Book review: Could it Be I’m Falling in Love by Eleanor Prescott
21 Feb
This Valentine’s Day, Roxy Squires is waiting for the phone to ring…
Roxy is famous. At least, she used to be. She’s a good-time TV presenter, and OK, so things haven’t been going so well recently, but her big break is just around the corner. What she’s really looking for is someone to propel her back to the big time.
Enter Woody, one-time pop star and Roxy’s ultimate dream date, now working as her window cleaner. He’s the answer to her prayers – but for some reason, he doesn’t want to be famous.
And it turns out they’re not the only celebs in the village. Roxy’s living amongst a motley crew of former stars and fame survivors, who meet weekly to discuss their new lives. Is this the reality check Roxy needs? Or maybe it’s a chance to do the unthinkable and fall in love…?
When this book arrived in the post my attention was immediately captured by the lovely bright red cover and it sounded like a fun romantic read in the lead up to Valentine’s day. I read a few pages and from that point I didn’t want to put it down!Could it Be I’m Falling in Love is one of the funniest and most endearing books that I’ve read for a while and I just couldn’t get enough of the wonderful group of misfit ex-celebrities that Eleanor Prescott has created.
The story’s leading lady is Roxy Squires who rose to notoriety as a TV presenter and ‘ladette’ in the 90s and is fiercely clinging to her celebrity status. Poor Roxy is doing her absolute best to put herself in the spotlight and court the fame that she so desperately seeks but it’s obvious right from the start that her star has fallen. The Roxy that we meet at the start of the story is quite shallow on the surface but as the novel develops we get to see more of the ‘real’ Roxy and I thought she was brilliant. Her chapters of the book are peppered with #Roxysays tweets and I loved her good intentioned meddling in everyone’s lives.
Following an unexpected encounter with her window cleaner who turns out to be ex-pop star (and Roxy’s teenage crush) Woody Jensen, Roxy discovers that the village she lives in, Lavender Heath is actually a haven for the once famous, infamous and nearly famous! Woody invites Roxy to his weekly ‘survivors’ group where she meets her fellow (ex)stars. There’s a typecast soap star villain who just wants to make rom-coms, a failed weather man, an ex-MP, a one time model who found herself at the centre of a love scandal and of course a WAG! I loved the way Eleanor Prescott has taken media stereotypes that we’re all familiar with and given them character and personalities together with believable stories in the present as they struggle to come to terms with the impact fame had on them or the loss of their celebrity status.
Despite being over five hundred pages in length, I found this novel a quick read with lots to hold my interest. With short chapters that focus on each of the different characters, the story has great pace but my favourite bits were the emails that Roxy receives in reply to her pitches, requests and ideas. Could it Be I’m Falling in Love is spot on in walking the line between ‘where are they now’ comedy and the real impact of fame or infamy and what happens when the spotlight goes and the more I read about the characters and their stories, the more I liked them all. Roxy is determined that fame can be theirs again and I enjoyed her haphazard attempts to relaunch careers. Add a ‘retired’ Hollywood heart-throb into the mix together with Woody who is determined to shun fame at all costs and Roxy certainly has her work cut out!
I thought the ending to the story was perfect and I was so pleased that Eleanor Prescott included a ‘what happened next’ update on each of her stars. Although it is set in the run up to Valentine’s Day, Could it Be I’m Falling in Love is a brilliantly funny and romantic read to enjoy at any time of the year and I can’t wait to read more from Eleanor Prescott.
5/5
I’d like to thank Margot at Quercus for sending me a review copy of this novel.
You can find out more about Eleanor and her books at: http://www.eleanorprescott.com/
You can follow Roxy Squires on Twitter @foxyroxysquires
Even though it sounds like there’s a lot going on, it also sounds like a fun book! The cover definitely popped when I first saw it – and is intriguing enough that I’d pick it up too.