
What do you do when your fake engagement starts to feel too real...
Aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea, and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.
Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her. A girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion. Something to keep his mother from interfering while he focuses on the business.
When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his store and he will provide an opportunity for Victoria to showcase her designs. But what starts as a business arrangement soon becomes something more tempting, as the fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for...
5 Word Review: Friendship, secrets, London, fashion, love.
I loved Victoria's love of fashion - I loved her passion and her style, and it felt so natural that when we looked at fabric she pictured the outfit she would make from it and who she would make it for. I love how she shares her skills, she's so generous with her time and with herself and is a truly lovey person. Victoria as a character is so uplifting and the perfect Romantic heroine. I felt happy reading about her, even when the story explored darker and more difficult themes.
I really appreciated the triumphs of the characters. For all that Meet Me In London is a Romance, so you know you'll get a happy ending, I liked the small victories of the characters too, the hope throughout the story.
For all that everything is pretty glossy on the surface, the story was deeper than I expected. I enjoyed it so much that I'm itching to reread it!
I absolutely cannot wait to read more books about this group of friends. I feel like I'm one of the gang myself and I'd love to know what their happily ever after will be.
The audiobook is narrated by Toff herself and it didn't quite work for me. I think it's purely because I had already read the book and had my own idea of what Victoria would sound like and it didn't match up. That said, the narration by the author does give some different emphasis to certain parts of the story and really brought Victoria's pain to life.
You made me see beyond my world and opened up another one. One with you in it, front and centre.