Book Review : The Out of Office Girl by Nicola Doherty

Title : The Out of Office Girl

Author : Nicola Doherty

Publication Date : 5th July 2012

Publisher : Headline Review

Source : Sent by the publisher! (Many thanks!)

Overall : 5/5 (I'd give more than this!)

From London...

Alice Roberts is having a rubbish summer. She's terrified of her boss, her career is stalling, and she's just been dumped - by text message. But things are about to change...

to Italy...

When boss Olivia is taken ill, Alice is sent on the work trip of a lifetime: to a villa in Sicily, to edit the autobiography of Hollywood bad boy, Luther Carson. But it's not all yachts, nightclubs and Camparis. Luther's arrogant agent Sam wants to ditch the book entirely. Luther himself is gorgeous and charming but impossible to read. There only seems to be one way to get his attention, and it's not one her boss would approve. Alice is the out of the office, and into a whole lot of trouble.

...with love

I was so happy (I jumped and ran around the house and even told my dog about it) when Nicola agreed to send me a copy of this book and it's the first review copy I received! THANK YOU, NICOLA! Thank god I managed to finish The Imperfect Girlfriend (I was so busy and I almost stopped reading for a month, sob) and started on this book right away! I didn't attend school for a day as I was sick and I read this book (felt very happy to start). Since I didn't go to school, I managed to read fast, in four days! You know how it feels when you almost stopped reading for a month and then you could finish a book within a week, it's heavenly and I almost believed it's December (holidays, yay).

I really enjoyed this book. I kept telling everyone about the book and how much I loved it! I really loved Alice. She's a very lovable character, very down-to-earth and most importantly, very relatable. I could feel the beauty of Italy through Alice and it's as though I went to Italy with her! I absolutely take her as a heroine because she handled difficult situations with maturity and she did what she thinks is right! Alice was sent by her company, well, publishing house to put some pressure on Luther so that he could finish his book. At first, I thought Alice was going to do what she's supposed to, but, NO! Nothing went according to the plan and everything became very leisure and funny for me (good funny)! I LOVED IT (I'm shouting as I type this)! I always say this, rules are meant to be broken. Hey, what's life without some spice? It doesn't make you unprofessional, it makes you fun and easygoing, think about it!

A story wouldn't be complete without interesting supporting characters! Luther Carson, handsome, Hollywood actor! I'm sure all girls would die to be in his arms, at least I thought so! He may seem perfect, but as HUMAN, nobody is perfect! There's a side of him that no one knows, a part of him that's unseen by public and it may be something he doesn't want the public to know. He was being dishonest about his life story at first but as he got to know Alice better, he told her what he felt and it might be something new to the public or at the very least, his agent, Sam! I won't tell you, read to find out more! Talking about Sam, I really disliked him at the beginning of the story. He's arrogant and mean towards Alice (I felt like punching him, sorry). People change and that's very true! After some time, he actually started making friends with Alice and their friendship progressed very fast, from nil to everything!

Moving on to the other characters, Marisa (Maria Santa, actually) was an amazing bestie-slash-travel-companion. She's fun and has great sense of fashion, she styled Alice and made her felt beautiful! As compared to Marisa, Annabel, an actress, said to be pretty and beautifully tanned was annoying. She talked about herself and boasted about herself and I found that a little annoying and was an attention seeker (it's a very natural feeling but who am I to judge?).

This book was not action-filled or those heroine saved the day kind of story, it's amusing and gave me an insight of publishing world as well as acting (Being a celebrity is not easy, nothing is). One amazing thing about this book, Nicola shows us her passion in writing and how much she loves her job through Alice! This book is definitely a must read and it will bring out the young, fifteen-year-old in us! I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope there will be a sequel! It was impossible to put this book down!

In short, this book has a simple plot that is light and fun! This wonderful novel by the lovely Nicola Doherty will speak to girls that dream of meeting their celebrity boyfriend(s), in my case, Chace Crawford and it's important to have a direction in chasing their dreams! It's such a fun, summer read and the ending was very lovely!

I can see this wonderful lady, Nicola Doherty, will have a bright future in the industry (this debut novel is VERY GOOD). Just watch, people! Follow this lovely, lovely author on Twitter (@nicoladoherty_).

DON'T EVER MISS THIS! TEAM ALICE! TEAM NICOLA!