JENNY LOPEZ HAS A BAD WEEK: AN I HEART SHORT STORY

by Lindsey Kelk

[Leah]

Jenny Lopez is miserable. Having spent the summer working in LA, she’s back home in New York, and missing the three key elements in a girl’s life — a roommate, a job and a boyfriend. Jenny formulates a plan; surely someone must need a roommate and surely someone must need a girlfriend? By the end of the day, she has arranged a viewing for a potential roommate, the gay blond aka Stefan the Swede,secured two dates, and work looking after a top supermodel. Things look like they are back on track; everything is going to work out great. If only life was so easy!

Jenny Lopez Has A Bad Week is an exclusive short story from Lindsey Kelk, the author of the I Heart novels, and gives Angela’s best friend Jenny a voice. It’s a mere 82 pages long and it took me about 40 minutes or so to complete it. I must admit, I’m not a fan of the I Heart novel – Angela is one of the softest most annoying heroines ever (she’s like a diluted Becky Bloomwood and I love Becky). However, when I was reading the I Heart novels, I did love Jenny. She was spunky and she was, frankly, everything Angela was not. She had life, she had verve, she was funny. So I was thrilled when I heard about the short story focusing completely on her.

I thoroughly enjoyed Jenny Lopez Has A Bad Week, Jenny is a total star, and carries the book beautifully, and I must admit, I was sad the novel was only 82 pages long because I would have quite happily continued reading. Jenny could easily carry off a full-length novel, and if Lindsey ever felt like writing it, I’d certainly pick it up. There’s definitely a story there somewhere, and the 82 pages just whizzed by. Sure it was a teensy bit predictable, but to be honest it was easy to brush that aside, it 82 pages so it needed to have some predictability to it or else it would never have gotten finished.

My only teensy tiny complaint is more of a personal one. In the I Heart novels Angela continually refers to men as boys. It drove me nuts then and it drove me nuts now whilst reading Jenny Lopez, because they still have that affliction. It drives me loopy, but again I think it’s more a personal thing, and probably many people won’t have a problem with it. It just seems patronising and childish particularly since they’re meant to be grown women. Even if you’re not a fan of the I Heart books you can still pick this up. It’s short and sweet (and free for a limited time) and it’s an easy way to pass an hour or so. I sincerely hope Kelk decides to expand and give Jenny her own full length novel. She deserves it.