Books Read: Jane Costello - All the Single Ladies

Source - Won in a competition

Samantha Brooks' boyfriend has made a big mistake. One his friends, family, and Sam herself know he'll live to regret. 

Jamie is loving, intelligent - and a free spirit.  After six years in one place, doing a job he despises, he feels compelled to do something that will tear apart his relationship with Sam: book a one-way flight to South America.

Sam isn't giving up without a fight. With Jamie still totally in love with her and torn about whether to stay or go, she has five months to persuade him to do the right thing. So with the help of her friends Ellie and Jen, she hatches a plan to make him realise what he's giving up. A plan that involves dirty tricks, plotting, and a single aim: to win him back.

Only, by the time the tortured Jamie wakes up to what he's lost, a gorgeous new pretender has entered Sam's life. Which begs the question . . . now he's here for the taking... does she still want him back?

Having read all of Jane Costello's previous books I knew that this one book that I would eventually read although I would have waited a little longer until it was released in paperback.  So I was very fortunate to log into Facebook at the right time to enter and win a competition for a signed copy of this book. 

The main character is Sam who feels like the rug has been literally been pulled out from under her feet when her partner Jamie announces his plan to leave and go to South America without her.  A plan she doesn't really understand especially when he tells her it's not because he doesn't love her although he had made it clear in the past that marriage and kids were not on his agenda.  If he loved her, surely he wouldn't leave...

So she decides along with her two best friends, Ellie and Jen, to make him realise exactly what he's missing.  The first step of the plan is to make him jealous so Sam and single Jen sign onto an online dating website with some interesting results ...  

Sam deliberately arranges dates where she is likely to bump into Jamie to make him jealous and it appears to work although he still seems to want to do his own thing but keep her there as a back up option.  At first I thought he was just running scared from taking the next step in their relationship but after a while I just thought he was really selfish - wanting her to be there for him but without the commitment ... you know the sort of guy I mean! 

This book has many interesting characters and a couple of sub-plots, especially involving her adopted sister Julia and her best friend Ellie, to keep you thoroughly entertained and includes some very funny laugh out loud moments ....  so just be careful where you're reading it so people don't think you're completely barking mad!  As you might expect from a modern day novel social networking gets a mention, in this book it's Facebook profile updates that add intrigue to the storyline.

I especially loved the decision that Sam comes to in the end and for me it was definitely the right one ... 

This was an extremely easy, enjoyable book to read that I finished in a couple of nights ... although I am glad it's Sunday today as I had an extremely late night reading last night as I was desperate to finish it to see how it all turned out for Sam.