<<...Twenty something Izzy is fed up. She has split with boyfriend Cian, the dirty love cheat, and is sick of her job as a dogsbody at film company Lights, Camera, Action. If she was paid to write the script of her so-called life (working title: "Welcome to Dumpsville") it would definitely not include: baggy tracksuit bottoms and dread locked hair; her flatmate's ever-present lump of a boyfriend watching everlasting football matches on the living-room TV; ill-advised booty calls; panicky pregnancy tests; and, bumping into Cian and his new squeeze, Brenda, while looking like something the cat spat up. It definitely would include: sleek hair, sleek limbs (come to think of it, more-or-less sleek everything); a Jaffa Cake-eating rabbit called Dermot; a foul-mouthed gran with a heart of gold; Jonathan-absolute-total-ride-Cunningham And, of course...; a girl's best friend, Gavin. Since real life in Dumpsville is way weirder than anything she could make up, all Izzy can do is take a deep breath and hang in there...>>
<<...You’d think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss, especially Rule Number 1: Do not, at any time, let him see how much he has hurt you. But no, Izzy Keegan was probably off doing sambuca shots when that lesson was taught. So, starting with public humiliation (that infamous blow-up with her Ex and his new woman … huge mistake), and taking in temporary insanity, rebound sex, and a night in a police cell along the way, Izzy has to make up her own rules for coping with heartbreak... Luckily she has friends who are there for her through thick and thin (even if ‘doing an Izzy’ is their new shorthand for completely losing it). And she’s got her foot in the door of the film business (though dogsbody wasn’t exactly the job she dreamt of doing). Now, all she has to do is put the dirty cheating love-rat behind her. You’d think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss. Make that twenty-seven and a bit …>>
The book is amazing and Amy writes with all the girly-girl charm of Plumm Sykes, Jennifer Weiner and Sophie Kinsella! She also has a delicious literary sophistication that makes this novel more than just fun and entertaining but very readable. The Independent went so far as to say she writes "like Jane Austen on ecstasy"Reading about Izzy's public humiliations and romantical ups and downs is heartwarming and strengthening, Izzy is going through what all have of us have been through - times TEN!
Amy has said "Not everybody is going to like it," she adds, philosophically. "Not everybody is going to like me. Not everybody is going to like everything I do." We find this all VERY hard to agree with but suppose it could be true... "At the end of the day I am so proud of it. I'm not claiming it is Booker Prize material. I hope people like it and that's all I can hope for. All the literary critics may not but if Mary on the 47 bus does ... ."
Amy's humility shines through in her writing as well. Although she may never have become a crazed psycho-stalker like Izzy or a very public freak attack breakdown, you do get the feeling that this beautiful 30 year old, who seems to have the world at her feet, has had her own share of heart break. There are very honest and common emotions flowing through this book. The whole novel creates a connection with the reader, with every girl out in reader world, and it has to be said that in reality it is Amy, as the book's author, that you are connecting to.
Three Cheers For Miss Huberman!! Hello Heartbreak is a chick-lit triumph, and she should be very proud! Go grab a copy now, head down to the beach or in to your comfy chair and enjoy!
