Book Review: I Heart New York (no spoilers)

Around a month ago I was asking around for ideas on what I could put on my birthday wishlist and I decided I wanted to get some new books as I haven't read any in ages. A few people suggested the I Heart... series by Lindsey Kelk and I had previously heard good things as well so thought I would give them a go. I am so glad I did! My friends Abi and Georgie bought me both I Heart New York and its sequal, I Heart Hollywood and I have just finished reading I Heart New York.

From first impressions of the cover I was already more than impressed. As girly as it may be, I always go for the bright, colourful, pretty pastel covers of books when I choose my 'chick lit' (this obviously doesn't apply when I am choosing horror books, my other favourite genre). This book has a pink, lilac and blue colour theme going on and has a picture of a girl with a map and a travel bag entering the city. The tag line reads: 'When you're running away from heartbreak, there's only one place to go...'. I love this! I would love to go to New York as soon as possible so to me this sounds like heaven. I never really read the backs of books as I feel, like the back of a DVD, it can ruin the storyline if you already know roughly what is going to happen. Instead I just started reading...

Now, I am not going to lie to you, this book took me a little while to read! I started it just after my birthday and have only just finished! This is not because I am a slow reader, in fact I am really fast, but it is because I barely get five minutes to myself at the moment with Cameron and with my unu revision. So, slowly but surely I have been going back to it now and again. This hasn't made a huge difference with the book, though I would have preferred to have been able to read it all within a day or two as it is seriously a page turner! I have had to pry myself away from it at the risk of being a zombie the next morning...

Lindsey Kelk is a great writer and manages to draw you into the story and into New York. As I say, I have never been to New York, the closest I have been is watching episodes of Friends, but this book has made me feel like I have actually been there and experieced what the character in the book has! You also feel a connection to the main character and find yourself desperate to find out what happens with her throughout, especially as you near the end of the book. It has definitely been a good distraction and escape from my boring uni revision these past couple of weeks and I actually cannot wait for my exam to be over on Tuesday so that I can start on I heart New York. I already know I am going to love it (though you will have to watch out for the review on it to see if this was the case!).

For anyone looking for a good summer read, or just a nice girly book to lie down with on an evening, I would highly recommend this book. I loved it. 5 stars ***** and a very happy reader!