Hello readers! Today is my stop during the blog tours for The Secret to Falling in Love by Victoria Cooke, organized by Rachel’s Random Resources. Many thanks to Rachel for sending me invites and to author for proving wonderful e-copy of this book as a part of the blog tour, in exchange for an honest review.
Please check out book details and my review in this post. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
The Secret to Falling in Love by Victoria Cooke
Publication Date : February 9th 2017
Publisher : HQ Digital
Read Date : February 8th 2019
Genre : Chick Lit / Women’s Fic / Romantic Comedy
Pages : 198
Stars : 4.5/5
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…
Purchase Link – getBook.at/TheSecrettoFallinginLove
Imagine yourself without technology.
No Phone, no laptop, no tabs (not even Kindle), no emails and social medias.
Life like in 1980 without any fancy gadgets. Pen and paper and postcards.
Honestly it would be fine for us readers, we can still escape in paperbacks and libraries. 😉
The Secret to Falling in Love revolved around Melissa’s life and her life changing challenge of living without phone and internet and finding love in old-fashioned way. It was about friendship, love, family, and technology how it impacts our life and takes us far from reality and how little time without it can change life.
Tech syndrome is not limited to teens and young. We all are addicted to it and so 35-year-old Mellisa. She was successful journalist and had good pay for living city and party life. What she didn’t have was a love, a partner with whom she could grow and spent rest of her life. But she was dependable on not-so-trustworthy dating apps to find a trustworthy man.
When her article on impact of technology get published in magazine, her boss challenge her to go phoneless, technology-less for a month and write her experience for the next article. For Melissa it was like celebrating moment turning into commiseration. Now the fun was how was she going to do it?
For a person whose life was surrounded by insta, tweeter, facebook, dating apps, emails and online shopping, it looked quiet daunting. She was amazing lady. I expected her whining a lot for the unfairness but she surprised me there. I liked her determination and how she accepted her Boss’s challenge on living life like 1980s in 2017 for a month, which forced her to find her date I old fashioned way. She moved on quite nicely and managed her life wonderfully without her phone. The development that whole tech free month brought in her life was tremendous.
Characterization was great. I enjoyed reading all secondary characters specially Melissa’s best friends Amanda and Gemma. There was little mystery behind Gemma’s action that added extra spice to Mellissa’s complicated life. The way Amanda protected Melissa and gave the best friendly advice made me wish to have a friend like her. Simon’s wisdom, Dee’s cruel bossy nature, ostentatious and showy Joseph, gentlemanly easy going Scott, a lovely elder sister and meddling matchmaker mom were fun to read. They all felt realistic, someone you might know in real world.
Best part of the book was– Melissa’ dating disasters and her experience with virtual free reality and pros and cons of technology she experienced in her refreshing voice was charm of the book. I loved how she narrated things she noticed- city tour, random people in coffee shop, people she met that she wouldn’t have if she had been glued to her phone all the time. Along with her it made me wonder how much we miss the real world by being around the virtual pretense of social medias.
At around 50% of the book, we got to know the real reason behind Joseph taking Melissa on date which made it made it pretty clear who Melissa would want to spend her life with. So you can say it was little bit predictable and felt little early but there were some turns and surprises in second half that I couldn’t see coming.
This was second book by Victoria Cooke I read and I can easily say she has a knack for transporting readers right into setting of the book. The transition from city life of Manchester, girls’ night out, a day to-day hustle bustle in first half to picturesque mountainous beauty of Ardnamurchan peninsula, Scotland in second half was flawless. I loved to this part of the book which was the turning point of the story. It was wonderful to see the tranquilizing effect of this place on Melissa and how it changed her life for good.
The happy ending left me smiling. It was one of the book you would like discuss in group reading and also would like to take on your vacation which can motivate you to go technology free and enjoy the scenery, new culture and people around. And one of good Valentine’s Day gift as it gives a hope of finding true love in old fashioned way.
My only issue was, even though the book was short, it took me longer to finish this book. And it was predictable.
Overall, it was lighthearted, relatable, refreshing chick lit that I recommend to fans of this genre.
Author Bio:
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.
Social Media Links –
Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/victoriacookewriter
Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaCookeAuthor
Giveaway – Win an ARC of The Secret to Falling in Love and a box of Belgian Truffles (UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. 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 despatch or delivery of the prize.
Rafflecopter Link ➡ http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494196/?
What do you think about the book and my review?
Have you read this book already or any book Victoria Cooke before?
Are going to add it to your TBR?
Share your thoughts in the comment-box below.
FOLLOW ME ON–
