Alba in bookland

Today I would like to talk about the book "Connectivity" by the lovely Aven Ellis. I actually won this book on a giveaway from Isabell's nice blog Dreaming with open eyes. I had read really nice reviews of this book and I really wanted to read because it sounded like a good fun to read it. So I was very happy! Here is the cover:

Connectivy is a social media site that connects everything is one place: your career networking and portfolio, a place for family and friend updating, photo sharing, video calling, quick connect messages with your status. This social media empire is run by William Cumberland a British media mogul who has no interest in relationships.

Mary-Kate Grant has a dream: working in TV programming and nothing (and no one) is going to stand on her way, not even an arrogant to die for British who just bought the company she is working for. But she gets to know him, she starts to questions everything she has ever wanted. If she lets him in, is she going to become her sister? Whose only aspiration in life is having the perfect wedding?

My opinion

Since the beginning, I could see that William and MK were perfect for each other, both so focused and talented. But I wanted to find out if they were ready to make choices and take risks. "Connectivity" is a lovely story about two people who think that they have everything figured out and have no time or interest in a love life but somehow find each other and start wondering what if...

Aven Ellis' writting is very enjoyable and rich and you just want to keep reading to know more about these two. It is a really good fun to read and it is difficult to put down. Moreover, there are a lot of lovely scenes that you can picture perfectly, some of my favourite bits are their Valentine's dinner (so much flirting!) or their trip to London (specially their last night). And the end is perfect... although William had me worried for a bit!

This is the debut novel of Aven Ellis but if you can't wait for more from her (just like me), don't worry there's more to come, very soon. We already know that her next novel is going to be called "Waiting for Prince Harry". I will let you know how I like it but it sounds very interesting! Here is the cover:

Today I would like to talk about one of my favourite books. I only read it a couple of months ago but once I started the book I found it very difficult to put down. It is the debut novel of Ali McNamara and let me tell you, what a debut! Here is the cover:

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy... wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant

Our heroine is Scarlett (yes, from Gone With the Wind) who actually looks a lot like Vivien Leigh and loves movies. Well, let's say that she is quite obsessed with movies (minus the quite). Apart from that, she has a normal life, a fiancé, a wedding to prepare, a very good friend and a loving father. However she is not sure this is the life she had envisioned for herself. She would have liked more drama, more romantic scenes and of course a charming prince. So imagine her delight when she is offered to house-sit a mansion in Notting Hill, the setting of one of her all time favourite movies! From that moment, her life starts to look a lot like one of her movies: she meets new fantastic friends, she starts an international search for her long lost mother and she meets Sean who has no interest in romantic movies and drives her a little crazy, but maybe, just maybe, understands her better than her fiancé... What is Scarlett going to do? Live her own movie or finally realise that she has a real life to come back to?

My opinion

To give you my opinion about this book, first I have to admit that Notting Hill is probably my favourite movie (after Star Wars and Harry Potter, of course). I have watched it more than a hundred times and every time I feel the same positive vibe. So when I read the plot of this book I was already sold. I was expecting a good book but not a great book, because you know, it didn't stand a chance against the movie. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be not only a great book, but a fantastic book!

It's clear that its main focus is on the movies (Apart from Notting Hill, there are reference to a lot of romantic movies like Love Actually, Runaway Bride, Pretty Woman...) and I loved it because I got very excited every time I recognised a scene and I could picture Scarlett perfectly reliving them. But what Ali McNamara creates with this book is not only a list of cheesy scenes from movies but a great plot with a girl who isn't sure that she likes her current life and is just trying to decide if she can have a better life or if she should just settle down. A great plot with a lot of sub-plots like her search for her mother, her best friend getting married in Disneyland (yes, they close the park for them, where do I ask for that?), her new friends with their own problems and ambitions or even how she helps Sean Bond (whose father wanted to call James lol) to believe a little in romance.

Moreover, Ali McNamara's writing is engaging and infectious. I just wanted to keep reading to get to the end and what an end! Definitely one of the best endings in a Chick-lit novel! I have to admit Scarlett had me worrying until the last minute! But when I finished I couldn't stop grinning!

And the good news is that there is a second book following Scarlett's life! I finished a couple of days ago so I'll try to post a review for it this week!

My own obsession with Notting Hill

As I said I have watched that movie more than a hundred times and probably listened to the Elvis Costello's song She a thounsand times. Since watching it I also developed a kind of crush with Hugh Grant and I have watched all his movies. So everytime I have been in London I have spent at least one day in this neighborhood (I actually lived in London for more than a year and I think I went to that area at least twice or three time per month). I love it on weekends when all the antiques stalls get mixed with all the food stalls and the touristy stuff. I think it has a life of its own. Now I can't wait to go back again! Here is a small sample:

An antique stall in Notting Hill

I received this copy from Jill Knapp-Zitron in exchange for my honest review. So here it goes!

Amalia appears to have everything she ever wanted: a great appartment in the Greenwich Village, good friends, a perfect boyfriend and even a wonderful trip to Brazil all lined up. But when her boyfriend decides to dump her for no apparent reason she realises life wasn't so perfect as she had thought. Her roommates are kind of annoying, her best friend is going out with a douchebag and doesn't want to see it, her other friends seem to have their own problems and secrets, uni is not as interesting as she expected and she finds herself drawn to her gourgeous and intelligent friend Michael (who happens to have a girlfriend and no clear intentions about their relationship).

So what is the young Amalia going to do? Be a grown-up, make her own decisions and face life or sleep, cry and let Michael use her for sex?

We all feel kind of lost at this age (early twenties): after graduating, what do you do, a master's degree or look for a (probably unpaid) job? What if you start something and then hate it? After being in a relationship for a long time, who are you by yourself? At this age you need to discover who you really are and what you want to do for your life. For some people is quite easy but for others, like Amalia, it takes a while.

What I liked about this book is that it expresses really well how difficult this process of discovering oneself can be, specially when you are used to be part of a couple and your self-steem is not where it should be. Moreover, it is fun to read and it happens in New York (what's there not to love?).

What I didn't like about this book is that it is not always clear why some things happen. For example, why Nick dumps Amalia or why her family feels so detached to her. It would have been nice to have more background and insight in Amalia's life and family to understand her better.

And remember, this is the first book of a series so don't expect a happy-ever-after kind of ending. There's more to come! I want to conclude saying that, in my opionion, it is a good book but not a great book. So don't expect to be blown away!

Finally, my favourite bit of the book was the ride on the tramway to Roosvelt Island because first, I can imagine perfectly Cassandra freaking out because of the heights and second, it's one of my favourite spots to admire Manhattan. Here two of my own pictures:

The Tramway ride

Views of Manhattan from Roosvelt Island

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