Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (Book Review)


Title: Holly's Inbox
Author: Holly Denham (Bill Surie)
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks, June 2009

First sentence: Holly, Exciting news about your job, are you enjoying it?

About the book: (from the back cover) - Dear Holly, Are you sure you know what you're getting into...?

It's Holly Denham's first day as a receptionist at a busy corporate bank, and frankly, it's obvious she can't quite keep up.

Take a peek at her email and you'll see why: what with her crazy friends, dysfunctional family, and gossipy co-workers, Holly's inbox is a daily source of drama. Laughter, friendship, and romantic interludes keep her going, until one day, Holly's secret past begins to catch up with her. . .

Written entirely in emails, this compulsively readable UK smash hit will keep you laughing and turning the pages all the way to its surprising and deeply satisfying ending.

My thoughts: Who would have thought that you could learn so much about someone from reading their email? This book was hilarious - and very believable. Even though I have not been in the work force for 5 years - I remember how people would email me rather than just picking up the phone! I am sure that email has only gotten more prevalent since then. The entanglements and problems that Holly gets into are pretty common - but the presentation of those situations - learned entirely through email is very original! I flew through this book quicker than I ever though possible. It was very clever the way it was laid out - 5 months - week by week - day by day - mainly being Holly's inbox with the occasional detour to one of her friends. There is Trish - the other receptionist - who at first you think is going to be really tough to work with, but that soon changes. Then there are her friends Jason and Aish - Jason being more of her confidente and problem solver while Aish gets into a lot of trouble on her own that she needs help getting out of. Charlie, her brother, who is trying to open a fetish club and always seems to need Holly's help. Alice and Matt, her sister and husband, who have the interesting occupation of raising snakes. . . And then of course Holly's Mum and Dad and dear old Granny - who seems to get into as much trouble as Holly - w/o even trying! You can begin to get an idea of what the book is alike by visiting Holly's Inbox online. Warning - You will be addicted!

Holly's Inbox
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks, June 2009
ISBN: 9781402219030
668 pages

9 comments:

Holly Denham said...

Thank you so much for your kind review!!!!
I'll of course be dropping by regularly to see if anyone has any questions.
xx
Holly/Bill

bermudaonion said...

I really want to read this one - it sounds like so much fun!

Anonymous said...

This sounds great! I'm adding it to my wish list. (And as for people who would rather email than pick up the phone, my husband and I email each other - in the same house!) So it sounds like fun!

holdenj said...

It's sounds great. I had seen it in Entertainment Weekly recently, but forgot about it until I saw your fun review. Thanks for the reminder!

ANovelMenagerie said...

Yes, it does read quite fast for all of "dem pages!" Here's my review in case you happen to be interested in checking it out: http://anovelmenagerie.com/ghost/2009/04/30/book-review-hollys-inbox/

LuAnn said...

Sounds like lots of fun! I'll have to read this book.

Jennifer Taylor said...

Interesting that it's written completely through emails. Although that is now my daily routine as well.

Ashley said...

This book sounds great!

Holly Denham said...

Hi Rhapsodyinbooks - funny to hear you email your husband, when you're in the same house - I get emails pop up from my wife - when I'm shut away in my room writing - sometimes loving, sometimes... not so loving.

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