Bella Summer Takes a Chance

by Michele Gorman

[Leah]

When Michele Gorman’s debut novel Single in the City was released by Penguin in 2009/2010 I was dying to read it as I love books about expats. However, sadly, the book didn’t work for me at all and I didn’t bother to read the novel’s sequel Misfortune Cookie last year. However when Michele got in touch about her new book Bella Summer Takes A Chance, I thought it sounded like a really good read and I happily accepted a copy to review. I’m really pleased I did because I really enjoyed Bella Summer Takes A Chance, it seems a world away from her debut novel, and I was really surprised by how quickly I devoured it.

Bella Summer Takes A Chance is fairly self-explanatory when you read the title. Bella Summer, known to all as B., has found her life has stagnated – her life with boyfriend Mattias isn’t what she expected it to be and her dreams of being a musician has fallen to the wayside so when B. finds herself asking Mattias if they’re really in love one night while watching a movie, it sees a massive change in Bella’s life as for the first time in a decade she sees herself trying to make more of her life. She’s sees herself taking a chance, with a group of fabulous friends – Kat, Clare, Faith and Fred – behind her every step of the way.

I found myself very involved in Bella Summer Takes a Chance, right from the first page. Yes, the setup for B’s big life change is perhaps not the best lead in – asking if the man beside you is in love with you just because a rom-com character has done it, but that’s easily ignored as B’s life is indeed in need of a shakeup and whilst its not as earth-shattering a shakeup as Hannah in Single in the City who moved all the way from the USA to England (as did B, actually), B’s own shakeup sees her striving to make herself a better life and become a serious musician and I loved B’s journey. I really enjoyed seeing her grab the bull by the horns and make music her number one priority, backed all the way by the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I thought the characters were excellent, B really made an impression on me – I admire anyone who takes their life and turns it upside down just to try and make it better.

The writing was also excellent, normally when you do read a self-published novel (and to be fair it ain’t just self-pubbed novels) you expect typos, grammatical errors etc but Bella Summer Takes A Chance has been very well edited. The only disappointment I had was the romance part of the novel, or lack thereof. There’s a great debate in the novel as to whether friendship-turned-to-love can ever compare to pure love-at-first-sight love but while B went on many dates the romance and happy ending side of things was severely lacking. I had my eye on who I wanted her with and I was massively disappointed she gave him the whole like-him-as-a-friend spiel. I personally thought they’d have been perfect together. But overall I really liked the novel, and I must give a massive shout out to Marjorie, a lady B visits in a home who has such stories to tell! I loved her to bits. I can’t wait for Gorman’s next offering, I definitely recommend Bella Summer Takes A Chance.