Isabel Bookbinder might not be leading the most glamorous life ever – measuring column inches at the Saturday Mercury isn’t exactly the job of her dreams – but luckily she’s developed a foolproof plan to change all that.

Reasons to become a bestselling author:

Plentiful opportunities to swish new Super-hair
Sophisticated launch parties (with smoked salmon blinis)
Am bound to captivate the delicious Joe Madison
Can finally prove to father that Really Am Not a Waster

Potential setbacks:

Don’t yet have ‘Yoko’ bag, as carried by arch rival Gina D… or honed size-eight figure (useful for interviews)
Hmm. Am inadvertently at the centre of a major political sex scandal
Paparazzi are doorstepping my parents and boring boyfriend Russell
Haven’t actually got round to putting pen to paper yet

Admittedly some of the setbacks are a little daunting, but Isabel’s sure that a woman of her ingenuity – and creativity – can find a way …

The Glamorous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder is Holly McQueen’s debut novel. It tells the story of Isabel Bookbinder, an aspiring novelist. Trouble is, Isabel has a very different view as to how novels are written then how they are actually are written. Will this aspiring author ever be published?

Before reading Isabel Bookbinder I read the reviews on Amazon which weren’t favourable but wanted to form my own opinion of the book so decided to give it a read. I completely disagree with those on Amazon because I loved the book.

I thought Isabel was a brilliant character - very much in the vein of Becky Bloomwood but not a clone of Becky. The book was written in first person which I found worked for Isabel’s character. I loved how she had all of these ideas for writing a novel and had all the marketing and publicity sorted but hadn’t actually put pen to paper and wrote anything bar a few chapters she wrote as a teenager.

I loved the scandal at the beginning of the book and found it hilarious that Isabel thought the MI5 were trying to kill her. It was hilarious reading the letters Isabel wrote (but never sent) asking for the MI5 to leave her alone among others. There was also the imaginary Richard & Judy interviews. Very amusing.

All of the minor characters played their role be it Lara, Isabel’s psychologist best friend; Gina D, Isabel’s arch-nemisis; Will, a lawyer Isabel meets at a party; the famous author, Katriona De Montford who Isabel goes to work for with a huge secret; Myles and Joe (who’s Will’s brother) the literary agents; Isabel’s parents and Barney, Isabel’s friend from her job at RE:View where Isabel inadvertantly gets embroiled in a scandal!

The twist, or secret, involving Katriona de Montford was very surprising and not something I saw coming. I knew something was amiss with the famous childrens’ author but hadn’t thought that was her secret. Kudos to Holly for that as usually plot twists are very easy to guess.

Overall it was a very enjoyable debut novel. It had a very likeable main character in Isabel even if she is a little naive and thinks being a novelist involves having the perfect bag - to fit the manuscript in, you see - and going out to lunch and parties all of the time. It had laughs, it had romance and it was a very easy read. It’s a perfect read if you’ve got a few hours to spare or if you’re on the beach.

I have to say I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel, The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder, to see exactly what kind of trouble gets herself into next time.

Rating: 5/5

Chloe really disliked this book, read her review here!

Tags: Book Review: Holly McQueen, holly mcqueen

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