Romantic Fiction

by Melanie La'Brooy

Five very different friends--Lucy, a hopeless romantic; Meg, an ambitious career girl; Chloe, a caring doormat; Tom, an avowed bachelor who is falling for Lucy; and prim and proper Percy--cope with the trials and tribulations of modern life and love. A first novel. Original.

Genres: Romance, Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2005

About the author

Melanie La’Brooy is the author of five novels: Love Struck, The Wish List, Serendipity, The Babymoon and Bittersweet. For several years, Melanie worked for the art auction house Christie’s, in both Sydney and Melbourne, where she trained as a specialist in Australian paintings. Following the success of her debut novel she gave up her career in the art world to become a full-time writer. Melanie is very happily married and has two young sons. She usually lives in Melbourne but is currently residing in South Africa, where she is hoping to fulfill a long-term dream by finally having a genuine reason to wear a safari suit and pith helmet.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's sort of like the Friends TV show in book form.

[Melissa (Always Behind) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five friends have five individual sets of issues and problems, but who better to experience life with than the people who love you the most? Chloe, Meg, and Lucy are best friends who live in Melbourne, Australia. Chloe has a decent job but is a total wimp. She lets others walk all over her and take advantage of her inability to stand up for herself. Meg is a hardcore businesswoman, highly organized and fiercely loyal. Lucy is a romantic with an on again/off again love relationship with Tom. If Lucy's current fling gets a little too close for comfort, she breaks things off and hangs out with Tom for a while. How long can this continue without harming their friendship?

While Lucy is looking for a new apartment, the group meets Percy. He's polite, courteous, and has an instant crush on Meg. The five friends help each other through good times and bad breakups, hilarious incidents and embarrassing ones. All the while, they attempt to figure out whether true love is real or just Romantic Fiction.

Romantic Fiction is a fun-filled look at love and friendship. Each character has a unique voice and contributes to the overall storyline. The five friends and their adventures keep the plot moving briskly and there's never a dull moment. The reader gets the best sense of Lucy and Tom. Their relationship woes are the focal point of the story. Romantic Fiction is chick lit, but it's not complete fluff and it's definitely entertaining.

The Australian setting is unique, but doesn't factor much into the plot. Many of the situations had me laughing out loud, such as when the group takes a self-help retreat camping in the wilderness to help Chloe gain backbone regarding her assistant. The assistant cancels and they decide to go on the retreat anyway. Lucy sleeping with socks on her ears to block out the bugs is a hilarious scene. The front cover blurb relates Romantic Fiction to the TV show Friends, which I suppose is an apt comparison. I was never a huge Friends fan, so I was a bit leary at first. Even if the two are similar, it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of Romantic Fiction, which is a fine contribution to the chick lit genre.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Not much to it. Just crying and flinging themselves about. Characters seem flat. I dislike giant blurbs on the front cover And then there’s a blurb from the same person on the back. Were no other comments blurb worthy?

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one made me laugh out loud a few times - I will probably pick up more books by this author.

[Emma]

This book wasn't bad, but the characters were just one-dimensional and it didn't hold my interest...

[Rachel]

entertaining

[Becky A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never laughed out loud so much from a book before. Seriously, if you like the TV show Friends, you'll enjoy this one.