Reviewed by Leah on
Hello, Heartbreak is Amy Huberman’s debut novel. She’s one of the many actresses who have decided to turn their hand to writing and Hello, Heartbreak is the result. I can’t say I wanted to read it as soon as I heard of it but I’m always looking for new authors to read so when I saw this in the bookswop I jumped at the chance to buy it.
The book opens with Izzy getting ready to try and win Cian back. It all ends rather disastrously when Izzy meets the woman Cian dumped her for: Saffron (Edna McClodmutton as Izzy calls her – and whom I will continue to call her throughout the review!). Izzy ends up having a Britney-style meltdown and we follow her adventures from there. The book whips along a quite a pace at times but is slow at others. As Izzy begins to overcome her heartbreak she manages to get herself stuck in some completely random situations: ending up in a police cell being top of the list. Not only does Izzy have to contend with the fact Cian is seeing another woman but Izzy has to work with her as the company where Izzy works, Lights! Camera! Action!, is producing the film Edna is starring in. I admit I was easily sucked into Izzy’s world and found it an immensely easy read.
However, just when Izzy thinks she’s completely over Cian, he comes running back into her life. (Yawn). I knew it was probably going to happen but it still disappointed me. Hello, Heartbreak is hardly a unique, fresh novel, but when I picked it up I knew that right from the off. Trouble is, a bit of uniqueness wouldn’t have gone a miss. We have the ditzy-heartbroken-cliched main character, Izzy, who I liked but who reminded me of so many others; we have the loverat of an ex, Cian, as well as his new actress girlfriend, Edna… It’s about as cliched a chick lit novel as you could ask for. Even I know when too much is just too much.
The thing that I enjoyed most throughout the book was the sense of friendship between Izzy, Kileen and Susie. That saved the book for me because so many books focus on friendships gone sour whereas Hello, Heartbreak is all about the fantastic friendship of the trio and how much they’re there for each other when needed. I absolutely loved that aspect of the book and Amy Huberman wrote about their friendship in such an enjoyable way. There were also a few funny scenes throughout the book which made me laugh, in particular when Izzy has her meltdown which was comedy gold.
The characters weren’t anything special as they were quite cliched. Izzy had her loverat of an ex, Susie was with someone who was such a wally and Kileen couldn’t tell the man she loved that she loved him. In true style it all worked out in the end. I mean Izzy was a good main character, don’t get me wrong, and I enjoyed reading all of the thoughts that were in her head as the book was told in the first-person but even I cringed when she inevitably got back with Cian. Trust me, I’m not spoiling it because even you the reader can probably guess that was bound to happen – it’s hardly surprising, is it? My favourite character was Gavin, Izzy’s workmate, and I guessed what was going to happen with him really early on in the book. There aren’t many other characters in the book; Izzy’s parents make a few appearances as well as the aforementioned Cian and Edna, who I despised because that’s what they were there for.
Hello, Heartbreak, is enjoyable enough if you’re looking for an incredibly light read and don’t mind overcliched chick lit. For me though, it was just too same-y and I felt I’d read it all before. I can see Amy Huberman was kind of going for a Sophie-Kinsella-type read but you can’t beat the Queen of Chick Lit and this was a poor poor substitute. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it enough to finish it and I thought it started well, but I wasn’t blown away by it.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 28 October, 2009: Finished reading
- 28 October, 2009: Reviewed