Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

by Jill Steeples

[Leah]

When I read Jill Steeples’s debut novel Desperately Seeking Heaven last year, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a lovely read and I really liked Jill’s writing style, so I was ridiculously excited when Jill announce the release of her newest ebook Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off. I loved the cover, I loved the sound of it (especially as I was given a bit of a sneak preview when I interviewed her shortly after the release of Desperately Seeking Heaven) and I was chuffed when Jill offered me a review copy. I duly downloaded it onto my Kindle and I couldn’t wait to get started.

When Anna accidentally finds and opens and reads her best friend Sophie’s diary, the only things she expects to read are things she already knows; they’re best friends, so surely they know everything about each other? Not so. You see, when Anna reads Sophie’s diary she finds out something she truly didn’t want to ever know: Sophie and Anna’s fiance, Ed, are having an affair. Shocked, Anna does the only thing a girl really can do in that situation: she flees. She hops on a train to Hollisea, needing a few days away before she has to make the decision about whether or not her wedding will go ahead. When she meets Dave, and she finds herself attracted to him, it gives her more questions than answers, but since she’s pretending to be someone else – a jewellery designer named Persephone – maybe there isn’t a question there at all… But one question will need answering: Will Anna and Ed get married, or not?

I was super excited to start reading Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off, and it did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anna is a heroine who you will quickly start rooting for – you’d have to have a heart made of stone to not feel for Anna when she learns about her best friend and her fiance’s deception. Talk about a double whammy. So I was totally on board with the whole running away thing and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes set in Hollisea. I have no clue if it’s a real place, but it sounds lovely and I really enjoyed the bits set there, especially getting to meet Mandy, who owns a cafe with her husband Bob, and Dave, a friendly, but slightly-scary-looking fella Anna befriends one evening. I was slightly worried Dave might have been a serial killer, but he wasn’t. He was lovely! He was actually my favourite character, as he just lit up the book and I felt he and Anna just hit it off completely from their first interaction, despite the fact she didn’t tell him her real name (a good thing – you shouldn’t be giving out your real details to a stranger, and I really liked the Persephone cover story hehe).

Jill Steeples is such a fabulous writer, I just blow through her books really quickly and I’m always quite disappointed when I come to the end. I do wish she’d write quicker so I could maybe have a couple of new Jill Steeples books a year, but that’s me being quite selfish, I suppose. I really enjoyed Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off, and I really felt for Anna. I, personally, would have told Sophie and Ed exactly where to go the moment I found out, but I understand for some that’s quite a big decision and perhaps not so simple to make, so I could understand why Anna wanted to take time away to think. I probably would have liked an Epilogue at the end, just to let us know what happened down the line with everyone. That would have wrapped it up perfectly, especially for someone as curious as me, but as the main storyline does get wrapped up, I was quite content. An Epilogue would have just been a bonus. I now must start my wait for Jill’s next book, she’s rather quickly become an author I very much enjoy and Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off was no exception.