28 December 2014

Review #112: The List by Joanna Bolouri



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We don’t get to pick who we fall in love with, and it doesn’t happen like it should.
----No Strings Attached

Actually that was the underlying story of 32-year old Phoebe Henderson’s solitary life. Phoebe Henderson is the protagonist of Joanna Bolouri’s debut novel, The List, which is an amusing story about a single woman’s crazy sexual adventures.

Synopsis:
Phoebe Henderson may be single but she sure doesn't feel fabulous. It's been a year since she found her boyfriend Alex in bed with another woman, and multiple cases of wine and extensive relationship analysis with best friend Lucy have done nothing to help. Faced with a new year but no new love, Phoebe concocts a different kind of resolution.

The List: ten things she's always wanted to do in bed but has never had the chance (or the courage!) to try. A bucket list for between the sheets. One year of pleasure, no strings attached. Simple, right?

Factor in meddlesome colleagues, friends with benefits, getting frisky al fresco and maybe, possibly, true love and Phoebe's got her work cut out for her.



Joanna Bolouri crafted a mind-blowing “No Strings Attached” style tale but its way more hilarious, way more striking, and way more adventurous and at times, things got pretty heated up while I was reading the book (I meant to say way more passionate!) So what happens when a 32-year old lonely and single woman wants to make a bucket list of what kind of sexual adventures she will have? Well, if she’s got a cute guy best-friend, then undoubtedly he will be the first person on her list to have those adventures with.

Written in a diary entry style, the author, Bolouri wanted to show us about her protagonist’s sexual adventures right from her eyes and words and thus that made me feel like Phoebe’s only talking to me. With the author’s glorious vivid descriptions about the sexual adventures of Phoebe, the book was one hell of an roller-coaster ride of sweat, some filthy between the sheets experience and a lot of ROFL moments that will surely going to crack you up! And honestly most of time, I found that it was quite difficult for me to get a grip on when Phoebe’s silly moments cracked me up. I must say I never read such a hilarious book of erotica, where sex is going on but in a rather funny way!

The characters from lonely, brave and funny Phoebe to her coolest best friend, Lucy to her annoying and sly boss, Frank to her cheating ex, Alex to her cutest guy best friend, Oliver to the rest of the lot- each and every one depict the characters from our everyday life, meaning which they are realistic and believable and I could instantly relate to the people in my life. And for that I’d like to hats off to the author for drawing inspiration from the daily characters. Moreover, Phoebe sounds like an epitome of every lonely, single woman. For me, Phoebe Henderson rocks! And Oliver sounds like every woman’s dream boy!
The narrative style is equally witty and entertaining and that kept me stuck like glue till its very end. I even loved the articulate and crisp prose that the author used to describe her story and since written in a diary entry style, the book had got a fast pace and can be read in a one go. Apart from that, I learnt a lot of new stuffs which I had no idea about, so thanks to the author for enlightening me/ her readers with her well-crafted and humorous story and honestly I had a hard time while reading this book, since my stomach was hurting like hell as I could not control myself from laughing and rolling and crying out with joy. So yeah read this book, on a lazy afternoon and watch how this book can actually take the stress off your shoulders!!

Verdict: Damn! It’s been a long time since I read such a funny and lively book. So don’t waste a minute, girls, pick up this book now! And if you are still single this year, then this book can be your perfect guide. As for me it was the perfect guide!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Joanna Bolouri, for giving me an opportunity to read and review her book.
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Author Info:
Joanna Bolouri is a writer, blogger and much older than she once was. 
Represented by Kerry Glencorse at Susanna Lea Associates. Her first novel ‘The List’ was published by Quercus in April 2014 and translation rights have been sold to – Turkey, Slovenia, France, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Croatia and Spain.
She’s currently somewhere in Glasgow working on her second novel ‘I Followed the Rules’ to be published by Quercus 2015.
Visit her here 

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1 comment:

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