Serial Reader: "I Heart" series by Lindsey Kelk
Books in the Series:
“I Heart New York” (Kindle)
“I Heart Hollywood” (Kindle)
“I Heart Las Vegas” (Kindle)
“I Heart London” (Kindle)
“I Heart Christmas” (Kindle)
Publisher Synopsis of the first in the series: Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, get ready for the summer debut of the year...When you're running away from a broken heart, there's only one place to go...Adjusting tiaras at the foot of the aisle, Angela and her best friend prepare for the wedding of the year. But events don't go as planned. And when a girl is in possession of a crumpled bridesmaid dress - and can't go home - New York (for the very first time) seems like an excellent idea. Angela's new friend Jenny Lopez gives Angela a whirlwind tour of the city that never sleeps, and a makeover. Who hasn't dreamed of starting afresh with a sassy New York wardrobe, a new haircut and a trip to the make-up counter? Before she knows it, the new Angela is getting over her broken heart by having dinner with two different boys. And, best of all, she gets to write about it in her fabulous new blog. But it's one thing telling readers all about your romantic dilemmas. It's another trying to figure them out for yourself! Warm, funny and unputdownable, I Heart New York is an unforgettable debut.
Rating (out of 5): I rate the series as a whole a 3.25. Some were better than others (see the full review).
Review: This series is…fun. frothy. light-hearted. full of friendship. Mostly completely unrealistic yet at times, incredibly realistic.
While there are some notable misses within the series ("I Heart Vegas” was the lowest point for me, and I actually stopped reading the series for about a year after that one), as a whole I found it charming. What you’re getting into are frothy rom-coms full of privilege, so if you go in with that mindset, you’ll be good to go. The first in the series was published in 2009 (just a year before I moved New York), and it’s kind of nostalgic to read it now knowing how far things like mobile phones and credit card acceptance in cabs have come.
The impetus of the series is, Angela is a British woman in a going-nowhere job engaged to a dude she isn’t that into. At her BFF’s wedding, she discovers her fiance is cheating on her, so she takes off—sight unseen—to New York and gets into all kinds of hijinks. She meets new friends, dates new people, visits new places in the U.S., gets a new job, and ultimately (minor spoiler alert? it’s not like this happens in the first book…) gets married and has a kid. It’s a journey, but the real heart of the story is Angela’s friendship with her New York fairy godmother Jenny Lopez (…not that Jenny Lopez), and how she truly finds herself after she upends her life in England.
I like Lindsey Kelk a lot (her beauty podcast is one of my faves, natch) and I think if you are into rom coms by British authors, you’ll like this series. The New York setting was also, of course, near and dear to my heart. You’ll likely fly through these, enjoy them a lot, and not ruminate on them after the fact.
For the record, my favorites in the series were “I Heart New York,” “I Heart London,” “I Heart Forever,” and “I Heart Hawaii.”
TL;DR: Lindsey Kelk’s “I Heart” books are fun, quick reads, so if you’re looking for something like, definitely recommend. It made me almost nostalgic for the New York of the early 2010s (…wow I am old) and the friendships were incredibly endearing.
If you liked this, try:
“The Two Lives of Lydia Bird” by Josie Silver (Bookshop | Kindle) (Elizabeth’s review here)
“If I Never Met You” by Mhairi McFarlane (Bookshop | Kindle) (my review here)
“My Not So Perfect Life” by Sophie Kinsella (Bookshop | Kindle)
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