The Law of Attraction

by Roxie Cooper

[Leah]

For years I have been saying the Chick Lit genre needs more books set up north. Authors seem to think that the world revolves around London, when it really doesn’t. The North East is a fantastic place. Beautiful sights, our charming accents (that sound nothing like that ridiculous Castle episode - if you haven’t seen it, look it up because it’s RIDICULOUS) and we are the proud people who gave you ANT AND DEC. So howay, give us a bit more credit, would you?! So when I started chatting to Roxie Cooper on Twitter, I was chuffed as pieces to hear she was a fellow girl from up the North East, she’s a Boro girl living in Yarm and I live in County Durham. I was even MORE excited that she’d written a book The Law of Attraction so as soon as it appeared on Netgalley, I HAD to read it.

I absolutely loved The Law of Attraction and not just because of all the charming North East bits and pieces that made me feel so loved. (I can kinda see what people are saying when they see someone in a book that’s like them, this is legitimately the first time that’s happened to me as a Geordie girl.) The Newcastle setting, which is a bit alien to me because I don’t know Newcastle well, but that’s FINE. Because I know the landmarks and stuff. The fact that Amanda calls her mam mam like I can my mam mam. The fact the characters had GEORDIE ACCENTS AND SAID HOWAY AND ALREET AND STUFF. I will get onto the actual book in a minute, but please allow me to bask in the glory of having a book set in my area. IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING.

The book itself was really good. I know very little about barristers - they seem to preside in court like a lawyer does in American TV shows??? They wear wigs?!?!??! AND ROBES LIKE HARRY POTTER?!??! But my knowledge is limited and seeing what Amanda had to go through was awe-inspiring and infuriating. It was amazing because it seems to take dedication to become a barrister, and before you can do that you have to something called pupillage which is like being a baby barrister and you kinda have to pay your dues and be voted in to become a real barrister. It was great to peek behind that curtain. HOWEVER, the bitchiness, the backstabbing, the general feeling that because Amanda is blonde, has big boobs and likes to dress nicely is somehow a deterrent?! LOL WHAT. ARE WE LIVING IN THE 1950s? It made me so angry. It was like Legally Blonde all over again and I couldn’t wait for Amanda to Reese Witherspoon them into submission. Honestly, it was like being back at school again! But I admired Amanda for keeping her cool, for picking her battles, and I assume that a lot of what was written was actually true as Roxie herself is a barrister so has first hand knowledge of all that goes on (it sounds exhausting!)

I loved that Amanda was a working class girl, who had pulled herself off her estate to make something of her life. Why should it just be the rich people who can become barristers? Why does where we come from dictate what jobs we should do? Honestly, I wanted to smack half the people in the face for being such idiots to Amanda. Except for her pupil-master Richard who was my favourite and the delectable Sid! I loved the girl power Amanda inspired within me, I mean I’m not about to go out and become a barrister but I liked the message that you can make your dreams come true, that hard work always wins in the end, that cream always rises to the top. And I loved even more that Amanda did it with massive peroxide blonde hair, as if that somehow tells you of her intelligence/ability to do her job. *Eye roll*

This book had everything I wanted. The Northern setting I crave, a feisty main character who I loved and wanted to be best friends with so she could teach me a master cat eye flick for starters, fantastic writing, and I loved seeing behind the curtain on what it is to be a lawyer. A lot of authors don’t give their characters such demanding jobs because it gets in the way of romance so it was nice to see Amanda’s job and what it entails and how much hard work it is. It was funny, witty, warm and Roxie Cooper has blasted onto the scene with a fantastic debut novel. I want more of her Northern charm and honest storytelling and girl power enthusiasm in my life IMMEDIATELY.