Book Review – Welcome to my World by Miranda Dickinson
10 Nov
(From the back cover)
Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster…
And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton’s world. All her life she’s dreamt of travelling the globe – fate always got in the way.
Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.
With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers a whole new set of problems. Now Harri is locked in a ladies loo cubicle at the village hall drowning her sorrows.
Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri’s leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?
Welcome to my World is Miranda Dickinson’s second novel. Her debut, Fairytale of New York was one of my favourite books of 2009 (and a Sunday Times bestseller!) and I have been looking forward to reading this book since I read the sample chapter of it at the end of Fairytale last year. The novel starts with Harri locked in a toilet cubicle in the village hall, hiding from the world, convinced that her life is over. It then flashes back to Harri agreeing to help her friend Viv find a love interest for her son (and Harri’s best friend), Alex.
I liked the structure of the novel a lot; each chapter starts with Harri (still locked in the loo) reflecting on what has happened to lead to the disastrous events that have resulted in her hiding away from everyone she knows and loves. The chapters flow from Harri’s reflections really nicely and as the novel progresses a picture builds of Harri, her friends and family and her life in Stone Yardley. The truth about Harri’s distress is finally revealed in the penultimate chapter after some clever twists to the plot – this made the book a real page turner for me as I was dying to know what had happened to upset Harri so much!
As the lead character in Welcome to my World, I really liked Harri. She is very down to earth and the type of person I’d have as a friend. Harri has had a tough time of things, losing both her parents to cancer and she misses her family dreadfully but her life is looking up. Her gorgeous boyfriend Rob is hinting at ‘the future’ in a very positive way, she’s getting on well with her job as a travel agent and with her Auntie Rosemary, Viv and best friends Alex and Stella on hand, she is content. I did think Harri was a bit too nice sometimes but I had a lot of sympathy for her as she has a lot of very persuasive friends and sometimes it’s just not easy to say ‘no’! She is a complete romantic at heart and when faced with a very determined Viv, agrees against her better judgement to help her sort out Alex’s love life.
Alex is a totally drool-worthy character in my opinion and I developed a huge book crush as soon as I read about him with his surfer looks and exotic travel tales. Alex has recently returned to Stone Yardley to settle down and run a coffee shop after ten years of travelling and he and Harri immediately strike up a friendship based on their mutual love of far-flung places. In many ways, Alex is the opposite of Harri. He’s spontaneous, adventurous and relaxed whereas Harri is a worrier, likes the security of life in Stone Yardley and fears being alone. She is an armchair traveller having found a miriad of excuses not to leave the safety of her familiar surroundings.
Miranda has created a fantastic set of quirky characters in the occupants of Stone Yardley and I loved the way that the supporting characters all had detailed back stories which gave me as reader a sense of being part of the community. I could certainly see why Harri would be reluctant to leave the place! At it’s heart though, this is a story about facing your fears for the things/people you love. As the book progresses Harri has to deal with a series of complications and dissapointments as she introduces both Stella and Alex to the partners of their dreams. As her friends find romance, Harri’s relationship with Rob suffers due to Rob’s obsession with his job.
So, does Harri get her happy ending and her dream trip to Venice with the man of her dreams? I’m not telling! You’ll just have to read it and find out 
but I will say that Welcome to my World is a fabulous book filled with heartwarming charcters, mouthwatering food and lots of romance and it will make you want to book your next holiday right now!
Welcome to my World is out is out now and I’d like to thank Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book to review.
5/5
You can find out more about Miranda and her novels at: http://www.miranda-dickinson.com/
Just finished this last night and going to review it tomorrow, I really enjoyed it! First book I have read by the author but I am going to get her other one, loved the characters and the writing style!
Glad you enjoyed it Dot. You will love Fairytale of New York too!
This sounds like a good fun read – love the idea of the story being told by someone who’s hiding in a toilet cubicle! I think the cover is very pretty too! I think I may have to check this author out!
Thanks for taking part in Radiant Reviews
Thanks Chrissie and I’m very pleased to have discovered Radiant Reviews. It’s a fab way to share books. I realised I didn’t add a link so will do it here! Check out Chrissie’s fab meme ‘Radiant Reviews‘ everyone
The cover of this book is very inviting! I really like it! You’ve brought out so many interesting tidbits that make this book seem so readable. In fact, I can think of a few people I know you may really enjoy this book. I’m going to tell them to come and read your review too. Great job! I’m happy to have come by today!
I love the cover too! Thank you for your lovely comments on the review and for stopping by. I’ve just popped over to 5-squared and am now following
wow this sounds like a great read! Drool worthy huh? Yum!
Thanks for the review. I think I’ll go looking for this book! I’ve followed you here from Radiant Reviews also!
Hi Found you from Radiant Reviews sounds like a good review thanks for sharing
Sounds very interesting and lovely. It has been some months since I read chick-lit and this book sounds like a great book to get back to the fun of this genre.
I’m stopping by via Radiant Reviews.
I have Fairytale of New York on my bookshelf waiting to be read – thanks for reminding me! Sounds like a great read, I love books structured around flashbacks, always so intriguing.