Although I’m taking a bit of a blog tour sabbatical at the moment, I’m so glad I agreed to take part in this book birthday blitz for The Secret to Falling in Love by Victoria Cooke, thanks to fellow blogger and friend Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Secret to Falling in Love and have my review to share today.

If you’re a UK blog reader, you might also like to know that there is a smashing giveaway at the bottom of this blog post where you can enter to win an ARC of The Secret to Falling in Love as well as some rather delicious Belgian truffles.

The Secret to falling in Love is available for purchase here.

The Secret to Falling in Love

Status Update: I’m going offline for a while… Wish me luck! xx

Lifestyle journalist and thirty-something singleton Melissa hashtags, insta’s and snapchats her supposedly fabulous life on every social media platform there is.

That is until she wakes up on her birthday, another year older and still alone, wondering if for all her internet dates, love really can be found online? The challenge: go technology free for a whole month!

Forced to confront the reality of her life without its perfect filters, Melissa knows she needs to make some changes. But when she bumps into not one, but two gorgeous men, without the use of an app, she believes there could be hope for love offline.

If only there was a way to choose the right guy for her…

My review of The Secret to Falling in Love

Mel is about to go social media cold turkey for her job…

The Secret to falling in Love is a super read. I think it may have been the right book at the right moment for me but I had just read some very intense so-called literary books and this one felt like the perfect pick me up palette cleanser – a bit like the sorbet course in a heavy meal! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought Victoria Cooke had the perfect style for what is often called chick-lit, but without the contrived saccharine features that sometimes occur. Her natural direct speech, her vivid descriptions and Mel’s first person narrative, with the occasional aside to the reader, all worked fabulously well so that this felt like a book where I could just relax as a reader and enjoy the story. I loved the theme of what life can be like if we just step away from our phones and social media for a month, and the messages of what makes a true friend or boyfriend, appreciating our friends and family and the world around us first hand, rather than vicariously through the distorted lens of social media, made The Secret to Falling in Love a brilliant book to read and a salutary tale to ponder.

Mel is a super character. She genuinely felt like someone I might know in real life and I was so convinced about her that I wanted her to have a happy ever after ending. In fact, as an older reader, I was genuinely saddened by the highly realistic concept that at 35 a woman is being left behind if she hasn’t found a life partner. I fear society really does believe this. I’m not going to say anything about the men in the story, except to say that I certainly preferred one of them, as too much detail will spoil the read!

There is a hugely entertaining plot in The Secret to Falling in Love that has several surprises along the way so that I think this would make a brilliant film.

I loved this book. I hadn’t read anything by Victoria Cooke before and am delighted to have discovered the perfect pick-me-up read in The Secret to Falling in Love. Uplit at its best!

About Victoria Cooke

Victoria Cooke grew up in the city of Manchester before crossing the Pennines in pursuit of a career in education. She now lives in Huddersfield with her husband and two young daughters and when she’s not at home writing by the fire with a cup of coffee in hand, she loves working out in the gym and travelling. Victoria was first published at the tender age of eight by her classroom teacher who saw potential in a six-page story about an invisible man. Since then she’s always had a passion for reading and writing, undertaking several writers’ courses before completing her first novel, The Secret to Falling in Love, in 2016.

You can find out more by visiting Victoria’s website, finding her on Facebook and Instagram and following her on Twitter @victoriacooke10.

Giveaway

Win an ARC of The Secret to Falling in Love and a box of Belgian Truffles (UK Only)

Please note that this giveaway is independent from Linda’s Book Bag under the following conditions:

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

To enter the giveaway, please click here.