‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’ is Bella Osborne’s latest book to be released, and what a joyous story it was! Originally released as a four-part series, ‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’ is the complete book, and I couldn’t wait to splash into the pages because it sounded like just the ticket for a warm, witty and amusing escape to Brighton alongside Osborne’s leading lady, Regan.
In ‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’, readers are introduced to the lovely Regan. Unorganised, clumsy, a little bit untidy but utterly hilarious, the story opens with an amusing chapter in which Regan is, yet again, running late for work, and is cuddled up in bed next to a half-eaten kebab. This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the book, because Regan comes across as being pretty chaotic, and as we begin to discover later on in her story, so is her life. In this first chapter, we also have the pleasure of meeting Regan’s boyfriend, Jarvis, who is, to put it lightly, a bit of an a******e, and who I took an instant disliking to. Condescending, grumpy, and an utter fusspot of a perfectionist, these two couldn’t have been more opposite to each other if they’d tried to be. I couldn’t help feeling that Regan’s breeziness and ability to let things go was the main reason their relationship had survived as long as it had. I think, too, that how Regan handles the constant nagging and sly remarks says a lot about her personality in this book. She’s bold and not afraid to be herself, and I felt that she was a very ‘take it or leave it’ sort of person. She wasn’t sensitive, but instead confident in who she was as a person with no apologies for it, and I loved that about her. Still, I don’t think that I personally could have dealt with Jarvis for as long as Regan managed to. He grated on me the second he opened his mouth.
As Regan’s story progresses, more of her world opens up to us and we get to meet the people and places Regan interacts with on a daily basis, the ‘Hug in a Mug’ coffee shop a particular favourite of mine. There’s Penny, who runs the coffee shop, and Cleo, Regan’s beautiful best-friend who is a successful and well-known artist, and who has a life even celebs would be jealous of. There’s also Kevin, a warm and friendly homeless man who Regan hands a fresh coffee to daily, and Alex, Regan’s annoying colleague who, in a roundabout way, gets the ball rolling with Regan’s life changes. I really loved all of Osborne’s characters in this book. They were all so entertaining in their own ways and truly brought the book to life. Osborne does a fantastic job of making them leap right off the page and into your imagination, and I felt as if I knew them myself by the time I turned the final page.
I think the pace of this book really picks up when Regan’s lottery ticket comes into play. On a whim, she decides to buy a ticket and alongside Alex, they both make a list of what they’d do if they were to win the lottery. I loved this aspect of the story, because we see Regan think about what she truly wants from life, if only money wasn’t an issue. Well known for pranking each other, Alex manages to trick Regan into thinking she’s won the lottery. It is here that Regan finally feels brave enough, with nothing to hold her back, to get rid of anything that doesn’t bring happiness to her life, and brave enough to deal with the things she’s been wanting to deal with for quite a while. She end’s her relationship with Jarvis, and quits her job, because she’s won the lottery so what the hell! There’s no stopping her now. That is until Alex appears, and reveals that it’s all a big joke, and she hasn’t won the lottery after all. This part of the book made me laugh so much, and I found the whole idea absolutely hilarious. It truly entertained me and I think it was a genius move on Bella’s part, because not only is it funny, but it puts Regan’s character in a position of losing everything in one fell swoop, and suddenly she’s faced with trying to put her life back together, all in the matter of an hour.
This was a highly-entertaining, yet warm and emotional novel by Bella Osborne. It made me laugh and it made me want to cry, and it made me think about what I’d ever do if I won the lottery. I mean, I think first of all I’d make sure it was real, after reading this book, but it also made me think, why do we let money hold us back? Why not tick things off our wish lists in a different way? Not every goal or wish needs money to be achieved and I really loved that message. There’s also romance by the plenty too. We meet Charlie, a handsome firefighter, and he helps Regan in her mission to achieve her lottery wish-list, which led to some pretty adorable scenes in the book, those of which melted my heart. It really was a lovely little package of a novel, and one I really enjoyed reading. The only thing I would say is that I hoped there be more beachy scenes, but there’s so much more going on in the book, it’s enough to keep you busy throughout.
All in all, this was a delightful, empowering story about taking charge of your life, and granting your own wishes instead of waiting on the lottery to do it for you. It was a book about friendship, goals, and discovering that there’s more to life, if you’re brave enough to break away from the things that tie you down. Completely uplifting, playful and left me with a smile on my face, ‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’ by Bella Osborne will make a lovely sunshiney read this year, sure to lift your spirits and leave you thinking about what you’d put on your own lottery wish list.
The Book Babe is awarding ‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’ by Bella Osborne with a four out of five star rating. With thanks to Avon for the advance reading copy of this book, that of which has no reflection on my giving a fair and honest review.
Regan is holding a winning lottery ticket. Goodbye to the boyfriend who never had her back, and so long to the job she can’t stand! Except it’s all a bit too good to be true… When Regan gets pranked, she finds herself jobless, homeless and boyfriendless in one fell swoop. Luckily, her friendly seaside community provides a beacon of hope, proving to Regan that sometimes you really can rely on the kindness of others – and one local in particular, a handsome fireman called Charlie, helps Regan realise that this could be her chance for a fresh start. Armed with a list of ways to change her life, Regan decides it’s time to step out of her comfort zone. Because – as Charlie knows all too well – life is for living…
You can pre-order/purchase your copy of ‘Meet Me at Pebble Beach’ by Bella Osborne here.
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