My edition: Paperback (proof), to be published on 30th January 2014 by Corgi Books, 480 pages.Description: Ellie manages a swank Mayfair gallery, but it's her life that’s a real work of art. Great job, really good hair, loyal friends, loving family. It's only her succession of lame duck boyfriends that ruin the picture.
Oh, and the world-famous rock-star father she's never met, who won’t even acknowledge her existence.
Then Ellie's perfect life is smashed to pieces when her secret is sold to the highest bidder and her name, face (and pictures of her bottom) are splashed across the tabloids. Suddenly everyone thinks she's a gold-digging, sex-crazy, fame whore.
Enter David Gold. Charming and handsome David Gold. On paper he's even more perfect than Ellie, if only he wasn't her father's ruthlessly ambitious lawyer whose job is to manage the crisis – and her. He certainly doesn't think that Ellie's the innocent party and she doesn't trust him at all. So why is it that every time they're alone together, damage limitation is the last thing on their minds?
Rating:
I was so pleased when a copy of It Felt Like a Kiss made its way onto my desk as not only does it have one of the most stunning and inviting covers I've seen for a while (there may have been some stroking of the book when I first held it), but I've also really enjoyed the young adult novels by the same author I've read and so I had high hopes for this one.
The story is this: Ellie has a pretty good life filled with lovely friends, a great family and a job she adores. What not many people know though is that her biological father is in actual fact a super famous rockstar. He doesn't play any role in her life however and she's perfectly happy ignoring this part of her past. That is, until out of the blue the press finds out her secret and she's instantaneously discussed and dissected in every tabloid on the supermarket shelf. That is not even the worst of it: Her boss doesn't like any fuss and so Ellie being propelled into the spotlight means that the art gallery job she loves so much, and which most of her life revolves around, is at risk of being taken away from her.
I thought main protagonist Ellie was a great character. She seemed slightly dull in the beginning but when forced into awkward and sometimes humiliating situations, the very best version of her bubbled up and she evolved into a very likeable character; one that I was rooting for while reading the novel. And David, oh David. Charming and sweet beneath his stern lawyer exterior, it was easy to fall in love with him - even if he did play for the wrong team and was partly to blame for some of the tribulations Ellie had to deal with. The one thing a good romantic novel needs is a handsome and eligible bachelor, and he is definitely swoon-worthy.
Although I enjoyed the characters within the novel and went through the pages fairly quickly because it was such an easy read, I also thought that it was somewhat predictable and quite forgettable in the end. Because I've read some of author Sarra Manning's young adult novels I can compare the two and I feel that the stories she writes for a younger audience are more quirky and memorable than this one. Having said that, It Felt Like a Kiss is a suitably sweet addition to its genre; funny and romantic it is a lovely escapism read for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
You can purchase a copy of the novel from Waterstones, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com or your own preferred retailer.
Would you like to know more about the author? You can connect with her online at:
Website: www.sarramanning.co.uk
Twitter: @sarramanning
Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.
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