Blog Tour Book Review: Only When it's Love: Holding Out For Mr Right by Olivia Spring

Synopsis:

Alex’s love life is a disaster. Will accepting a crazy dating challenge from her friend lead to more heartbreak or help her find Mr Right?

Alex is tired of getting ghosted and dumped. After years of disastrous relationships that started and ended in the bedroom, Alex is convinced she’s destined to be eternally single. Then her newly married friend Stacey recommends an approach she followed from a self-help book guaranteeing Alex true love in just seven steps. Sounds simple, right? 

Except Alex soon discovers that each step is more difficult than the last and one of the rules involves dating, but not sleeping with a guy for six months. Absolutely no intimate contact whatsoever. Zero. Nada. Rien. A big challenge for Alex, who has never been one to hold back from jumping straight into the sack, hoping it will help a man fall for her. 

Join Alex on her roller coaster romantic journey as she tries to cope with the emotional and physical ups and downs of dating, whilst following a lengthy list of rigid rules.

Will any guys be willing to wait? Will Alex find her Mr Right? And if she does, will she be strong enough to resist temptation and hold out for true love?

Only When It’s Love is a standalone, fun, feel-good, romantic comedy about self-acceptance, determination, love and the challenge of finding the one.

My Review:

Welcome to my stop on the jam packed Blog Tour for Olivia Spring’s second novel ‘Only when it’s Love’.  Also a HUGE Thank you to Olivia for asking me to join the Blog Tour and for an early sneak peak at this fab read!

This is a story about a lady called Alex, a very true to life story I am sure. Full of humour, friendship and love including and not forgetting all the dodgy dates in between…! I guess like that saying goes you always have to kiss a few frogs before you meet your prince!

If you look up on Google for the term Ghosting or Ghosted, in the world of dating it suggests a breaking off of a relationship (often an intimate relationship) by ceasing all communication and contact with the former partner without any apparent warning or justification, as well as ignoring the former partners attempts to reach out or communicate. Ruthless but this goes on frequently and for poor Alex this is her current situation.

Alex has had enough of being someone’s bootie call (and yes.. I’m now singing the All Saints hit ‘Bootie Call’ while I type this..! Ha!) So turning to her newly married friend Stacey who gives to her some words of wisdom and a self help book, Stacey guarantees Alex will find her true love in just seven steps… easy peasy lemon squeezy!... Or will it be?!

After reading the book cover to cover and getting over the fact that there will be no coitus, boinking, getting busy and certainly no Bow-chick-a-wow-wow moments under any certain terms for six whole months Alex is determined to start her new search for Mr Right!

Of course I won’t spoil the story on whether Alex finds her dream man but you sure will be entertained throughout the journey! I really liked the character of Alex, very true to life and written so well that I could totally picture her being in my friendship circle! The highlight was noticing a past character from Olivia’s first novel (The Middle-Aged Virgin) Roxy pops up on a few occasions as Alex’s cousin and if you have read The Middle-Aged Virgin you will know that Roxy isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind.

Such a flipping fab fun filled read… Wow lots of F’s! But totally needed for this! Olivia is an author to watch for sure. With the right mix of romance and comedy this is the perfect read and at an eBook bargain price of 99p at the moment you can’t afford to miss out!

Make sure to purchase today!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Don't forget to check out the other stops on this fab Blog Tour!

Author Bio

Olivia Spring is a London-based writer of contemporary women's fiction, sexy chick lit and romantic comedy. Her debut novel 'The Middle-Aged Virgin' was released in July 2018.

Olivia's uplifting debut novel deals with being newly single in your thirties and beyond, dating, relationships, love, sex and living life to the full.

When she's not making regular trips to Italy to indulge in pasta, pizza and gelato, Olivia can be found at her desk, keenly pursuing her new career as an author whilst consuming large bowls of her mum's delicious apple crumble and custard.

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Book Review: The Middle-Aged Virgin by Olivia Spring

Synopsis:
Sophia Huntingdon seems to have it all: a high-flying job running London’s coolest beauty PR agency, a lovely boyfriend and a dressing room filled with Louboutins.

But when tragedy strikes, Sophia realises that rather than living the dream, she’s actually an unhappy workaholic in a monotonous relationship, with zero personal life. Her lack of activity in the bedroom is so apparent that her best friend declares her a MARGIN, or Middle-Aged Virgin—a term used for adults who have experienced a drought so long that they can’t remember the last time they had sex.

Determined to transform her life whilst she’s still young enough to enjoy it, Sophia hatches a plan to work less, live more and embark on exciting adventures, including rediscovering the electrifying passion she’s been craving.

But after ending her fifteen-year relationship, how will Sophia, a self-confessed control freak handle navigating the unpredictable world of online dating?

If she does meet someone new, will she even remember what to do? And as an independent career woman, how much is Sophia really prepared to sacrifice for love?

My Review:
Firstly a huge thank you goes to Olivia Spring for reaching out and asking me to read and review her debut novel 'The Middle-Aged Virgin' 

The synopsis sounded right up my street, the book cover with it's happy yellow is very eye catching and definitely a book I would have picked up myself in the book shop.

The book is centred around Sophia Huntingdon, after hearing some sad news she decides that her life needs a makeover and some drastic changes need to happen.  Sophia decides to create an action plan of things to change and do over the next year before she hits the big 4 0!  One of the biggest changes was ending her fifteen year relationship with Rich who Sophia decides is not 'The One'. 

We then follow Sophia on her new adventure to find love, passion and happiness.  Along the way there are lots of highs, lows, yummy food, Italian men and lots of OMG moments...

The story throughout was good, I wasn't able to guess the ending and due to a few twists near to the end it kept me guessing right up to the last page however I must admit that I struggled to warm to Sophia.  I found her to be quite shallow and at times selfish, I found myself getting frustrated with some of the choices she makes and at times wanting to jump in the book and give her a slap!  I found it hard to relate to her, but I did find her personality change throughout the book and the Sophia we meet at the start is not the Sophia we leave by the end.

Some of my favourite scenes from the book were between Sophia and her two closest friends Roxy and Bella.  The friendship circle was very true to life and reminded me of my own group of friends.  True friends who might not agree with everything you say or do but support you throughout the decisions you make.  Sophia, Roxy and Bella meet on a regular basis and over food and drinks they put the world to rights and discuss everything... and I mean everything.  From careers to men to fashion to lady gardens! Yes! I mean everything! LOL

Overall the storyline was good and I would be intrigued to read a follow up on Sophia and what happened next!

I think Olivia Spring is an author to watch, with the right amount of comedy, romance and friendship I will be looking forward to her next read! 

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