Have you ever had that feeling when you’re so glad you stumbled across a book? This is how I feel about Poppy’s Proposal. By chance my path crossed with this month’s Meet The Author feature, Gavin Ough, I’m so glad I’ve met him. You can read his featured interview here. Let’s get into the review!

 The Plot:

Genre: Contemporary romance/ chick-lit/ romantic comedy

 This book is set in the UK at one of our popular and beautiful coastal seaside towns, Cornwell. I hate spoilers so I won’t give too much away. Poppy left school with not much in terms of qualifications. She’s now in her early thirties, and works in a hotel. Even though she’s surrounded by a great line up of entertaining co-workers and her girlfriend Rhea, life to her feels pretty mundane and boring. Her job is not exciting and her love life is non existent, until her path crosses with Aussie Greg and a rich high flying man, named Andrew. Both men take an interest in her, she can’t decide between the two. She decides to date both. It goes horribly wrong! There’s some drama and laughs once it does. But Poppy ends up in a happy place very unexpectedly.  Her personal life, love life and professional life all pick up. She has a great happy ever after, told in a very cleaver and unsuspecting way. She finds Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome and Poppy grows as a woman, with a massive life change.

My Review:

This book if you have not guessed by now is authored by a male writer! Massive props to Mr. Ough as he writes this genre so well, he should stick to it and write more. I like his style. Poppy’s proposal has everything a chick-lit/romantic comedy fan would expect from this genre. This genre is hard to write well and keep readers engaged, without being ridiculous. This has always been my “issue” with this type of romance. Uhh ahh you won’t find this with this author. There was laughter, fun, drama, and a massive dose of British humour which I loved. For me personally Poppy’s Proposal offered me what was missing in my reading life…good ol’ romantic humour! And lighthearted banter, wrapped up in a very enjoyable realistic story. This is the first romantic comedy/chick- lit story I’ve read, in probably four years when I thought about it. It reminded me why I need to read this genre more, and find good writers like Mr. Ough.

I really liked the setting of this book, a busy seaside town in the south west of the UK. I was drawn to the descriptions of the town and hotel, it resonated with me being British, and having visited Cornwell  just last summer too.

The character line up is diverse in terms of personalities and quirks. Aussie Greg, Techno Alan, Jane and Jimbo,  are just a few of the well developed characters. What I loved a lot is that this author was able to write these characters, with their relevant accents and be consistent and entertaining. The level of banter in this book is high. As a British reader I got the humour, at times I really did laugh our loud at it. Poppy is very entertaining with her thoughts and actions. Rhea her frank, straight talking best friend I connected with well.

Now, let’s get into Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome. The key feature for us romance junkies. What impressed me also, is this male author was able to write such a swoon worthy Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome. Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome was in the background, we meet him early as readers. For me he went from a background character to swoon worthy really well. He passed all my checklist points as a romance junkie. Handsome? Umm hmm I got the feeling via Poppy’s POV he was a strapping well built man, with great looks and nice eyes. Did he fight for his woman?  Umm hmm almost physically he did! *spoiler alert* I won’t say anymore. Was he good in bed? *Kim clears her throat*… well judging by the amount of sex Poppy had with him, I got the impression he was LOL. While the sex scenes were not detailed and graphic (which I would not really expect them to be, in this genre of romance), the author was able to use the great writer’s skill of “show,don’t tell.”  He has mastered this writer’s skill well, readers can draw a clear conclusion. Good job!

Overall, I’m giving Poppy’s proposal 4.5 well deserved stars as it is well written, has an engaging realistic plot, that I could see happening in real life. Especially the twists and turns once Poppy meets Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome. I love the setting, okay bias as I’m British but hey I connected. The entertainment factor is there. This author for a male romance writer, has done a brilliant job with this genre! And massive props should be given for his effort.  The only thing I would have liked to have seen more of, is more drama once Poppy’s busted for her double dating. The men seemed to neatly fall away. That said, it does not take away anything enjoyable from the reading as the story gears up toward a great HEA.

This is a great read for lighthearted romance/ contemporary and chick-lit fans. I will be reading more of this author’s work for sure. Especially once he drops his paranormal romance /sci- fi novel to be released soon I hope! I really look forward to it.

Just .99p on Amazon too! click here.