This is a review of the 2010 book 'I Heart Hollywood' by Lindsey Kelk. It is actually book two in a series of I heart... books but I launched straight into this second book without realising that I Heart New York is book one. Annoyingly I had the NY one but gave it to a friend in November as she was visiting NY and I thought it'd be nice for her to read it before she went. I note that other dooyooers have rated this book highly in their reviews. I'm sorry to say that I didn't think it was all that good and this book is compared to Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series which I really enjoyed reading. I didn't find this as 'real to life' and whilst I thought it was OK it didn't blow me away.

A bit about...

I heart Hollywood follows twenty something Angela Clark, an English girl who moved to New York in book one and then in this book she is sent on an assignment for work to Hollywood. Angela works as a blogger for a magazine and has been commissioned for a very special interview with the famous Brit actor James Jacob. He has specially requested Angela to do the review much to the disgust of her peers. Angela's roomie Jenny (Lopez) tags along with her for the week as a chance to take a holiday and catch up with some old friends.

It all goes wrong for Angela

In addition to being rather clumsy, Angela worries too much that she doesn't fit in with the LA look. As a size 12 pasty English girl she is paranoid about hanging out with the amazingly handsome actor James Jacob and worries about what people think. Getting papped is all part and parcel of her week in LA and the online world soon get the wrong idea about Angela and James. She has a fit boyfriend back in New York that gets wind of their supposed relationship and she spends half the time in the book trying to get hold of Alex to apologise for the rumours.

My thoughts

I enjoyed the modern twist of this book. The online gossip and photos come as a surprise to Angie but as a blogger you'd think she'd be wise to all this. I probably spoiled things by reading book number two first and don't think I can go back now as it does catch you up with the events of book one during book two.

Fashion

Shopping features largely in this book so if you enjoy fashion and shopping you will appreciate these parts of the book. I loved the bit where Angela and Jenny go shoe shopping and are given Champagne by the shop who think they are going to be big spenders. There is a nod to 'Pretty Woman' in the film to which was also a nice touch.

Characters

I liked Angela to a fair extent but a few parts of her personality were a bit annoying. Her paranoia about size (although she admits nothing hangs out or over when wearing a bikini) were probably apt for LA context but annoying to me as a reader. Her persistence in clinginess with regards to boyfriend Alex and whether he hated her or not were irritating but I don't do a lot of texting or phoning if I know where someone is unless I need to tell them something. Her relationship with Jenny is a bit flammable too, they seem to be good friends and then small things blow up between them.

Story line

I have to say I guessed the storyline almost straight away. I won't say here what it is in case I ruin the reading for others but to me it was pretty obvious. I also noted some really bad grammar in the early pages (two cases within three pages of reading) which makes me want to put the book down as I start thinking about what it should be and how it should be written which interrupts the story line and the flow of the book. I'm not saying my writing is always perfect but I do think published works, especially by Harper should pick up on these things.

Extra bits

At the end of the book you get a few extra pages from the author about where to go and what to do if you find yourself in LA. The guide to LA includes shopping, drinks, eating out and hotels. There is also a taster for I heart New York if you didn't already read it then a plug for the next book in the series: I heart Paris.

Final word

I will be passing my copy on to the friend that I gave the New York book to as she will probably want to read this one.

I don't know if I am bothered enough about this book to read the next one in the series. Whilst it passed a pleasant few hours I have a few good books (I just know they are going to be a good read!) waiting to be read and so I raced through this one really. I had attempted to read the first few pages on a few occasions so just wanted to get it read as I seem to do a lot of that; picking up and putting down before I really get into books these days. This is probably due to the limited time I now have for reading as before children I had all the time in the world!!