Just A Girl Standing In Front Of A Boy by Lucy-Anne Holmes

The review for Just A Girl Standing In Front Of A Boy is brought to you by Guest Reviewer Katrina.

My love story may not be the sort you read about in books or see in films . . . Love stories have glorious highs and ghastly lows. But when it comes to my own life, I'd have to say, you can keep your fabulous highs and I'll happily steer clear of the terrible lows.' 

After a rocky start in life, Jenny Taylor, 27, star receptionist at the local doctors surgery, has things all worked out thanks to 'The Smiling Fanny Manifesto' - a list of 10 daily things she must do to keep the blues at bay. But her life is turned upside down when she meets aspiring musician Joe King. And reliable boyfriend Matt proposes. And then her mum leaves her dad and moves into Jenny's flat determined to 'bond'. 


I happened to stumble across 'Just A Girl Standing In Front Of A Boy' by Lucy-Anne Holmes as I was scrolling my Twitter feed. A girl I follow had written a review about it for her blog and I immediately went to buy a copy from Amazon.

Honestly, I've never felt so attached to a book and it's characters, I genuinely could not put the book down. From the first page it was impossible to stop cackling with laughter!

The book's protagonist, Jenny Taylor (otherwise known as Fanny, I'll let you read the book for the explanation) is magnificent and I really rooted for her from the start. Having suffered from depression, she now lives by a happiness manifesto written by her best friend Philippa.

Jenny is quite content with her life, she loves her receptionist job at the doctor's surgery and her boyfriend Matt has just proposed. That is until her mother lands on her doorstep, having left her husband and in the middle of what seems like a midlife crisis. Throw in the introduction of rock god pharmacist Joe King for good measure and Jenny's life is suddenly exceptionally chaotic.

The characters are very well written by Lucy-Anne, with Joe King being a particular favourite of mine. That's a slight understatement actually, for the first time ever I have fallen in love with a literary character! I'm still at a loss as to where I can find my own Joe King?! He is the ideal man, a far cry from Jenny's fiancé Matt. He almost seems too good to be true but I guarantee that you will be cheering for a happy ending for Jenny and Joe.

There are many twists and turns during the book, some of which I definitely did not expect. Whilst the book made me laugh hysterically throughout, it also pulled on my heart strings several times, especially towards the end. I thought I could foresee the ending but I really couldn't - I don't want to spoil it for anyone but it's a tearjerker! 

I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves humour and romance in abundance. I desperately need to get my hands on Lucy's other books - she's a fantastic talent and I'm sure the rest of her work will captivate me just as much as this book did. To be honest, my review doesn't do this book the justice it deserves - go out and grab a copy and see for yourself the wonder of Jenny Taylor's world, as written so fantastically by Lucy-Anne Holmes!