REVIEW: I Heart Hawaii - Lindsey Kelk

Available Here

Join Angela and Jenny in the series finale of the bestselling I Heart books…

When Angela Clark’s best friend Jenny invites her to join a press trip to Hawaii, three days of sun, sea and sleep sounds like the perfect antidote to her crazed life.
 
At work in New York, she’s supposed to be the face of Having It All. But the only thing Angela feels she excels at is hiding in the printer cupboard, eating Mini Cheddars and watching Netflix on her phone and if this is living the dream, she's more than ready to wake up.
 
A few days away with Jenny sounds like exactly what she needs but Angela’s talent for getting into a scrape guarantees nothing goes to plan – and not even the most beautiful beaches, blue skies and daiquiris will get her off the hook…

My Review:

Ten years – I can barely believe it! I’ve loved this series of books from the moment I got my hands on I heart New York (I got my first, very original copy with a magazine, can anyone remember which it was?) But I was hooked and an instant Lindsey Kelk fan.

I know many of us feel so invested in Angela and friends, and to think this would all be over with this book was truly a saddening moment, but I knew that Lindsey would do it in style and we’d have fun and adventure in I heart Hawaii. As it comes to endings, I think this book gave us the perfect one, very emotional, like a rollercoaster of feelings. From the prologue, where I was pretty concerned and quite upset if I’m honest, to the final ‘The End,’ I heart Hawaii gave my hardened heart a battering.

I’ve always loved the mixed bag of characters ‘I heart...’ gives us and Angela is one of my favourite characters ever- funny, loving, spirited and well just blooming ace. Jenny, well there aren’t really words to describe her sass and epic coolness, we could all do with being a little bit Lopez. Alex is the epitome of leading men, he’s gorgeous, a cool superstar and just the right person to balance Angela. Tip of the iceberg with great characters though. After all they have been through, all the characters have matured over the series and yet they are still the same characters we fell in love with. How I wish I could be in their friendship group!

I loved that other characters from some of Lindsey’s books popped up in I heart Hawaii; with this being the destination I hoped there would be a little crossover from another series, and I was not disappointed. I did also like the references to other authors’ characters too. See if you can find them 😉

I Heart Hawaii finds Angela trying to juggle motherhood with a new job, then the guilt at leaving baby Alice with Alex for 5 days while she heads off to basically unwind and have fun. I believe we see Angela at her very best in this book – motherhood is suiting her but it’s nice we get a glimpse of the Angela we all love so well when she goes to Hawaii.

As with any I heart book, this is full of fun and adventure. There are some hilarious scenes (the horses!!), real laugh out loud moments and everything we expect from this bunch of characters but, as with every one of the books, it includes some sensitive, serious, heart-warming moments, that show the depth and strength of true friendship.

I have always enjoyed Lindsey’s writing style, chatty and animated and naturally very funny; she can evoke emotion at just the perfect moment though so watch out for surprise tears. The books are easy to read but that never takes anything away from the wonderful stories being told. I read I Heart Hawaii in a few hours – mainly because I couldn’t put it down, I wanted to see how it would end yet I never wanted it too either.

If you haven’t read any of the I Heart series, then I would suggest going back and reading the others before this one simply because THEY ARE BRILLIANT! I’m sure it could work as a standalone book but it’s hard to tell when you’re already so involved with them isn’t it?!

I don’t want to spoil or lead anyone in any direction with the review, so I don’t really want to say too much about what happens. I think people need to go into this without knowing what will happen at all. I will say it’s a beautiful end to an incredible series.  

Thank you, Lindsey Kelk, for creating wonderful stories with great characters that we have grown to love like our own friends. Although it’s hard to know we won’t get any more ‘I heart’ books I’m sure we can all imagine what they’re all getting up in the future.  Great things must come to an end (*cries*) but I know Lindsey will have brilliant things for us in future.

Anyone for an ‘I heart’ film or TV series?

Comfy Rating:

👍👍👍👍👍

Meeting the lovely Lindsey with  the equally wonderful Paige Toon - 01/06/2019

How many books - Target or Pressure?

New Years Eve 2018 and it's about that time, you know what I'm talking about - the time each year where we all rack our brains, think back over the past 12 months and forward to a brand spanking 365 days of gleaming, new opportunities. Many of us make resolutions; to lose weight, stop smoking, save money etc etc. Half hearted attempts at self improvement that generally don't last until the end of January let alone the year. It's also the time book lovers gather together their lists of 'best reads' or 'ones to watch.' 

I've previously spoken about the self imposed book buying ban (The Book Buying Ban - How to tackle the TBR pile) and how sticking that out for January would never be repeated, but there is something I have done this year as I did in 2018 - set a Goodreads reading challenge target. 

I started late in 2018 - around July time - and set what I thought was a ridiculous number of 50 books. My intention was to add the books I'd read before July, as many as I could remember anyway. I was thrilled as I saw the count go up and up, it really spurred me on. The more I read, the higher it got and the more I wanted to consume any old book I could get my hands on (not hard when you have what seems to be a TBR mountain in your bedroom). 

I completed the challenge - people that know me say I did it easily - and at the end of 2018 I'd finished up reading 69 books. To be honest I thought it was a bit of a fluke.

Deciding my target for 2019 was probably more difficult than it needed to be. 

I didn't want to set it too high as I would hate not to achieve it but then I didn't want to set to too low and it seem silly.

When I had a figure in mind I asked the opinion of my sister and my Mum. They watch me read, they think my book buying habits are hilarious. They have a wonderful ability to know what I think of a book as I am reading it - usually by the pace at which I am reading, the face I pull or the fact that when they speak to me it doesn't register and they have to repeatedly call my name to get my attention.

I told them my target was going to be FIFTY again. I though this was realistic as I work full time and often do things at home, I have a little craft business and attend craft fairs regularly so I am often making stock - I thought fifty would be a great number of books for the year. They laughed - real full on laughter - and just shook their heads in disbelief. Both agreed my target should be 80. I wasn't having it, nope, not with how much of my time is used elsewhere - but I did decide to set my challenge at sixty. 

Four months later and I'm sat questioning if the challenge itself is a good thing or if it is putting pressure on yourself to ensure you meet that number.

I adore Goodreads; I love the way you can keep track of what you've read, what you thought of the books, the authors etc. I enjoy how you can see what you're friends and people with similar book tastes have read, enjoyed and reviewed. It's a great way, for me, of keeping track of what I have read because I didn't really before. I have the intention and would start lists or use address books so I could put them in by author but I used to lose interest or the book.

I mentioned that previously I had felt spurred on, motivated to read knowing it would add to

my tally.. but is actually is it a level of pressure that I don't need adding to my life? Am I really enjoying all the books or just zipping through them for the sake of increasing my number?

So far 2019 has been a lovely year, some AMAZING books, some wonderful ARCs have come my way and I've found some great new authors - would I have come across them regardless of the challenge I've put on myself - yes. Have I had the challenge in my mind with almost every book I've read? Yes. 

I've noticed I don't just read now, I also know which "number book" it is. Should that really be what I care about when reading a book, what it takes my tally to? I've also noticed that I compare my number of reads to that of my friends on Goodreads, I just can't help myself.

I'm not a competitive person by nature, not at all but with this I've woken some kind of weird competitive vibe in me that I dislike. I love that anyone reads any amount, I celebrate when I know people love a good book and when they find an author or genre that they like, I actively go out of my way to share the love of a book, pass books on and make recommendations - so why do I care about the number of books anyone else has read?

As of 7th April my Goodreads Reading Challenge total: 

Not even four full months of the year and I have already reached my target. I have read some incredible books  and genuinely, I don't feel like I have ever read for the sake of my target but I do wonder without it, would I have read this many books by now?! More importantly - would I have cared? 

My sister teases that even her target for me (80) is going to look silly by the end of the year but who knows. The reality is that I could amend that Goodreads target but I know I won't. I'll leave it as it is, hopefully as a reminder that it doesn't really matter.

Reading is loving a book, enjoying the stories that are created, the characters that become friends, finding authors that give us tears, heart break, love and hope - it's why we all stick our head in a book, lose ourselves in a different world and do it over and over again. 

Will I even set Goodreads target next year? Probably.
Will I increase my target next year? Probably not.