It's Up to You, New York: Will Holly find love in the city where dreams are made?

by Tess Daly

Will Holly find love in the city where dreams are made?

Fielding calls from disgruntled customers on a crispbread telesales careline isn't exactly where Holly Collins saw herself in life. Living in a shoebox flat and working in a windowless building on an outer London industrial estate were never quite what she'd had in mind. So when Holly is picked from obscurity to take part in Street Scout, a television series on the hunt for fashion's next big model, life finally seems to be taking a turn for the better for the happy-go-lucky twenty-something. Surely this is her big moment?

But Holly knows only too well that dreams are just that and when it feels like everything - and everybody - is conspiring against her, Holly heads for New York with her best friend Meg. The magic of Manhattan has Holly in its grasp: strutting down 5th Avenue and drinking two too many cosmopolitans, taking romantic carriage rides in Central Park and standing at the top of the Empire State building she can scarcely believe how far away the real world seems. But when Holly is faced with the biggest decision of her life can she make the fairy tale become a reality?

• ISBN10: 144474058X
• ISBN13: 9781444740585
• Publish Date: 23 May 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Coronet Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

When I heard Tess Daly was writing a Chick Lit novel, I was intrigued. I’m always torn when celebs decide to write novels because for the most part they only do it for publicity (I’m looking at you, Katie Price) and they don’t even bother to write the novels themselves (Katie, you, again) but I know Tess is a former journalist so I can feasibly believe she writes her own novels, so I was really interested to read them. I have her debut novel The Camera Never Lies somewhere on my book case, I’m sure, but as soon as I heard about her new one It’s Up To You New York I wanted to read it. Mostly because of the absolutely stunning purple cover, I will admit. It’s a gorgeous looking book and you can never underestimate how nice it is to read a gorgeous looking book. But I also liked the sound of the novel, and I was impressed.

It’s Up To You New York opens with a conversation between Holly and an unhappy VitaSlim (like Ryvita for those wondering) customer, who is desperate to lose weight so she can look good in her bikini and can’t believe that putting a KFC chicken wing on top of her VitaSlim isn’t making her slim. I was hooked from that. I liked the plot, of how Holly goes on a show called Street Scout, a show looking for new models, and how she meets the enigmatic Max Moore and finds herself becoming closer to him. I was a bit peeved at how long it took to get to New York – like half the book – especially as the title and the synopsis hints that it’s a mega factor in the book, and it was, it just took ages to get there. If I have any criticism of the plot it’s that I’d have liked to have seen Holly’s career progression. It sort of stagnates after Street Scout and the novels ends without that being resolved, and I’d have liked to have seen Holly in the future. Did she make it as a model? Did she go back to VitaSlim? What the heck happened?

I really enjoyed It’s Up To You New York, I think Tess Daly is a talented writer, and she hasn’t just jumped on the book writing bandwagon for the sake of it, it’s actually a viable career option and I forsee her going on to write many brilliant novels. This is one celeb who very much gets the thumbs up from me, and I am looking forward to going back and reading her debut novel. Her characters were people you cared about, and though Holly was a bit naive (and had numerous tug-of-wars with her inner feelings, particularly concerning a hot famous man) I liked her. I felt she was a worthy lead character, someone to root for, and it again goes back to how I’d have liked to have seen her career progress. Perhaps there’ll be a sequel? I don’t know. I certainly hope so. If one thing was lacking it was the romance side of things. I was rooting for Joe Taylor, the underdog, who I felt deserved a bit more air time, as I wasn’t a fan at all of Holly’s on/off boyfriend James. He was a bit too uppity for my liking. So, yes, all in all a worthy second novel, bravo Tess!