Review! Take a Look at Me Now by Miranda Dickinson

How far would you go to make a new start?

When Nell’s on-off boyfriend Aidan calls her into his office, losing her job is the last thing she expects.

Heartbroken and unemployed to boot, she makes a radical decision to blow her redundancy cheque and escape to the untested waters of San Francisco.

But is the glamour of the city too good to be true? And can Nell leave her past behind?

Review: I seriously couldn’t wait for the latest novel from wonderful writer Miranda Dickinson and this was well worth the wait. My absolute favourite thing about this book, aside from the fabulous characters and amazing storyline was the setting and so I’m going to gush about that particular feature first! I knew that this novel was going to be set in San Francisco, but I didn’t know just how wonderfully realistic and well described it was going to be! When Nell loses her job and decides to go and visit her cousin in San Fran, I thought we might have a few scenes of outdoor action, but that it would predominantly be her and her cousin hauled up in the flat talking boys and jobs and life in general. Boy was I wrong. San Francisco is definitely the supporting star of this novel. I need to go there now! The diners the streets, the parks, the Golden Gate Bridge, all described amazingly, I defy anyone to read this novel and not want to take a trip there immediately!

Nell is, of course, an equally wonderful character. In true Miranda Dickinson style, she is always optimistic, evidenced by the fact that she takes her redundancy money and plans a trip to San Francisco with it. When her cousin asks her to help out with baking at her after school club, she is all for it. When she meets a new man, she doesn’t question it, but decides to go for it head on! I loved her. I wanted to be her friend and I am so pleased with the ending that she gets!

Lizzie, Vicky, Annie, Max and the children from the after school club all play incredible supporting characters as well. Each of them is fully developed and all play realistic roles in real life. Ex-boyfriend Aiden I feel is not to be trusted; this author has cleverly made me hate a fictional character, whilst loving another-that’s just how fab the writing is!

The love story that flows through this novel is definitely painful to follow just because it is such a slow burn, there is a lot of will they won’t they, and you may loose hope that things are going to work out the way you want them to. It’s definitely worth sticking out the tantalising twists and turns, however because the ending is one you’re definitely not going to want to miss!

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it impossible to put down and completely swept up in the story from the minute I picked it up. I am so grateful that I received an advance copy because I think the wait would’ve been even more agonising if it had been even a minute longer! It had reality, it had romance it had friendship, it had San Francisco, it had diner food-it really was the complete package. If you haven’t secured yourself a copy yet, I urge you to do so now, definitely a great book to snuggle up with on a cold autumn evening, and definitely something anyone would enjoy!

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