Love Byte

by David Atkinson

Andy Hunter is a single father trying to balance the demands of a 2-year-old daughter, an interfering but well-meaning mother-in-law and a job he is always in danger of losing. So, when he receives a series of delayed emails from his late wife Lindsay telling him to date, it seems like a good idea. With Lindsay's emails spurring him on, Andy weaves a path of disharmony and chaos amongst his close friends and family, but soon discovers he is not cut out for modern dating. Filled with laugh-out-loud situations and moments of soul-searching, this heart-warming, moving romantic comedy set in Edinburgh, is a bittersweet tale of second chances and self-discovery.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Humor, Fiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2014

About the author

David Atkinson is an Edinburgh based writer. His first Romantic Comedy Love Byte published by Buried River Press (Joffe Books) was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist Association award. The follow up book SQUEEZED was well received as was The Second Live of Nathan Jones, published by One More Chapter an imprint of Harper Collins.

His latest novel Future Proof has been notching up 4 & 5* reviews. Future Proof has already won the Page Turner Genre award (December 2022) and promises to be something a little different.

To sign up for author updates, newsletters, special offers and some exciting news, or if you just to say hello or ask a question please drop a quick email to: collectivecharmbooks@gmail.co

Reviews

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something bothered me about this book and I can't quite put my finger on what it was. It started off brilliantly, the writing style was addictive and I didn't want to put it down. Then it all became ever so slightly .. silly. This poor man met so many crazy women, it just became very far fetched. The relationship that was formed toward the end wasn't believable and I was actually disappointed in the ending. The dead wife that was emailing him, to me, felt like a very cold person and I didn't want to think that but couldn't help it at all. I thought the same of the woman he ended up with. A shame as the writing style was fantastic.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a few weeks (and probably a hundred books ago) since I read this, but I remember enjoying it and liking the author's style. A bit 'far-fetched' in places, but sometimes you just have to suspend disbelief especially when a book is well-written

Four stars. I really liked it.

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romantic Novel set in EDINBURGH (and some darker bits too)

Shortlisted for the 2015 Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards (RONAs)

Andy Hunter is a single father with a two year old daughter, Amy. His wife Lindsay has just died and he is adjusting to his new life. But then, he receives a string of e mails and texts from beyond the grave, he is fearful he is hallucinating in his grief. Sure enough, these are from Lindsay, who has plotted out a schedule for him to meet someone new. She has gone to vast lengths via the internet to set him with a profile on dating websites for prospective encounters. He soon gets into the swing of just turning up at the appointed rendezvous and seeing who is waiting for him. Does it go smoothly? Of course not! The world is seemingly populated with unhinged women – nut jobs – and the hapless budding lothario manages to press all the buttons and finds himself in some pretty tricky situations, some scary, others entertaining.

Andy certainly surrounds himself with people who like to have the upper hand – whether it is his best friend Jamie, or some of his female encounters – and even his wife is trying to control him after her death. She knows him better than he knows himself, how uncomfortable is that? He goes along with it, of course, always aware that anyone looking in might wonder about his mental faculties. So he has to keep stumm about what is going on.

This is a story with laugh out loud moments, heart rending events and a nice easy flowing style. It’s very readable and has some lovely observations, both about life, human behaviour and the lovely city of Edinburgh, “the Athens of the North”. Enjoy!

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out with so much promise. Although I found the first 30 pages difficult to read as it dealt primarily with Lindsay’s losing battle with cancer I understood why the author had included it. I felt the connection between Andy and his wife Lindsay, this experience was an important part of Andy’s character development as it showed he was a man in grieving not just for his wife, but also for his daughter, for his family and for the life they would have had together.

“I was grieving for the desolate aching her death had left inside me, then for Amy who would never know her mother, and finally for the world which seemed a much poorer and emptier place without my wife in it.”

Yet something happened after Andy received the first email from Lindsay. The tone of the novel appeared to change, or perhaps the problem was it didn’t change and I was expecting it too. Suddenly Andy is thrown into the world of online dating and although I imagine his ‘dates’ were supposed to amuse the reader that isn’t the emotion I experience. At times they angered me, sometimes they flummoxed me and other times I was bored. Andy is horrible towards these women he dates, insulting them, degrading them and just generally being a bit of arrogant twat...

For the full review visit my blog

[Antonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Nice love story with an emotional ending.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but a bit clunky in the way it is written. Lots of telling the reader what is going on, rather than creating a believable world.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange feeling, didn’t really connect with the male character. Not sure it was because of being a male author or because the characters are weird. Women behave very weird too.
It’s the story of a window with a 2yo daughter whose wife suddenly after 6 months starts sending him emails and sms pushing him to meet a woman to marry (so that her daughter grows with a mom). She has signed him up at a website and has even sent emails to potential partners on his behalf.
We read about several of those encounters and they are too unbelievable for my taste.

[Viragored · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the type of book I would normally buy, but as it was a freebie on Bookbub and the premise outlined in the blurb sounded interesting I downloaded and read it. The emotional start was unexpectedly moving, and then the messages started arriving. Well written and engaging - so far.

Later on, as other characters arrived, the whole thing got a bit contrived and was no longer fully engaging me. That left me a little disappointed.

So overall, not bad but not top notch either.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve read a romantic comedy written by a man before but I certainly enjoyed the change of perspective as hapless widower and single dad, Andy, tries to negotiate the crazy dating world.

At times emotional and tugs at your heartstrings but ultimately an easy and enjoyable read which will have you laughing out loud.

I liked it and will definitely read more by the author.

[CA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked Andy and parts of the story made me laugh, hence the 3 stars. I really disliked Lindsey and that made me uncomfortable as she was the dead wife. I found her emails, setting up dating profile and the email to Mollie coercive and controlling. Even more so as Andy wasn’t able to see what she had written.

[Barbara Deeprose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth More Than 5 Stars

Have some tissues at the ready, you may need them! Andy Hunter is a single dad of a two year old little girl. Out of the blue he received an email from his dead wife, telling him she had set him up on a dating site (before she died of course) and wanted him to find someone new. This book made me laugh and cry, I would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

[Zoey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read

A wonderfully slushy, easy reading book. Very easy to pick up and put down. Great humour in places to lighten a very sensitive and tragic story line. Everyone loves a happy ending don't they.......

[Claire Birrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice easy read that made me laugh and cry in equal measures. I could relate to a few of the scenarios involving young Amy and I'm sure that most parents would agree with me; I laughed out loud more than once.
Well worth a read.

[Maureen A Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rollercoaster of emotions

Laugh out loud, tears you name it; told from the mans viewpoint losing his wife to cancer ( and her helping him to a new life) with their little girl, and his forays into the dating world. What could go wrong. A good read

[Shiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really cute. I thought it was going to be a re-write of P.S I love you, but it was surprisingly fresh. I really wish he'd taken action at times though, especially with regard to the property damage, that was ridiculous. But not worth taking stars off for. A good, warm and quick read.

[R C GEEVES · Rating 5 out of 5]

This needs to be made into a film!

What an outstanding book, funny, heartfelt, warm, human, everything needed for a book to be un putdownable.
Twists and turns abound, but overall superbly enjoyable.
Thank Author.

[Pandora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, insightful and most certainly heartwarming!

[kate...l · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant

a brilliant story made even better that it was set in scotland . it had me laughing and crying .i will be reading more from david atkinson

[Tim Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down!

An honest read. Emotive and quick paced. A real page turner! I’m looking forward to reading more from David Atkinson.

[Tracey Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

Brilliant read
Couldn’t pull my self
Away brill ending laughs tears and moments u wish u could shake the character to do the right thing but brill

[Ian Burden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional

this was an absolutely brilliant read, lindsay's e-mails had me in tears, the story was well written could not have done a better job myself

[Emily Wooding · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely romance book and quite emotional at times! A nice read!

[Miss Sarah C Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I found this book very emotional in parts, funny and I love a story with a happy ending. Definitely worth a read

[Janine Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much filler

Sweet story but too much random reflection and banal detail from the main character. Could have been great if 1/3 pages removed.

[Barry Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brill

My sort of book,you think you know the ending but get a thrill still reading it to the end conclusion

[Cath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very depressing for me.
Gave you!

[cheri wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had me laughing and crying from page one to the end. Great characters and a wonderful story

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who's cutting onions?

5 star find! The book made me cry like a baby 20 pages in. After that, so many 'laugh out loud' moments and MORE tears. A lovely, funny, heartfelt story.

[Vanessa Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this one, I didn't think I would at the start. It's easy reading, quite funny and a clever idea.

[Helen Baggott · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first chapter I was certain I was in for a treat. As David Atkinson described the beauty and romance of Andy and Lindsay’s perfect wedding, I knew – from the book’s blurb – what was to come. I almost held my breath as the marriage was blessed and doomed – all within those first few pages.

The poignancy of a motherless child and widowed husband watching a DVD of that ceremony set the tone for the book. But difficult moments were made bearable with well-written and perfectly pitched humour.

There’s often an inevitability with a rom-com – we expect tears of joy and a happy ending, but just how was the author going to reconcile such painful loss with that conclusion?

I often make notes when I’m reading a book. By page thirty, I’d simply written, ‘wow’. It wasn’t the humour – at that point we were still learning about Andy and Lindsay’s life – it was the emotion that poured from the pages that had that particular wow factor. Later, my notes recorded the ‘laugh out loud’ moments. A particular exchange towards the end of chapter ten demanded a ‘double lol’. By that time Andy was embarking on dates and this is where the dialogue showed how skilfully it had been crafted. Awkward conversations can read as stilted. But here the author managed to portray the reticence and nerves of our hero – it read like a polished script.

Good dialogue stems from the creation of believable characters. Lindsay, in particular, was given such a strong personality that even in death, she was a force to be reckoned with. Carrie (a wannabe date) had a buzz of reality about her fully-charged nocturnal habits.

David Atkinson’s engaging plot springs more than a few surprises. Andy Hunter has a blokeyness about him that endears. Females think they know and understand men – and female writers can create men we reach to recognise. But you can’t beat a bloke – a talented one – writing about their kind and giving them the look of a crumpled shirt and the emotion a broken heart.

Acknowledging that dating is a minefield within the ultimate battle of the sexes, Andy Hunter does what a lot of us do when we need help, he googles. Even with our virtual advisors, dating in the 21st century isn’t straightforward. Finding some help from ‘Men like Women and Women like Shoes’, he goes with his instincts and suffers the unfortunate consequences – wisdom, it seems, can’t be downloaded.

For a number of reasons, single parents form a large part of our society and one of the elements I enjoyed in this book was how Andy Hunter coped with a role he neither desired nor deserved. His love for his daughter was paramount to the plot – Amy was always going to be the big love of his life.

When you’re writing for a niche market it would be too easy to write in clichés, basing the plot on the tried and tested themes we often see in books and films. David Atkinson hasn’t fallen into that trap. As the plot’s loose ends are tied up, more seemed to unravel. It’s not until the final pages that the author allows the reader to release that held breath.

Anyone who likes their romance with a touch of realism and not too much syrup will adore this book. The male of the species, if they’re lucky enough to get their hands on it, will recognise themselves or their mates – perhaps both.

If you thought you had tired of this genre, give it another ‘byte’ – Andy Hunter certainly deserves it!

This book is due for publication on 30th June and I received a review copy from the publisher.