didn't react to the experience the way they would have expected. It was with all this travelling that the friendship fractures between the three of them grew, and only 8 years later, after Vicky's life takes another change of direction, that she tries to make amends with her oldest friends.

It was Kat's story that I was most drawn to, despite Vicky being the main character. I could really identify with Kat's issues with her mother, and although she made some questionable decisions in her life, I loved how pivotal she became. Kat plays a big role in both of Vicky and Mikey's stories, and its only in confronting the demons of when she was in her early twenties that she can really move on with the rest of her life.

Thanks to Vicky's new job in a deli selling artisanal cheese, there are a whole bunch of cheesy jokes in the book, as well as a lot of talk of deli produce, all of which made my stomach rumble. I really couldn't get to grips with Vicky though, as she seemed such an aimless character, who only really wanted to get married and have kids, but when that dream crashed with her current boyfriend, she ran back home and really had no idea what to do with her life.

Vicky was so scared of being alone that the night before she went travelling she made Mikey her best male friend, promise he would be her back up man, if they were both still single at the ripe old age of 30. It may be that as a young Vicky, thinking 30 was old, that made me dislike her, as it would mean that I'm old already!

As the story unravels as to just what happened to Kat to make her the way she currently is, and as to what happened to dissolve their friendships, I found myself more and more drawn into the story and was very curious as to what would happen in each chapter.

What Happened to Vicky Hope's Back UP Man? is a good story, which I enjoyed quite a lot.

Thank you to Aria and Netgalley for this copy of the book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Clever, touching, and incredibly endearing!

Once again Laura Kemp has written a contemporary romance story full of humour, heart and emotion that reminds us that life is often full of challenges, surprises and misunderstandings and that sometimes the first choice and the backup are one in the same.

The prose is smooth and precise. The characters are flawed, lovable and real. And the plot sweeps you away into the lives of three friends, Vicky, Mickey, and Kat as they learn the importance of self discovery, family, friendship, forgiveness, acceptance, and love.

This truly is a warm, funny, moving story that will captivate and delight you from the very first page.

Laura Kemp never ceases to amaze me with her charming and witty novels. And honestly? I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. While the plot may have been a bit predictable, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment. In fact, there were quite a few twists and turns and I wasn't sure which direction the author was going to go. This made the book more interesting and quite frankly, made it even harder to put down! Fans of chick lit novels - those that are light hearted, funny, charming, and witty, will want to get their hands on a copy of this novel. It is told in a delightful way and the characters will simply grab onto your heart and be hard to let go of. I can't wait to read more books by Laura and she has easily become a favorite author of mine.

This review will be posted on amazon on release day, and is set to share on my blog come release day as well. Thank you!

Whatever Happened to Vicky Hope's Back Up Man is exactly what it sets out to be-a funny, lighthearted romance. While the plot is predictable, the lack of suspense certainly doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment of reading this book. This book would be a great beach read!

Iloved this book about the friendship between Vicky, Kat and Mikey and also has a few surpise twists.

This story is not exclusively about Vicky and her back up man Mikey, but also about Kat. These three are united at school, they don't really fit in.
When Vicky turns 30 she looks back to what her life has been like so far and their friendship. She is by then called Vee, and her friends with whom she lost contact are Murphy and Kate. What happened to their friendship? And how is Vee going to make something of her life? Is she ready to be a grownup?

It did not take me long to read this book, it was simply almost too hard to put down. Without spoiling the plot, from the start you expect the story to take certain twists and it does. There are also a few turns that were staring me right in the face, but came as a surprise.

I seem to have accidentally read some modern literature, when what I was hoping for was an easy to read chick-lit. Kemp's novel was a little too real for me. I like to escape when I read - I enjoy cheesy romance and entertaining tales. Whatever Happenend is touted as tender, funny and haunting, but the scale definitely tips more towards tender and haunting than funny. It's very good - if you like that sort of thing. A bit gritty, full of realism, quite British and with a delicate splash of old-fashioned romance that pulled me through it.