NEW RELEASE
The Greatest Love Story of All Time - Lucy Robinson (2012)
Fran just knows that by the end of the night on her 30th birthday, her wonderful and talented boyfriend, Michael, is going to ask her to marry him. However, things don't go to plan and instead she finds herself in bed with a box of tissues and her cat, crying her eyes out for the foreseeable future because instead of getting engaged Fran has been dumped. Well, not technically "dumped" but instead told that she and Michael need a three-month break from each other. So after spending far too much time in bed crying over her lost love, Fran's friends decide it's time for her to start dating again. They propose the eight-date deal, which consists of Fran going on dates up until she meets Michael again in three months. She can meet the men in any way, but her wonderful friend, Stefania, thinks it's best if she starts online dating. In the meantime, Fran has taken to obsessively stalking a beautiful woman named Nellie and getting deeper and deeper into a hole of despair. Can Fran make it through eight dates -- some of which are so awful you'll want to shout at the men through the pages -- or will she only need one date to show her that Michael is still the man for her? With a hilarious cast of characters and some laugh-out-loud moments, this is a fun and escapist read. However, be aware that it's also rather crude in some parts. So if you like innocent, PG-rated novels, this one definitely isn't for you! (AS)
Marie Claire blogger Lucy Robinson's debut novel is called The Greatest Love Story of All Time. The summary says: "It's Fran's 30th birthday and things are good. She's bluffed her way into a Very Posh Job and her outlandishly handsome and talented boyfriend Michael is escorting her to the Ritz with a bulge the shape of a ring box in his pocket. But something has gone wrong. Very wrong. By the end of the evening Fran is howling in bed with a bottle of cheap brandy and one of Michael's old socks. In her quest to figure out why her life has suddenly gone down the pan, Fran comes up with a failsafe plan: live like a badger, stalk a stranger called Nellie and cancel her beloved Gin Thursdays in favour of drinking gin every night. But then Fran's friends force a very different plan on her and it's nowhere near as fun. How could eight dates possibly make her feel better? But eventually she agrees. And so begins the greatest love story of all time . . ." The Greatest Love Story of All Time is out in April. Robinson's love life was the subject of the documentary Love, Virtually, about the pitfalls of courting in the digital age.