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A Very Accidental Love Story
An original, funny and poignant story about those things in life that you just can’t plan for…
‘A very modern fairytale, full of Claudia’s trademark wit and humour’ Sheila O’Flanagan
Eloise Elliot is one of the youngest newspaper editors in the country. Respected and revered by her peers, she’s at the top of her game.
But, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, finding herself surrounded by some pathetic looking balloons and mangy sandwiches in The Daily Post’s conference room, Eloise is hit but a long sharp pang of loneliness.
Suddenly, and with dazzling clarity, she realises what she wants to make her life more complete. A baby.
One successful trip to the sperm bank and almost three years later and she is the adoring mother of a gorgeous little girl, Lily. Juggling a high-powered job with motherhood is not easy and when she finds herself without childcare she sends an SOS to her sister Helen. Yet it’s when Lily starts asking about her ‘daddy’ that Eloise really starts to panic. What will she tell her?
So Eloise decides there’s nothing for it – she’s going to find Lily’s father. After all, she chose the perfect donor so surely there won’t be any surprises. Except that there are plenty, and Eloise gets a lot more than she bargained for.
‘A very modern fairytale, full of Claudia’s trademark wit and humour’ Sheila O’Flanagan
Eloise Elliot is one of the youngest newspaper editors in the country. Respected and revered by her peers, she’s at the top of her game.
But, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, finding herself surrounded by some pathetic looking balloons and mangy sandwiches in The Daily Post’s conference room, Eloise is hit but a long sharp pang of loneliness.
Suddenly, and with dazzling clarity, she realises what she wants to make her life more complete. A baby.
One successful trip to the sperm bank and almost three years later and she is the adoring mother of a gorgeous little girl, Lily. Juggling a high-powered job with motherhood is not easy and when she finds herself without childcare she sends an SOS to her sister Helen. Yet it’s when Lily starts asking about her ‘daddy’ that Eloise really starts to panic. What will she tell her?
So Eloise decides there’s nothing for it – she’s going to find Lily’s father. After all, she chose the perfect donor so surely there won’t be any surprises. Except that there are plenty, and Eloise gets a lot more than she bargained for.
419 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
83 people are currently reading
1312 people want to read
About the author
Claudia Carroll
43 books455 followersClaudia was born in Dublin and is a graduate of UCD, the College of Music and of the Gaiety School of Acting. Since then she has worked extensively as an actress on the Irish stage, but is probably best known for her role as TV’s Nicola Prendergast in the long running Dublin soap opera, ‘Fair City.’
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
November 10, 2024
A very easy read that I did really enjoy although the spelling mistakes drove me slightly crazy.
Four stars.
Four stars.
July 17, 2012
Eloise Elliot is in her early thirties with powerful position of editor-in-chief of Post in one hand and nearly a three year old daughter Lily in another. She is fairly a perfect woman, dressed up in black head to toe, running up the entire newspaper literally singlehandedly and playing the role of single parent.
Her usual day starts at unusual hours and she spent eighteen hours in running in and out of the conference room dealing with evil Seth Coleman and impressing T.Rexes while her daughter spent her days with not-so-perfect nanny. Despite of the guilt of not being able to spend enough time with the only joy in her life, her daughter, Eloise considers her life happy and family complete sans any man .
BUT one bright day she was snapped out her always-working world when her daughter asked her the most basic question “Where is my daddy”? Eloise knows no way to make a little girl understand that how and why Eloise opted for artificial insemination on the loneliest night of her thirtieth birthday. So after the insistence of her not-so-close sister Helen, Eloise finally decided to fulfil the wish of her little girl and embarked on the journey of hunting down the man whom 'those' sperms belonged to. When she started her journey, little did she know that she is looking for a man who is an ex-con and not some reputable businessman or national player of some sort which she so wanted to be true. When Eloise found drop-dead gorgeous Jack Keane she mustered all her guts and transformed him into a complete gentleman and when it was nearly a time to reunite her little girl with her nearly perfect daddy, everything fell apart.
Earlier I read Claudia Carroll’s ‘Personally I Blame My Fairy Godmother’ and was totally charmed by it. So when I got the opportunity to review ‘A Very Accidental Love Story’, I jumped at it. Everything about this book is gorgeous from cover to characters to story. This book is fast, upbeat and totally mesmerizing. Personally I completely loved Eloise and sometimes even felt sympathetic for her, one poor soul and so much to do. This book by far is the best book I have read in 2012.
Bottom Line: This Book is 10/10.
Her usual day starts at unusual hours and she spent eighteen hours in running in and out of the conference room dealing with evil Seth Coleman and impressing T.Rexes while her daughter spent her days with not-so-perfect nanny. Despite of the guilt of not being able to spend enough time with the only joy in her life, her daughter, Eloise considers her life happy and family complete sans any man .
BUT one bright day she was snapped out her always-working world when her daughter asked her the most basic question “Where is my daddy”? Eloise knows no way to make a little girl understand that how and why Eloise opted for artificial insemination on the loneliest night of her thirtieth birthday. So after the insistence of her not-so-close sister Helen, Eloise finally decided to fulfil the wish of her little girl and embarked on the journey of hunting down the man whom 'those' sperms belonged to. When she started her journey, little did she know that she is looking for a man who is an ex-con and not some reputable businessman or national player of some sort which she so wanted to be true. When Eloise found drop-dead gorgeous Jack Keane she mustered all her guts and transformed him into a complete gentleman and when it was nearly a time to reunite her little girl with her nearly perfect daddy, everything fell apart.
Earlier I read Claudia Carroll’s ‘Personally I Blame My Fairy Godmother’ and was totally charmed by it. So when I got the opportunity to review ‘A Very Accidental Love Story’, I jumped at it. Everything about this book is gorgeous from cover to characters to story. This book is fast, upbeat and totally mesmerizing. Personally I completely loved Eloise and sometimes even felt sympathetic for her, one poor soul and so much to do. This book by far is the best book I have read in 2012.
Bottom Line: This Book is 10/10.
October 4, 2012
This a strange book. I read the intro and wanted to read more. I then started on the first part of the main book and swapped to hating the heroine - all she did was complain about how many hours she had to work and how stressed she was. At this point I almost gave up.
Then things got very interesting indeed and I was totally hooked. I almost skipped to the last chapter (something I never do!) so badly did I want to know how things turned out but I managed to resist and just kept reading and reading at any and every opportunity so I could wizz through the book as quickly as possible and find out what happens. For me, this was a real page turner. You grown to like the heroine as the story unfolds and the hero is totally gorgeous - you just want to hug him!
There are - for some reason - a lot of errors in this book, from typos to repetition (saying the same thing 3 times in 3 pages etc) and the first few chapters can be off-putting but my advice would be to stick with it because it's a great and rather unusual love story. Highly recommended!
September 27, 2012
Eloise Elliot hits thirty – the big three zero, and is suddenly hit by a thought – What has she got to show for herself? Sure she’s good at her job, but when no one turns up to her birthday party Eloise knows there’s something missing. Suddenly she realises she wants someone to share her life with, and so off she goes to get it. Three years later – Eloise Elliot’s life is made up of work. Work, work, and more work. She works from 6am til perhaps midnight, and even Sunday’s which are her ‘mummy time’ to spend the day with her beautiful three year old daughter, Lily, have to be cut short as she runs off to work, leaving Lily with the disastrous nanny. One day Eloise is met with the thing she dreaded most – Lily starts asking where her daddy is, and how can Eloise tell a three year old that she was created through artificial insemination? After Lily refuses to drop the subject, and with encouragement from Eloise’s sister Helen, Eloise embarks on a journey to find the man behind the carefully selected sperm.
I’d read novels by Claudia Carroll before so I was VERY very excited about this one, and I wasn’t disappointed. Straight from the first few pages I was drawn into the story and kept there, reading about how Eloise has a disastrous day that will set the ball rolling for everything else in her book. Within minutes I was cringing for Eloise and desperate to find out how she was going to deal with the curve-balls that were constantly being thrown at her.
A word to describe this book is splendid. It’s like a modern fairytale story with a twist. It’s sweet, it’s funny, and it has exactly the perfect level of drama to keep the reader gripped and turning the pages. And of course, where would a fairytale story be without a bit of romance? An accidental Love story was wonderful, it’s everything you could want in a book. I finished it in a day and a half, and even now I can’t stop telling my fiancé how much I REALLY loved the book!
The characters…well where do I begin with them? They were AMAZINGLY written! I feel as though each character was the PERFECT character for that role. Eloise is so likable right from the start, I found myself channelling her emotions, the terrifying feeling when she knows her job isn’t going well, and I was feeling giddy and giggly during the romance scenes, every word of the story struck me and stayed with me. Helen, Eloise’s sister was a fantastic addition, I genuinely liked her nature, personality, and I wish I had a friend like her. Lily is just a gorgeous little bundle of fun and I wanted to reach out and give her a hug. Jake…Oh gosh where do I start with him? Is he available in real life somewhere?! He is handsome, he’s funny, he’s sexy in a subtle way, and I fell head over heels for him! I only wish there was more of him in the story! The supporting characters were also well-written, the people at Eloise’s work such as Rachel and Marc were very realistic and I loved the small but valuable part that they played in the story.
A Very Accidental Love Story is officially one of my favourite books of the year! How do I sum this up? You MUST read this book! It’s funny, it’s romantic, it’s magical with a twist. Curling up with this book is an utterly perfect way to spend your day.
I’d read novels by Claudia Carroll before so I was VERY very excited about this one, and I wasn’t disappointed. Straight from the first few pages I was drawn into the story and kept there, reading about how Eloise has a disastrous day that will set the ball rolling for everything else in her book. Within minutes I was cringing for Eloise and desperate to find out how she was going to deal with the curve-balls that were constantly being thrown at her.
A word to describe this book is splendid. It’s like a modern fairytale story with a twist. It’s sweet, it’s funny, and it has exactly the perfect level of drama to keep the reader gripped and turning the pages. And of course, where would a fairytale story be without a bit of romance? An accidental Love story was wonderful, it’s everything you could want in a book. I finished it in a day and a half, and even now I can’t stop telling my fiancé how much I REALLY loved the book!
The characters…well where do I begin with them? They were AMAZINGLY written! I feel as though each character was the PERFECT character for that role. Eloise is so likable right from the start, I found myself channelling her emotions, the terrifying feeling when she knows her job isn’t going well, and I was feeling giddy and giggly during the romance scenes, every word of the story struck me and stayed with me. Helen, Eloise’s sister was a fantastic addition, I genuinely liked her nature, personality, and I wish I had a friend like her. Lily is just a gorgeous little bundle of fun and I wanted to reach out and give her a hug. Jake…Oh gosh where do I start with him? Is he available in real life somewhere?! He is handsome, he’s funny, he’s sexy in a subtle way, and I fell head over heels for him! I only wish there was more of him in the story! The supporting characters were also well-written, the people at Eloise’s work such as Rachel and Marc were very realistic and I loved the small but valuable part that they played in the story.
A Very Accidental Love Story is officially one of my favourite books of the year! How do I sum this up? You MUST read this book! It’s funny, it’s romantic, it’s magical with a twist. Curling up with this book is an utterly perfect way to spend your day.
October 27, 2012
Claudia Carroll is an author that is rapidly climbing my favourite authors lists. I didn’t get on much with her debut novel, but her last two books (Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?) have been excellent rom-coms. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? particularly blew me away and I loved Annie’s tale. So after hearing Claudia’s new book A Very Accidental Love Story was about a woman who had a child through artificial insemination and then decides she needs to find out who he is just in case her daughter Lily ever decides to track him down, well, I was intrigued. Especially when Claudia revealed in our interview last year that Lily’s father is in prison, no less, and Eloise turns him into her pet project, in a bid to make him a much better prospect for her beautiful daughter.
I found A Very Accidental Love Story to be one that gave me varying opinions. On the one hand, I liked the novel. The idea (the plot is ingenious and it makes a change for a woman to have a baby sans a man), most of the characters (Ryan. Ryan. Ryan.), the writing was great – Claudia is a brilliant writer. But, I had bad bits. Eloise was a bit irritating at times. She’s a bit of a snob. Ryan as he was wasn’t good enough for Eloise (the prison bit, fair enough, but I just felt she tried to change him too much).
Also the writing was a bit repetitive in the early pages. Eloise kept saying how Lily wasn’t yet three years old, about five times in three pages, and I just wasn’t ever going to forget poor Lily wasn’t yet three. There was a couple of bits like that – also when she was first searching for Ryan and how she wanted him to be this and that and the other. It was little things like that. I also thought the third-person Prologue was odd. I’d have written it in first-person personally. However, the third person worked well when we were introduced to Ryan. I liked the switch from Eloise’s perspective to third-person so we could learn more about Ryan.
I liked the novel overall. Carroll knows her audiences and is one of the most accomplished Chick Lit writers. None of her novels are ever the same and with A Very Accidental Love Story, she’s written another novel no author has ever thought of writing and it was really good. I can’t wait to see what Carroll comes up with next. You just never know! I liked how that Eloise was uptight to begin with but as she and Ryan start a friendship, she starts to loosen up more and realise work isn’t all. (I actually felt sorry for poor Lily with no dad and a pretty much absent mum, though I understand that obviosuly Eloise had to work.) I’d very much recommend the novel, Claudia Carroll is such an accomplished Chick Lit author and I can’t wait for her next novel, she’s very much on my pre-order list.
I found A Very Accidental Love Story to be one that gave me varying opinions. On the one hand, I liked the novel. The idea (the plot is ingenious and it makes a change for a woman to have a baby sans a man), most of the characters (Ryan. Ryan. Ryan.), the writing was great – Claudia is a brilliant writer. But, I had bad bits. Eloise was a bit irritating at times. She’s a bit of a snob. Ryan as he was wasn’t good enough for Eloise (the prison bit, fair enough, but I just felt she tried to change him too much).
Also the writing was a bit repetitive in the early pages. Eloise kept saying how Lily wasn’t yet three years old, about five times in three pages, and I just wasn’t ever going to forget poor Lily wasn’t yet three. There was a couple of bits like that – also when she was first searching for Ryan and how she wanted him to be this and that and the other. It was little things like that. I also thought the third-person Prologue was odd. I’d have written it in first-person personally. However, the third person worked well when we were introduced to Ryan. I liked the switch from Eloise’s perspective to third-person so we could learn more about Ryan.
I liked the novel overall. Carroll knows her audiences and is one of the most accomplished Chick Lit writers. None of her novels are ever the same and with A Very Accidental Love Story, she’s written another novel no author has ever thought of writing and it was really good. I can’t wait to see what Carroll comes up with next. You just never know! I liked how that Eloise was uptight to begin with but as she and Ryan start a friendship, she starts to loosen up more and realise work isn’t all. (I actually felt sorry for poor Lily with no dad and a pretty much absent mum, though I understand that obviosuly Eloise had to work.) I’d very much recommend the novel, Claudia Carroll is such an accomplished Chick Lit author and I can’t wait for her next novel, she’s very much on my pre-order list.
September 28, 2012
A Very Accidental Love Affair is the first book I have read by Claudia Carroll, after hearing so many good things about this author I was looking forward to finally getting on board and trying out one of her novels.
With Eloise Elliot it was all work and no play and it wasn’t until her 30th birthday party when hardly anyone turned up that she realised that she was lonely as her whole life revolves around work she has no friends no partner and hardly any contact with her family.
After three years things have changed somewhat for Eloise as she is now a mother to a beautiful little girl but one thing still has yet to change and that is to get some kind of balance between work and social balance. It is when little Lily starts questioning about her Daddy that Eloise has no option but to slow down at work and try to find Lily’s Daddy she longs to meet.
The first thing I have to say is that I love the cover of this book it gives a kind of fairytale feel to it, and is definitely one that would catch my eye on the book shelf.
Our main character Eloise was quite a hard character to warm to at first and that is because her character is cold and hard. The only thing to her personality is that she is a workaholic but that is as far as her personality goes. When the book then fast forwards to three years later when she has become a mum she still doesn’t seem to have developed at all and that is when I began to worry about this book as the most important thing to me in a book is that I can either relate to the character or at least like the character.
It is Jake who saves the day in this book because as soon as Eloise meets him she starts to blossom as a character and he is a lovely male character too. By the time Eloise finds Jake the pages seemed to be turning themselves and I found myself getting lost in the storyline wanting to see how it pans out but as I got closer to the end it was a little sad to find it was nearly finished!
It seemed as though Eloise’s daughter Lily had her mum wrapped around her little finger which was quite funny to see that this hard woman could have her hard exterior broken down by this adorable little girl. I was surprised that my feelings towards the main character turned full circle by the end of the book and I actually really liked her character and was only hoping for the best for her.
I enjoyed Claudia’s writing style which flowed so effortlessly I am looking forward to picking up some of the authors previous books after reading this one.
With Eloise Elliot it was all work and no play and it wasn’t until her 30th birthday party when hardly anyone turned up that she realised that she was lonely as her whole life revolves around work she has no friends no partner and hardly any contact with her family.
After three years things have changed somewhat for Eloise as she is now a mother to a beautiful little girl but one thing still has yet to change and that is to get some kind of balance between work and social balance. It is when little Lily starts questioning about her Daddy that Eloise has no option but to slow down at work and try to find Lily’s Daddy she longs to meet.
The first thing I have to say is that I love the cover of this book it gives a kind of fairytale feel to it, and is definitely one that would catch my eye on the book shelf.
Our main character Eloise was quite a hard character to warm to at first and that is because her character is cold and hard. The only thing to her personality is that she is a workaholic but that is as far as her personality goes. When the book then fast forwards to three years later when she has become a mum she still doesn’t seem to have developed at all and that is when I began to worry about this book as the most important thing to me in a book is that I can either relate to the character or at least like the character.
It is Jake who saves the day in this book because as soon as Eloise meets him she starts to blossom as a character and he is a lovely male character too. By the time Eloise finds Jake the pages seemed to be turning themselves and I found myself getting lost in the storyline wanting to see how it pans out but as I got closer to the end it was a little sad to find it was nearly finished!
It seemed as though Eloise’s daughter Lily had her mum wrapped around her little finger which was quite funny to see that this hard woman could have her hard exterior broken down by this adorable little girl. I was surprised that my feelings towards the main character turned full circle by the end of the book and I actually really liked her character and was only hoping for the best for her.
I enjoyed Claudia’s writing style which flowed so effortlessly I am looking forward to picking up some of the authors previous books after reading this one.
September 19, 2012
Claudia Carroll is one of my favourite writers so when I saw she had a new book out I was really pleased, especially pleased when I got an early copy from the writer herself to review.
This was a really good book, with great characters, especially Helen who is Eloise's sister. I think she was warm and caring and always happy to help out when she could. I was interested to see what the outcome would be for Eloise and her daughter and I was shocked at the crazy ways in which Eloise went about to find her daughters dad. I won't say much else as I don't want to spoil the story but beware for a bumpy ride.
This was a really good book, with great characters, especially Helen who is Eloise's sister. I think she was warm and caring and always happy to help out when she could. I was interested to see what the outcome would be for Eloise and her daughter and I was shocked at the crazy ways in which Eloise went about to find her daughters dad. I won't say much else as I don't want to spoil the story but beware for a bumpy ride.
November 4, 2021
It took me a while to get into the story. It ended up being a lovely story with lovely characters. The subject matter was intriguing and the author had a good story built around it. Nice read.
August 5, 2022
4 stars because I enjoyed it as a simple light read.
January 19, 2023
Loved this book! Brilliantly entertaining, funny and I do love a happy ending!
April 14, 2017
goodness, it was so bloody amazing. I couldn' t help the sniffling and the tears. a very unusual story...a must read.
December 19, 2015
‘A Very Accidental Love Story’ is about a workaholic single mother, Eloise with a three-year-old daughter, Lily who had been conceived via artificial insemination. As she constantly asks about her father, Eloise embarks on a journey to track him down. However, she soon realizes that there are many challenges lying ahead.
This story was engaging in a light-hearted, breezy sort of way hence even certain factors couldn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book. One of those factors happen to be the characters. Eloise’s seriously unhealthy attachment to her job as the editor of a newspaper was conveyed very convincingly. It was evident that she lived for work, breathed work, dreamed work and ate work. I felt tired just reading about her running around, having no time for anything except work. Despite that, her decision to have a baby to fulfill her desire to be a mother was selfish considering the fact that she knew she wouldn’t be able to spend time with her child and she never contemplated other job options.
Besides that, from the get-go it was clear that she was selfish and completely insensitive. She looked high and low for Jake, the mystery father and then proceeded to lie to him continuously. Not the minor, harmless sort of lies either but major lies resulting in what I would view as betrayal and deceit. Sure, she was doing it all for her daughter but at the end of the day that didn’t justify her actions. As for Jake, I’m not sure what the author was trying to do. It’s like he was supposed to be a difficult badass guy to deal with, yet Eloise had absolutely no trouble with him. I personally found Lily to be annoying instead of adorable because of the way she talked and how she didn’t have much of a personality apart from wanting to meet her father.
There were a couple of incredibly unrealistic bits too, namely involving Jake and his seamless integration into society. I won’t delve into details to avoid giving unnecessary spoilers but basically with his history, things couldn’t possibly go as smoothly as they did. What was the point of creating a strong character like Eloise and giving her a purportedly huge challenge only to make everything way too easy to the point of being unbelievable? As for how it all wrapped up between Jake and Eloise as well as Jake and Lily, the words ‘unrealistic’ and ‘way too easy’ spring to mind.
Even the much anticipated conflict was nearly non-existent. A secret of that magnitude should have resulted in more drama, more emotions, more something but there was none of that. Overall though, ‘A Very Accidental Love Story’ is one of those books that I really enjoyed despite its many flaws.
This story was engaging in a light-hearted, breezy sort of way hence even certain factors couldn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book. One of those factors happen to be the characters. Eloise’s seriously unhealthy attachment to her job as the editor of a newspaper was conveyed very convincingly. It was evident that she lived for work, breathed work, dreamed work and ate work. I felt tired just reading about her running around, having no time for anything except work. Despite that, her decision to have a baby to fulfill her desire to be a mother was selfish considering the fact that she knew she wouldn’t be able to spend time with her child and she never contemplated other job options.
Besides that, from the get-go it was clear that she was selfish and completely insensitive. She looked high and low for Jake, the mystery father and then proceeded to lie to him continuously. Not the minor, harmless sort of lies either but major lies resulting in what I would view as betrayal and deceit. Sure, she was doing it all for her daughter but at the end of the day that didn’t justify her actions. As for Jake, I’m not sure what the author was trying to do. It’s like he was supposed to be a difficult badass guy to deal with, yet Eloise had absolutely no trouble with him. I personally found Lily to be annoying instead of adorable because of the way she talked and how she didn’t have much of a personality apart from wanting to meet her father.
There were a couple of incredibly unrealistic bits too, namely involving Jake and his seamless integration into society. I won’t delve into details to avoid giving unnecessary spoilers but basically with his history, things couldn’t possibly go as smoothly as they did. What was the point of creating a strong character like Eloise and giving her a purportedly huge challenge only to make everything way too easy to the point of being unbelievable? As for how it all wrapped up between Jake and Eloise as well as Jake and Lily, the words ‘unrealistic’ and ‘way too easy’ spring to mind.
Even the much anticipated conflict was nearly non-existent. A secret of that magnitude should have resulted in more drama, more emotions, more something but there was none of that. Overall though, ‘A Very Accidental Love Story’ is one of those books that I really enjoyed despite its many flaws.
July 15, 2020
I have never written a review for a book before but I just had to for this book.
After reading some of the reviews on here I watched a video by this author on YouTube where she talked about her inspiration for the book as being My Fair Lady. Having never seen My Fair Lady or the play Pygmalion I cannot comment on how it translates to A Very Accidental Love Story.
However as the mother of a child conceived by artificial insemination I find it highly unlikely that a woman of Eloise’s IQ would make the decision to have a child without researching it thoroughly. Even though she thinks she has she has only researched the implications for herself. We learn in chapter three that her sister, Helen, is adopted so why would she not talk to her first about the effect on the child. It is clear that Eloise has entered motherhood for selfish reasons.
Also when I was looking at donors I looked for someone with the same hair colour and eye colour as me. Why would she chose someone with different features than her when she clearly doesn’t want Lily to know her ‘daddy’?
The story did get better once Jake was introduced and for me Helen and Jake were the saving grace of the story. While I enjoyed seeing the softer side of Eloise I don’t understand why Jake needed Eloise to help him. Surely his parole officer could have done that as Jake already seemed to be improving himself while in prison.
In the acknowledgements Claudia Carroll says that she has researched the editorial side so why hasn’t she researched the donor conception side?
After reading some of the reviews on here I watched a video by this author on YouTube where she talked about her inspiration for the book as being My Fair Lady. Having never seen My Fair Lady or the play Pygmalion I cannot comment on how it translates to A Very Accidental Love Story.
However as the mother of a child conceived by artificial insemination I find it highly unlikely that a woman of Eloise’s IQ would make the decision to have a child without researching it thoroughly. Even though she thinks she has she has only researched the implications for herself. We learn in chapter three that her sister, Helen, is adopted so why would she not talk to her first about the effect on the child. It is clear that Eloise has entered motherhood for selfish reasons.
Also when I was looking at donors I looked for someone with the same hair colour and eye colour as me. Why would she chose someone with different features than her when she clearly doesn’t want Lily to know her ‘daddy’?
The story did get better once Jake was introduced and for me Helen and Jake were the saving grace of the story. While I enjoyed seeing the softer side of Eloise I don’t understand why Jake needed Eloise to help him. Surely his parole officer could have done that as Jake already seemed to be improving himself while in prison.
In the acknowledgements Claudia Carroll says that she has researched the editorial side so why hasn’t she researched the donor conception side?
January 22, 2013
Eloise Elliot is a successful, intelligent and independent woman. She has worked hard in her career and is now the youngest senior editor at the Daily Post newspaper. She has reached the very top in her career. However on her thirtieth birthday Eloise realises just how alone she really is, no friends, no significant other. Office colleagues who do not want to spend time with her and an extended family she hardly ever sees. Eloise had become a workaholic, married to her job with no social life. Feeling things have to change; she decides to take action and to fix her life.
Move forward to three years later and Eloise is now the mother of a beautiful and bright daughter called Lily. Eloise is now still a workaholic who is juggling the demands of work, with being a single mother and if her life is not hectic enough, it is about to become a lot more complicated when Lily starts to ask who her Daddy is.
Eloise decides to look for Lily’s father, but what will happen when she finds that he is not what or whom she thought he was, and that he has a dark past?
Chick Lit is just harmless fun really isn’t it? I love it!!! This is a really brilliant and fun read and fans of chick lit will adore it for it is very entertaining and enjoyable, very well written, wonderful storyline, there is never a dull moment in this book. I would really recommend it and if I could give it more than five stars I would. I will look forward to reading more books by Claudia Carroll.
Move forward to three years later and Eloise is now the mother of a beautiful and bright daughter called Lily. Eloise is now still a workaholic who is juggling the demands of work, with being a single mother and if her life is not hectic enough, it is about to become a lot more complicated when Lily starts to ask who her Daddy is.
Eloise decides to look for Lily’s father, but what will happen when she finds that he is not what or whom she thought he was, and that he has a dark past?
Chick Lit is just harmless fun really isn’t it? I love it!!! This is a really brilliant and fun read and fans of chick lit will adore it for it is very entertaining and enjoyable, very well written, wonderful storyline, there is never a dull moment in this book. I would really recommend it and if I could give it more than five stars I would. I will look forward to reading more books by Claudia Carroll.
December 14, 2014
Eloise finds herself alone at her 30th birthday party, with not a friend to her name. She decides to make a change and has a child. 3 years on, Lily asks her where her father is and Eloise is set off on a mission to see if she can track him down.
Main issue with this book is that Eloise seems to decide to have a child because she has no one else, and it seems a pretty selfish reason to have a child especially given she spends the next few years apparently assigning nannies to look after her and not actually seeing her outside of a handful of hours when she can get away from the office.
So all in all, didn't care for Eloise.
Generally, the main character was unlikeable and I dislike the switch from first to third person for convenience of the story.
But then I bought it cheap on Amazon, I guess you get what you pay for.
Main issue with this book is that Eloise seems to decide to have a child because she has no one else, and it seems a pretty selfish reason to have a child especially given she spends the next few years apparently assigning nannies to look after her and not actually seeing her outside of a handful of hours when she can get away from the office.
So all in all, didn't care for Eloise.
Generally, the main character was unlikeable and I dislike the switch from first to third person for convenience of the story.
But then I bought it cheap on Amazon, I guess you get what you pay for.
January 7, 2013
A great feel-good read!!! Easy to read, totally predictable..but who cares, a book with HEA is exactly what I needed.
Mind you, Eloise is not a character you will like from the start. I really disliked her at the beginning, no friends, no time for her daughter,no time to enjoy life. At times she seemed snobbish too. But as I continued reading, she started to grow on me.
It's definitely an easy read and a very enjoyable one. Can't wait to read Carroll's other books.
Mind you, Eloise is not a character you will like from the start. I really disliked her at the beginning, no friends, no time for her daughter,no time to enjoy life. At times she seemed snobbish too. But as I continued reading, she started to grow on me.
It's definitely an easy read and a very enjoyable one. Can't wait to read Carroll's other books.
January 7, 2013
I'd give this a 4.5 out of 5. Absolutely loved it! I didn't like Eloise much at the beginning working 18 hour days never having time for Lily her daughter but once she connected with Jake aka Lily's dad and had Helen her sister come to stay with her, she became a whole new person coming out of her shell. This is the tird or fourth book I've read by Claudia Carroll and I most definitely will be checking out her previous novels and await her next novel!
July 28, 2019
Far too unbelievable (even for the most imaginative of romantic minds), predictable from a few chapters in and unforgivable amount of typos, spelling mistakes and bad writing - definitely would not recommend. Read like a piece of work written just before hand in that no one has proof read or fed into/advised on at all - terrible book, only stuck with it as it was the only one I had with me on a 10 hour delayed train journey...
March 7, 2013
My friend gave me a loan of this book as she loved it & knew i would too so i couldnt wait to read it, i have to agree great book very easy read, witty and loved the ending and also the little bit of advise at the end. I am now about to start another Claudia Carroll book she certainly is an author for any chicklit fans out there!
December 19, 2012
I really liked this book (it was also funny). It is a slight shame that there were so many spelling mistakes, words missing and grammatical mistakes, but the story was great!
January 21, 2026
WHEN Eloise Elliot turned 30 years old, she realised she was lonely and made a momentous decision...
Now 3 years later she has a lovely daughter named Lily and she’s one of the youngest editors of a newspaper. But things become tricky: she suddenly has no childcare, plus Lily starts questioning where her Father is. Eloise hopes Lily will forget soon enough, but when she doesn’t, Eloise is stuck wondering whether she should track her daughter’s Dad down... But Lily was conceived via a sperm donor so Eloise isn’t sure finding him is even possible, let alone if he would want to be involved with the little girl...
The Pros:
1) It’s an interesting premise - tracking down the sperm donor of her daughter
2) The book really does highlight how tricky it can be in regards to juggling childcare and working - especially with single parents
3) I like the character arc of Eloise
The Cons:
1) I did find Eloise was quite annoying at times. She is a bit of a prodigy but is not reasonable or likeable especially at the start of the book.
2) I listened on audio and unfortunately I cannot recommend it. It’s not the best quality and you can hear the narrator (the author) breathing loudly and it is really distracting...
The Quotes:
1) Welcome to my life, she thought. Thirty years of age and utterly alone. No friends, no ‘significant other’, no office colleagues who, perish the thought, might actually want to spend some non-work-related time with her - no one. When it came down to it, she was basically living the life of a nun on a six-figure salary.
2) In brutal moments of introspection, I just know I’m someone who’d go off her head in less than a week without a full-time career to nourish my soul. Sure parenthood is a huge high, but then so is my job. Peppa Pig and Barney videos could never possibly give me the same buzz. So, if it’s not too much to ask, can’t I just have both? I mean plenty of other women do, don’t they?
The Summary:
I thought the premise for the book was an interesting one: Eloise tries to track down her sperm donor so her little girl can have a father. I found Eloise was a bit of an annoying character at the start and unreasonable, but throughout the book her character arc changes for the better. I have to say I wasn’t gripped by the story and it definitely wasn’t a favourite of mine, but I did like it. I understood Eloises’ loneliness at the beginning and the complexities of being a single parent whilst being in full-time employment.
Summed up in a sentence?:
Eloise tries to track down her daughter’s sperm donor
I rated the book 3.25 stars, rounded down to 3.
Now 3 years later she has a lovely daughter named Lily and she’s one of the youngest editors of a newspaper. But things become tricky: she suddenly has no childcare, plus Lily starts questioning where her Father is. Eloise hopes Lily will forget soon enough, but when she doesn’t, Eloise is stuck wondering whether she should track her daughter’s Dad down... But Lily was conceived via a sperm donor so Eloise isn’t sure finding him is even possible, let alone if he would want to be involved with the little girl...
The Pros:
1) It’s an interesting premise - tracking down the sperm donor of her daughter
2) The book really does highlight how tricky it can be in regards to juggling childcare and working - especially with single parents
3) I like the character arc of Eloise
The Cons:
1) I did find Eloise was quite annoying at times. She is a bit of a prodigy but is not reasonable or likeable especially at the start of the book.
2) I listened on audio and unfortunately I cannot recommend it. It’s not the best quality and you can hear the narrator (the author) breathing loudly and it is really distracting...
The Quotes:
1) Welcome to my life, she thought. Thirty years of age and utterly alone. No friends, no ‘significant other’, no office colleagues who, perish the thought, might actually want to spend some non-work-related time with her - no one. When it came down to it, she was basically living the life of a nun on a six-figure salary.
2) In brutal moments of introspection, I just know I’m someone who’d go off her head in less than a week without a full-time career to nourish my soul. Sure parenthood is a huge high, but then so is my job. Peppa Pig and Barney videos could never possibly give me the same buzz. So, if it’s not too much to ask, can’t I just have both? I mean plenty of other women do, don’t they?
The Summary:
I thought the premise for the book was an interesting one: Eloise tries to track down her sperm donor so her little girl can have a father. I found Eloise was a bit of an annoying character at the start and unreasonable, but throughout the book her character arc changes for the better. I have to say I wasn’t gripped by the story and it definitely wasn’t a favourite of mine, but I did like it. I understood Eloises’ loneliness at the beginning and the complexities of being a single parent whilst being in full-time employment.
Summed up in a sentence?:
Eloise tries to track down her daughter’s sperm donor
I rated the book 3.25 stars, rounded down to 3.
September 7, 2021
First of all i am not a fan of reading romance relating to mother-child bonding type of vibe. Personally, just not my preferred choice of reading. HOWEVER, I absolutely enjoyed this story. The situation humored me how Eloise was desperately trying to reach out to the father of her child after getting an artificial insemination a.k.a from a sperm bank 3 years ago due to her sweet adorable daughter who she love so much asking "where is daddy?" countlessly. Then, finding out that the Iperfect donor' is a fake, an ex-con to be exact. That is when Eloise decided to bet her life on getting this 'perfect donor' get him off his feet and swear Lily, her daughter would meet the perfect father. I love the relationship between them how Eloise helped Jake to get him back on his feet & all that. Without further ado, my fav parts:
1 . Lily the cute adorable daughter & everything she
does
2. Jake's past story
3. Eloise on a mission to find Jake
4. Jake's POV (l wished there were more)
5. That part where Eloise left her job after them
exposing her and Jake out into the media like that.
In conclusion, happy endings are good books too.
1 . Lily the cute adorable daughter & everything she
does
2. Jake's past story
3. Eloise on a mission to find Jake
4. Jake's POV (l wished there were more)
5. That part where Eloise left her job after them
exposing her and Jake out into the media like that.
In conclusion, happy endings are good books too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2017
This is the first book I've read by Claudia Carroll and it didn't disappoint me. And I'm sure I'm planning to read her books.
The story revolved around Eloise Elliot who was the youngest editor in The Post - married to work. She's no one close to her & realises that sharp pang of loneliness on her 30th birthday. So she decided to get pregnant thro artificial insemination. After 3 years with the help of nannies(yeah! so many) she raised her lovely daughter Lily. So now Lily wanted to know about her daddy.
With no nanny for her daughter, Eloise's sister Helen has come to help and Eloise starts searching "the daddy" she's never known. Being an editor she managed to get the right contacts and tracked him down - Jake(the hero) who was also an excon. And the story continued...
For the first few pages I found the story average but after the daddy part came into picture it really was a page turner. I really loved the part when Lily-Jake-Eloise accidentally met in the park with Eloise's POV. It was hilarious. The sister bonding was also great.
Like the author said, don't judge anything by its cover, you might just be very surprised. Overall it's an unsual, funny, feel-good, easy read, rom-com book and I recommend it.
The story revolved around Eloise Elliot who was the youngest editor in The Post - married to work. She's no one close to her & realises that sharp pang of loneliness on her 30th birthday. So she decided to get pregnant thro artificial insemination. After 3 years with the help of nannies(yeah! so many) she raised her lovely daughter Lily. So now Lily wanted to know about her daddy.
With no nanny for her daughter, Eloise's sister Helen has come to help and Eloise starts searching "the daddy" she's never known. Being an editor she managed to get the right contacts and tracked him down - Jake(the hero) who was also an excon. And the story continued...
For the first few pages I found the story average but after the daddy part came into picture it really was a page turner. I really loved the part when Lily-Jake-Eloise accidentally met in the park with Eloise's POV. It was hilarious. The sister bonding was also great.
Like the author said, don't judge anything by its cover, you might just be very surprised. Overall it's an unsual, funny, feel-good, easy read, rom-com book and I recommend it.
October 18, 2020
Oh my gosh I've never been so pissed of the main character before, I actually hated her up until about 30% into the story, then it got better. Eloise is flawed woman, an alpha female with so many much going on, but despite all the annoyance, I realized, I've been cheering her on the whole time. I keep screaming at her to just gone damn tell Jake the truth. When the damn drunkard at party keep bubbling about Eloise's private life at the party, I wished so bad for her to snap and smack the damn woman.
I was aching to get to the end while reading and I almost skip there many times, but I'm congratulating myself for holding back. This was a wonderful read with great Christmas ending.
I was aching to get to the end while reading and I almost skip there many times, but I'm congratulating myself for holding back. This was a wonderful read with great Christmas ending.
December 4, 2017
Not gonna lie, I honestly had low expectations for this read when I first started it, but as I kept reading, it got more interesting and fun!
What I mainly loved about it the most is that it didn't revolve around 2 teenagers who meet each other on Tuesday ( and of course, as usual, BAM there's electricity before they even learn each other's names) and by Friday they're completely in love.
I hate that type of romance and this novel was nothing like it.
Except for the usual predictability of romance novels, it was quite meaningful.
A recommended read.
What I mainly loved about it the most is that it didn't revolve around 2 teenagers who meet each other on Tuesday ( and of course, as usual, BAM there's electricity before they even learn each other's names) and by Friday they're completely in love.
I hate that type of romance and this novel was nothing like it.
Except for the usual predictability of romance novels, it was quite meaningful.
A recommended read.
November 5, 2018
The book started a little slow, and almost made me lost interest in reading it. It only really picked up when they introduced the male lead. I liked the camaraderie between the two leads, but the writing is a little long winded, so much so that I skipped a few paragraphs and just glanced through because I lost patience. The premise of the book is quite refreshing, which was why I picked it up in the first place, the chosen words just need to be more interesting, no offense >.<
October 30, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. I read a lot of Irish authors and can’t believe I had never come across Claudia Carroll before. The character of Eloise cracked me up so much, it was a case of what has she got herself into now. But the book also had a good amount of romance, and managed to keep you guessing right up until the ultimate happy ending. Will definitely be hunting out more of Claudia’s books!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2019
Got quite bored with how much Eloise complained during the whole first chapter (around 30 pages of ranting about her job), but it gets so much better after. So if you decide to read this, just stick it out because this story will surely warm your heart.
As Eloise Elliot says, romance is out there, and for all of us.
As Eloise Elliot says, romance is out there, and for all of us.
June 21, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I felt like i could really sympathise with Eloise as she embarked on many events to discover the truth about Lily's father, it made her character come across very strong and caring as she was doing all of this for the sake of her daughter. This is a very impressive, gripping story with some very welcoming surprises and enjoyable characters.
October 21, 2025
Badly edited, full of typos, punctuation errors, and plot holes.
I've read worse, but this was not good. Too many glaring errors not least the fluency of a not-yet-three year old child. Storyline pretty poor. With a good editor, this could have been reworked into something much better.
I've read worse, but this was not good. Too many glaring errors not least the fluency of a not-yet-three year old child. Storyline pretty poor. With a good editor, this could have been reworked into something much better.
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