OMG! I absolutely adore Love Unscripted, the debut novel from Owen Nicholls. This is a read that made me smile so much, laugh loads and gave me that lovely warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach. And to top it off it also introduced me to the music of Kishi Bashi. Happy times! 🙂
If you’re a sucker for a good romcom – you know, in the vein of Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral sort of thing, then you need to read Love Unscripted. In actual fact Love Unscripted needs to be made into a film!
It tells the story of film obsessed Nick, who on the historic eve of the 2008 presidential election falls madly in love with Ellie – just like in the movies. For the next four years Nick is happy in his relationship with Ellie and in his job as a film projectionist at the local cinema.
Nick appears to have everything he wants, so he can’t understand why Ellie has suddenly moved out of the flat they share; why their love story is not destined to have the big screen happy ending he imagined.
As Nick’s life gradually falls apart around him, his situation increasingly becomes more hapless. But I loved him for this, as well as his unrelenting passion for films of all genres. And for all you movie buffs out there, you’ll be happy to know that this is a read littered with film references. I especially loved Nick’s metaphorical use of The Phantom Menace – that really made me laugh. Which is actually quite surprising as like Ellie, ‘I don’t really like Star Wars films‘.
Love Unscripted is heartwarming and funny, but it also has a deeper meaning. This is a beautiful story about growing up, taking responsibility and also learning to like yourself. Yes, it is full of comedy but it is also very poignant at times; especially when we discover Ellie’s backstory and Nick’s reaction to that.
Quite simply, Love Unscripted is a touching story about real life with very real and relatable characters.
I really can’t fault this novel in any way; I loved the plot, the characters and the way it was structured. Juxtaposed between the night Barack Obama was elected (which helps drive the energy and excitement of Nick and Ellie’s budding romance) to four years later when they have broken up, the story also includes ‘intermissions’ providing us with snapshots of their relationship together and also poignantly enhancing the difference in Nick and Ellie’s characters.
However what I especially loved about Love Unscripted is that I just couldn’t work out how the story would end – even right up to the final page! The way it was written to keep us guessing until the final paragraph was sheer genius. And the ending was so right too!
Love Unscripted is published this Thursday 22nd August. I urge you to to buy and read it. It will also make a great present too!
Thank you so much to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be involved in the blog tour to help publicise this great book. It’s been a true privilege to read and review. Thank you also, along with Headline Publicity for arranging my advance copy. But especially thank you to Owen Nicholls for writing such a beautiful, entertaining book – I truly loved it!
Find out what my fellow book bloggers also think of Love Unscripted by following the blog tour (please see below).
Happy reading everyone! 🙂
Huge thanks for this blog tour support Kirsty x