What they say: HOW NOT TO GET THE GIRL… Meet Mikey, every girl’s best friend – he bakes the creamiest cheesecake, loves movie nights and is a great dance partner. For Jasmine, Mikey is the perfect flatmate – he owns a 50s diner that turns out the best food around, gives the best bear hugs and amazing romance advice – after all they’re scoping out the same hot guys! So when her boyfriend proposes in the worst possible way, Jazz knows her best friend will be there to pick up the pieces with gourmet popcorn, Pinot sleepovers and a shoulder to lean on. But Mikey isn’t about to let Jasmine give up on love, and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to mend her broken heart – even if it means helping the one person who sees him as the enemy… Because at the end of the day, all’s fair in the pursuit of true love… right?
The Review: First off how exciting is it to be part of a blog tour of this magnitude on VALENTINE’S DAY?! Talk about happy out, especially since it’s Samantha Tonge, whose book Game of Scones was a sensation over the Summer in blogging circles, and who is always so vibrant and lovely on social media in both blogging and author circles. The greatest of thanks to Ms. Tonge, Carina UK, Jenny In Neverland and NetGalley for this book in return for an honest review.
I loved this book. It began with us getting an insight into the friendship between Polka Dot Diner owner Mikey, and Jasmine Jarvis, his flatmate and best friend. They have one of those uber relaxed, no-holds barred friendships where they lounge around together and plan their evenings around each other. From the start it was easy to see that this, coupled with Dave, Jasmine’s boyfriend’s apparent dislike for Mikey, was not going to make things easy.
Nevertheless when Dave proposes to Jasmine, and it falls extremely flat, Mikey jumps in to help out. He will help Dave propose in the best possible way before Jasmine leaves to go to New York for her career. This of course brings with it the issue of Dave and Mikey not getting on and with it some heart-rending back-stories on Mikey’s part showing how he’s been a victim of homophobia, as Mikey (and we the readers) try to figure out Dave’s dislike for someone so nice, while somehow we begin to suspect that Mikey may or may not be as he seems. This was where the book excelled for me: at times you were so wary. It was one of those ‘who do you like’ and ‘who do you trust’ books because you felt you had to pick a side. Sometimes you were surprised, at others not, and this was what led to a short story that had very few pacing issues, for me it was a lovely page turner.
The nice little trick of multiple points of views also showed us why Jasmine was so upset with the proposal, leading us to some home truths about her past also. The settings were great, in particular I loved the vibrancy of the Polka Dot Diner, with its appropriate jukebox choices to accompany the mood. The characters were excellent, I fell for Dave big time, then Mikey, then Dave, then Mikey … well, you get my drift. I’m afraid I guessed the ending, but that was fine, I still really enjoyed it. Any book that has friendships, relationships, drama, misunderstandings, comedy, romance, as well as twists and turns that keep you guessing? Highly recommended, and since it’s only 89p at the moment on Amazon, I’d say, off you go! Happy Valentine’s Day:)
Rating: 4.5/5
About Samatha Tonge:
Samantha lives in Cheshire with her lovely family and a cat that thinks it’s a dog. Along with writing, her days are spent cycling, willing cakes to rise and avoiding housework. A love of fiction developed as a child, when she was known for reading Enid Blyton books in the bath. A desire to write bubbled away in the background whilst she pursued other careers, including a fun stint working at Disneyland Paris. Formally trained as a linguist, Samantha now likes nothing more than holing herself up in the spare room, in front of the keyboard. She has sold over 80 stories to women’s magazines. Her bestselling debut novel, “Doubting Abbey”, from CarinaUK HarperCollins, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award in 2014. Game of Scones won the 2015 Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category.
Find Samantha Tonge on:
BRMaycock's Book Blog 
Sounds interesting. I’ll have to take a look. 🙂
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