Review for Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans

Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 19th January 2012
Genre: Chick-lit, Adult Fiction, Woman’s Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Source: Received for review from the Amazon Vine Programme

Amazon Summary:
"At twenty-two, Eleanor Bee is sure about three things: she wants to move to London and become a literary superstar, she wants to be able to afford to buy a coffee and croissant every morning, and she doesn’t believe in happy endings. She saw what divorce did to her parents, especially her mum: happily ever after’s fine on the last page of a book, but it just doesn’t happen in real life.

Elle moves to London. She gets a job at Bluebird Books, a charmingly old-fashioned publishers. She falls out of pubs, wears too-short skirts, makes lots of mistakes and feels like she’s learning nothing and everything at the same time. And then, out of the blue, she falls in love, and that’s when she realises just how much growing up she has to do…

Ten years on, and Elle’s life has changed in ways she could never have predicted. Because no matter where you go and how much you try to run away, the past has a funny way of catching up with you, and Happily Ever After comes in all shapes and sizes…"

Review
Every now and then I love to read a book about books so Happily Ever After naturally was a real joy for me to read and I’m sure a lot of book lovers who are passionate about reading, especially chick-lit fans, will feel the same. Our heroine Eleanor Bee better known as “Elle” loves to read, particularly romance and woman’s fiction. Her love for books and support for romance against literary snobs- many of which she has to deal with in her job at a publishing house- made me instantly fond of her. Her love for strong heroines, romantic heroes, and the perfect happily ever after really shines through the pages.

The majority of this book focuses on Elle’s career in the world of publishing and so this is ultimately a real career girls kind of book although it does also tackle family problems, and of course relationship drama too. My dream job would be to work in publishing like Elle so I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her experiences in the behind the scenes book industry, from editing manuscripts to hosting fabulous parties for authors. I found it really refreshing to read a book about a young woman who loves her job and puts her career first before anything else.

Whilst I loved Elle and the bookish aspect of this book I have to say that I was a bit let down by the romance. Because Elle’s very much a career girl the book focuses mainly on her antics in the work place leaving the romance to be quite weak and barely touched upon. I felt that Elle and her love interest didn’t spend enough time together to properly fall in love and so things felt a bit forced and fake with that side of things and is my one complaint about this book.

Happily Ever After is a real book lover’s book with a smart headstrong heroine. If you love your career girl chick-lit stories and dream about rubbing shoulders with your favourite authors and reading books for a living this is the perfect book to live your fantasies through. But if you’re looking for an epic romance I’d maybe give this one a miss.