When I Fall In Love

by Miranda Dickinson

[Leah]

Miranda Dickinson is one of my favourite authors, ever. I feel like I say that a lot, but trust me, I don’t. Since her first novel, Fairytale of New York, I have been enchanted by her novels. She writes the most romantic Chick Lit you will EVER read. They’re pure love stories, and she’s now on her fourth novel (which makes me say in disbelief, only four?) called When I Fall In Love and is yet another fantastic novel. She cannot do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, she just captures your imagination so well, with such warm characters and clever plots, and if you haven’t ever tried Miranda’s books before you really are missing out because she’s a Chick Lit treasure.

When I Fall In Love tells the story of Elsie Maynard. She’s had a very tough year, and her life has fallen apart. So when she ends up putting on an impromptu singing performance at a local cafe, she finds her life looking a little rosier as Woody Jensen saw her performance and wants to start a choir. But not an ordinary choir – for washed-up rockstar Woody, a normal choir would never do. No, he wants to have a modern choir, a choir that will speak to everyone, a choir Elsie is very happy to be a part of, and so, starts The Sundaes. As Elsie battles to re-start her love life, the choir is a solace from everything, and as she finds herself attracted to Olly, and butting heads with irrepresible Torin, will she be able to overcome her difficult year and fall in love again?

What I loved about When I Fall In Love was the characters. The characters are a massive, massive part of the novel and right from the start I was caught up in Elsie’s life, and her sisters’ and dad’s lives. The choir idea was utterly brilliant. Choirs don’t interest me in the slightest, and yet, I absolutely adored everything to with The Sundaes. I loved all the singers, I loved the setting (Sundae & Cher, the shop where Elsie works), I loved their meetings, their arguments, their passion, their performances. I’d still say, if you asked me, that I wouldn’t go and see a choir perform because it just isn’t my cup of tea, but Miranda Dickinson writes SO well that it could be about anything and you would still be interested. It could be about something you hate with a passion and she’d still make it sound like something wonderful and something you really loved reading about. That’s Miranda’s talent, she makes you love something you wouldn’t normally ever love. I loved everything to do with The Sundaes, and all the various personalities meant I never got confused with all the characters.

If I had any issue with the novel, it was perhaps the love story. It was really good, but because of how long the Olly thing went on, the other bit sort of got a bit left. I liked Olly, but I felt that if Elsie was interested she would just go for it. Despite everything Elsie had been through, I firmly believed that she would have just went for it if it was meant to be with Olly, despite what she believed. I loved Torin, and I would have just liked a bit more of him. I liked that he and Elsie rubbed each other up the wrong way. I liked their arguments because it added a bit of spice to proceedings, and I never felt that their arguments were genuine arguments, well except for one instance. It was banter, at best. I did adore the family element to the story. How the Maynards are this superclose family, with Elsie, Guin and Daisy, the sisters, and their dad, Jim. The closeness was so lovely, and even the bond between The Sundaes was really great, in particular I loved Woody, he really made an impression on me!

I really enjoyed When I Fall In Love. It reminded me a little bit of PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, what with the affirmations Elsie gets. It was a solid, solid book. Miranda Dickinson is one of the best writers around at the moment, and long may that continue. She really knows how to write books you fall in love with and books you remember for ages to come. The biggest disappointment is knowing I have to wait a whole year for her next one! She needs to be an author who releases two books a year, that would do me just nicely. (I’m greedy, I know.) I thoroughly recommend the book, I really, really enjoyed it and Miranda really knows what she’s writing about with the choir, having a music background herself. She’s in her element, let me tell you. Also, if anyone wants to open a shop like Sundae & Cher, please can you do it in Tenerife because I would REALLY like a shop like Sundae & Cher. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on reading when you’re dreaming about ice cream, and copious amounts of ice cream, too? And, now, I want some ice cream. Do read the book, preferably with ice cream…