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Der Tag, als ich die Welt umarmte
Die Welt ist eine Nussschale – und immer noch zu groß für dich?
Schon ihr ganzes Leben lang träumt Harriet Langton von der großen weiten Welt, von exotischen Ländern – und besonders von dem romantischen Zauber Venedigs! Durch ihren Job in einem Reisebüro ist sie diesem Traum ein klitzekleines Stückchen näher. Aber selbst reisen? Fehlanzeige. Ihr Fast-Verlobter will immer nur campen. Da tritt Alex ins Reisebüro – und in Harriets Leben. Er reist gern, fotografiert gut, kocht toll. Mit ihm scheint die Welt auf einmal nicht mehr so unerreichbar groß. Kein Wunder, dass sie schnell beste Freunde werden. Aber erst, als Alex sich mit einer anderen verloben will, erkennt Harriet, was sie wirklich fühlt
„Eine hinreißende Lovestory für alle Fans von Sophie Kinsella.“
Schon ihr ganzes Leben lang träumt Harriet Langton von der großen weiten Welt, von exotischen Ländern – und besonders von dem romantischen Zauber Venedigs! Durch ihren Job in einem Reisebüro ist sie diesem Traum ein klitzekleines Stückchen näher. Aber selbst reisen? Fehlanzeige. Ihr Fast-Verlobter will immer nur campen. Da tritt Alex ins Reisebüro – und in Harriets Leben. Er reist gern, fotografiert gut, kocht toll. Mit ihm scheint die Welt auf einmal nicht mehr so unerreichbar groß. Kein Wunder, dass sie schnell beste Freunde werden. Aber erst, als Alex sich mit einer anderen verloben will, erkennt Harriet, was sie wirklich fühlt
„Eine hinreißende Lovestory für alle Fans von Sophie Kinsella.“
304 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2010
65 people are currently reading
2159 people want to read
About the author
Miranda Dickinson
28 books662 followersMiranda Dickinson has always had a head full of stories. Coming from a creative family where stories and songs were always present, it was perhaps inevitable that she would end up adoring words. A songwriter for over 15 years, Miranda has successfully penned over thirty songs, delivering both live and recorded performances in a range of venues across the UK and Europe. Her first solo project album, About Time is due for release this year. To hear her music, visit www.mirandadickinson.com - and be sure to leave a message if you like it!
Miranda began writing in earnest four years ago with her first novel, Coffee at Kowalski's - a romantic comedy set in New York's Upper West Side. This was spotted on HarperCollins' site for unpublished authors, Authonomy.com at the end of 2008 and was released by Avon (part of HC) as Fairytale of New York on 12th November 2009. She has also written several short stories, scripts and novel excerpts, many of which are published on Helium.com. Miranda is also a regular contributor for www.myvillage.com writing a range of local interest articles for the Birmingham area and national film and festival reviews.
Miranda began writing in earnest four years ago with her first novel, Coffee at Kowalski's - a romantic comedy set in New York's Upper West Side. This was spotted on HarperCollins' site for unpublished authors, Authonomy.com at the end of 2008 and was released by Avon (part of HC) as Fairytale of New York on 12th November 2009. She has also written several short stories, scripts and novel excerpts, many of which are published on Helium.com. Miranda is also a regular contributor for www.myvillage.com writing a range of local interest articles for the Birmingham area and national film and festival reviews.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
July 25, 2023
Die 28-jährige Harriet ist Reiseverkehrskauffrau und träumt davon, eines Tages mit ihrem Liebsten nach Venedig zu fahren. Bisher ist sie aus England jedoch nicht herausgekommen und träumt immer nur von möglichen Reisen. Ihr bester Freund Alex dagegen war 10 Jahre lang auf Weltreise. Sie liebt es, seinen aufregenden Erzählungen von fremden Ländern zu lauschen. Alex´ Mutter Viv möchte ihren Sohn endlich in festen Händen wissen und bittet Harriet um Hilfe. Gemeinsam versuchen sie, Alex zu verkuppeln. Natürlich läuft alles ganz anders als geplant.
💗💗💗
Mein Leseeindruck:
Ich muss gestehen, dass mich die ersten 100 Seiten nicht wirklich fesseln konnten. Die Geschichte war zwar unterhaltsam, aber etwas hat mir gefehlt. Doch dann kam ein Punkt, an dem die Handlung mich doch fesseln konnte, und plötzlich wollte ich nur immer weiterlesen.
Harriet ist eine sehr sympathische Protagonistin, in die ich mich sehr gut hineinfühlen konnte. Ihr bester Freund Alex ist ebenfalls ein toller Charakter. Andere Nebencharaktere sind zum Teil etwas schräg, aber das macht sie auch interessant und liebenswert.
Der Schreibstil war für mich auch am Anfang etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber das Buch lässt sich schnell und flüssig lesen. Dabei gibt es am Beginn jedes Kapitels einen recht kurzen Einblick in die Gegenwart, die Geschichte wird dann aber in Rückblicken erzählt, bis die Handlung im letzten Kapitel in der Gegenwart angekommen ist.
Fazit: Es hat zwar ein wenig länger gedauert, bis ich mich eingelesen hatte, aber dann hat mich die Geschichte gepackt und ich hatte viel Spaß und großes Lesevergnügen mit dem Buch! Eine schöne romantische und auch witzige Geschichte, die ich gerne weiterempfehle!
💗💗💗
Mein Leseeindruck:
Ich muss gestehen, dass mich die ersten 100 Seiten nicht wirklich fesseln konnten. Die Geschichte war zwar unterhaltsam, aber etwas hat mir gefehlt. Doch dann kam ein Punkt, an dem die Handlung mich doch fesseln konnte, und plötzlich wollte ich nur immer weiterlesen.
Harriet ist eine sehr sympathische Protagonistin, in die ich mich sehr gut hineinfühlen konnte. Ihr bester Freund Alex ist ebenfalls ein toller Charakter. Andere Nebencharaktere sind zum Teil etwas schräg, aber das macht sie auch interessant und liebenswert.
Der Schreibstil war für mich auch am Anfang etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber das Buch lässt sich schnell und flüssig lesen. Dabei gibt es am Beginn jedes Kapitels einen recht kurzen Einblick in die Gegenwart, die Geschichte wird dann aber in Rückblicken erzählt, bis die Handlung im letzten Kapitel in der Gegenwart angekommen ist.
Fazit: Es hat zwar ein wenig länger gedauert, bis ich mich eingelesen hatte, aber dann hat mich die Geschichte gepackt und ich hatte viel Spaß und großes Lesevergnügen mit dem Buch! Eine schöne romantische und auch witzige Geschichte, die ich gerne weiterempfehle!
June 12, 2012
At times I really enjoyed this book, but overall my feeling towards this book is one of frustration.
The author does a good job of making her heroine both likeable and unlikable, I especially liked that the author delved into the theme of loneliness.
But there is a lot about this book that is frown-inducing; It was quite clear, even though it wasn't revealed until nearly the end, that the heroine's boyfriend was cheating - I felt this made the heroine out to be very stupid, and also there was never really any explanation as to why he did it, I felt there wasn't enough 'closure' on that part. The hero (and I use that term lightly) was an idiot, and he came off as very patronising towards the heroine. There is a part in the book where the heroine overhears him telling one of his friends that he only hangs out with her as he pities her - his response is that he only said that to get his friend off his back but I couldn't buy this, the author didn't really make him believable, or redeemable, after that. And the evil-girlfriend character and her antics just didn't make sense.
I felt there were a lot of good elements that weren't really used to their full potential.
The narrative was very slow, it dragged in places and many times I almost gave up reading. However the author hooked me in buy having the story begin in the present with the heroine hiding out in a toilet cubicle and us, the reader, not knowing why only that something bad has happened - and the rest of the book is all the events leading up to that moment.
Not a bad book just, I don't know, not quite there.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
The author does a good job of making her heroine both likeable and unlikable, I especially liked that the author delved into the theme of loneliness.
But there is a lot about this book that is frown-inducing; It was quite clear, even though it wasn't revealed until nearly the end, that the heroine's boyfriend was cheating - I felt this made the heroine out to be very stupid, and also there was never really any explanation as to why he did it, I felt there wasn't enough 'closure' on that part. The hero (and I use that term lightly) was an idiot, and he came off as very patronising towards the heroine. There is a part in the book where the heroine overhears him telling one of his friends that he only hangs out with her as he pities her - his response is that he only said that to get his friend off his back but I couldn't buy this, the author didn't really make him believable, or redeemable, after that. And the evil-girlfriend character and her antics just didn't make sense.
I felt there were a lot of good elements that weren't really used to their full potential.
The narrative was very slow, it dragged in places and many times I almost gave up reading. However the author hooked me in buy having the story begin in the present with the heroine hiding out in a toilet cubicle and us, the reader, not knowing why only that something bad has happened - and the rest of the book is all the events leading up to that moment.
Not a bad book just, I don't know, not quite there.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
November 7, 2020
Bila sam veoma skeptična kada sam krenula čitati ovu knjigu, naročito pošto mi se prvi deo nije svideo. Ali drugi deo zapravo i nije loš. I iako knjiga ima neke tipične klišee, ipak je na kraju ispala zanimiljiva i pomalo simpatična zajedno sa junacima. Bilo je i humora, ali i tužnih trenutaka. A najviše su me svidele rečenice i lepe i zanimljive misli pojedinih junaka. Sve u svemu, jedna solidna knjiga.
April 24, 2016
My bad. I took one book with me over Easter weekend, one! Only one! One that turned out to be meh, damn it, So I read it.
Harri works in a travel agency, and has never been anywhere. She was rather dull. She also has a stupid boyfriend who was always away. It was pretty obvious what he got up to. Why he stayed with her I do not know since he was always at work.
She has a friend who changes men like clothes
She has another friend Alex, who I liked at first, but then lost ALL respect for. I mean really...what? He most be the biggest idiot in the world.
Boring friendship with friends who do not give a F about each other. Stupid romance. A meh book that I read cos I had nothing else to read.
Harri works in a travel agency, and has never been anywhere. She was rather dull. She also has a stupid boyfriend who was always away. It was pretty obvious what he got up to. Why he stayed with her I do not know since he was always at work.
She has a friend who changes men like clothes
She has another friend Alex, who I liked at first, but then lost ALL respect for. I mean really...what? He most be the biggest idiot in the world.
Boring friendship with friends who do not give a F about each other. Stupid romance. A meh book that I read cos I had nothing else to read.
December 16, 2023
I picked up this book in an Egyptian beach resort, and thought, why not? Reader: I know why not.
This novel is about a woman, who does nothing exciting and whose name I genuinely can't remember. Genuinely that's how unmemorable the protagonist is - for the purposes of this review I'll call her Jane.
Jane has a dream. She wants to travel the world, and experience the travelling dream. You go Jane! She has a best-male-friend-but-just-friends called Alex, who is always off travelling, bringing back statues from India and learning to cook Thai food and all this other very impressive, inspiring stuff. Jane even works at a travel agent called STD. Inspiring stuff.
So how does our protagonist progress through this novel? By err... Doing absolutely nothing, but going to work and daydreaming about one day going travelling. That's it. That's the whole book. She has a very generic boyfriend called Rob, a character so beyond 2D I was momentarily concerned a spacetime continuum was inverted and he had in fact become 1D.
I had hope there might be some kind of character growth to the story. We all love a novel where the protagonist grows as a person, they find their own feet. Instead Jane just simpers; "Woe is me, why cant I go to Venice like you??". Ryanair, you big Dumbo. You book a £40 return. Infuriating internal monologues like these are basically the gist of the whole thing.
I ended up skim reading the second half of the book on the five hour flight back from Egypt, just to get it over and done with.
And to be fair, there were times where Welcome to My World does make you think. Thoughts such as, will my plane fall apart in the air and liberate me from the pain of this novel?? If I died in seat 32B, and aircraft investigators found my mangled corpse next to this book, would my relatives believe my last joy was this book? Would copies be handed out at my funeral to all 12 guests, in memoriam? Even now, the thought disturbs my sleep.
Anyway, spoiler alert. It turns out old reliable boyfriend Rob has had a bit on the side all along, and he's, sob sob, been to Venice. Venice I tell you. He was caught by keeping his ticket stub in his passport. Who has a physical ticket stub?? Who keeps it?? What is going on...
In the end, I put this book in the bin. There must be an award for that, right? A book so bad it must physically never be handed on to anyone else, like a videotape from a late nineties horror movie. I considered the risk even this may not be enough, and contacted experts from Sizewell B to get a second opinion on waste disposal.
This novel is about a woman, who does nothing exciting and whose name I genuinely can't remember. Genuinely that's how unmemorable the protagonist is - for the purposes of this review I'll call her Jane.
Jane has a dream. She wants to travel the world, and experience the travelling dream. You go Jane! She has a best-male-friend-but-just-friends called Alex, who is always off travelling, bringing back statues from India and learning to cook Thai food and all this other very impressive, inspiring stuff. Jane even works at a travel agent called STD. Inspiring stuff.
So how does our protagonist progress through this novel? By err... Doing absolutely nothing, but going to work and daydreaming about one day going travelling. That's it. That's the whole book. She has a very generic boyfriend called Rob, a character so beyond 2D I was momentarily concerned a spacetime continuum was inverted and he had in fact become 1D.
I had hope there might be some kind of character growth to the story. We all love a novel where the protagonist grows as a person, they find their own feet. Instead Jane just simpers; "Woe is me, why cant I go to Venice like you??". Ryanair, you big Dumbo. You book a £40 return. Infuriating internal monologues like these are basically the gist of the whole thing.
I ended up skim reading the second half of the book on the five hour flight back from Egypt, just to get it over and done with.
And to be fair, there were times where Welcome to My World does make you think. Thoughts such as, will my plane fall apart in the air and liberate me from the pain of this novel?? If I died in seat 32B, and aircraft investigators found my mangled corpse next to this book, would my relatives believe my last joy was this book? Would copies be handed out at my funeral to all 12 guests, in memoriam? Even now, the thought disturbs my sleep.
Anyway, spoiler alert. It turns out old reliable boyfriend Rob has had a bit on the side all along, and he's, sob sob, been to Venice. Venice I tell you. He was caught by keeping his ticket stub in his passport. Who has a physical ticket stub?? Who keeps it?? What is going on...
In the end, I put this book in the bin. There must be an award for that, right? A book so bad it must physically never be handed on to anyone else, like a videotape from a late nineties horror movie. I considered the risk even this may not be enough, and contacted experts from Sizewell B to get a second opinion on waste disposal.
May 3, 2018
2,5 stars?
After a long time I managed to finish this book and I must admit that I read the first 150 pages without skipping anything but after that I started skimming.I started reading just the dialogues.It was that boring.My thoughts:
1) Main character Harriet was so boring and dull honestly.I just got in a bad mood because of her,she is so ''depressing''.I mean,she wanted to travel the world and visit the city she adored her whole life,and she can't do it because she is too ''scared'',because she is waiting for her boyfriend to take her there and because she just likes to imagine more about those places than actually visit them.What?
2) Other characters were boring as well,I did kinda like Alex because he was a really nice guy even though his decisions were so stupid and he acted stupid most of the time but he had at least some good qualities (humour always gets to me). Harriet's best friend Stella was annoying and the only thing she cared about was money and all of a sudden (when she goes on a trip with Harriet to see Harriet's favorite author) she falls in love with him immediately.And then,to make it all worse,Harriet gets angry at her because that author was her dream guy.Like what? Are you a child or an adult? Grow up maybe? That was so stupid and I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at that scene.Just no.
3) The plot of this book is ridiculous.It's like one of those books you read when you were a teenager and you wanted to read some stupid romance and maybe then in that time you liked it.But now,taking in mind every book I've read,especially romance,this book looks funny next to those.It's just a chick lit,a bad one.And I couldn't stand the details,I skipped most of them,if not all of them.
4) Also what I hated was how quickly these characters fell in love.Oh my God.It's not even funny.You spend most of your life being best friend with another human being and when your boyfriend cheats on you,you suddenly realise you love your best friend.Haha,so funny it hurts.And same goes for Alex.One day he is in love with his girlfriend,they were even engaged,only to find out the following day you actually loooovee your best friend (Harriet). That's so not my thing.
I was almost ready to DNF this book but because I already read 150 pages I wanted to finish it.Otherwise it would be a complete waste of time.I'm not saying that this book is the worst romance book but it wasn't for me.I wanted to relax and enjoy my romance book but this was a wrong choice.
After a long time I managed to finish this book and I must admit that I read the first 150 pages without skipping anything but after that I started skimming.I started reading just the dialogues.It was that boring.My thoughts:
1) Main character Harriet was so boring and dull honestly.I just got in a bad mood because of her,she is so ''depressing''.I mean,she wanted to travel the world and visit the city she adored her whole life,and she can't do it because she is too ''scared'',because she is waiting for her boyfriend to take her there and because she just likes to imagine more about those places than actually visit them.What?
2) Other characters were boring as well,I did kinda like Alex because he was a really nice guy even though his decisions were so stupid and he acted stupid most of the time but he had at least some good qualities (humour always gets to me). Harriet's best friend Stella was annoying and the only thing she cared about was money and all of a sudden (when she goes on a trip with Harriet to see Harriet's favorite author) she falls in love with him immediately.And then,to make it all worse,Harriet gets angry at her because that author was her dream guy.Like what? Are you a child or an adult? Grow up maybe? That was so stupid and I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at that scene.Just no.
3) The plot of this book is ridiculous.It's like one of those books you read when you were a teenager and you wanted to read some stupid romance and maybe then in that time you liked it.But now,taking in mind every book I've read,especially romance,this book looks funny next to those.It's just a chick lit,a bad one.And I couldn't stand the details,I skipped most of them,if not all of them.
4) Also what I hated was how quickly these characters fell in love.Oh my God.It's not even funny.You spend most of your life being best friend with another human being and when your boyfriend cheats on you,you suddenly realise you love your best friend.Haha,so funny it hurts.And same goes for Alex.One day he is in love with his girlfriend,they were even engaged,only to find out the following day you actually loooovee your best friend (Harriet). That's so not my thing.
I was almost ready to DNF this book but because I already read 150 pages I wanted to finish it.Otherwise it would be a complete waste of time.I'm not saying that this book is the worst romance book but it wasn't for me.I wanted to relax and enjoy my romance book but this was a wrong choice.
November 14, 2010
The story of Welcome to my World follows the events that lead to Harriet having locked herself in a toilet cubicle, which is where we find her at the start of the book. Each chapter starts with a little more to add to this present part of the story, while the rest of the chapter carries on with the past goings on. Harri is a travel agent in a small town, who's never travelled out of the country - she has a variety of excuses for not having done so: not wanting to go alone, her boyfriend Rob preferring to holiday in the UK and so on. Harri's best guy friend, Alex, has more than made up for this, having travelled all over the world before returning to the town to open up a coffee shop. A large aspect of the story is about Harri trying to help Alex find his ideal girlfriend by placing an ad in a magazine.
While the book is well written, I found it dull. Most of the time it seemed like nothing was happening, or at least nothing very exciting. There was lots of random things described throughout that as far as I could see weren't all that relevent to the plot. When it came to plot points, I felt they were all very predictable and I would have liked an element of surprise. There was lots of character development going on to the degree that I felt like I knew way too much about even the minor characters - and there were a lot of them. Despite this though, I didn't find myself warming to any of them particularly. Harri annoyed me a little because she was kind of pathetic - which was probably the point but I prefer a character I can relate to and like rather than wanting to yell "for gods sake, just get a grip."
Although this book wasn't really for me, I think that others will probably like it and it made for easy light reading. If you're like action and a strong female lead you should probably look elsewhere.
While the book is well written, I found it dull. Most of the time it seemed like nothing was happening, or at least nothing very exciting. There was lots of random things described throughout that as far as I could see weren't all that relevent to the plot. When it came to plot points, I felt they were all very predictable and I would have liked an element of surprise. There was lots of character development going on to the degree that I felt like I knew way too much about even the minor characters - and there were a lot of them. Despite this though, I didn't find myself warming to any of them particularly. Harri annoyed me a little because she was kind of pathetic - which was probably the point but I prefer a character I can relate to and like rather than wanting to yell "for gods sake, just get a grip."
Although this book wasn't really for me, I think that others will probably like it and it made for easy light reading. If you're like action and a strong female lead you should probably look elsewhere.
February 28, 2019
Not as good as I remember.
April 15, 2021
This book is one I've had for years to read and I've finally got round to it!
It's a nice steady chilled out read with a cute story. I can really relate to the main characters passion for travelling. 🌎 I also really liked the character Alex I thought his story worked really well. I wouldn't say this is an amazing read but I enjoyed it as a relaxed read.
It's a nice steady chilled out read with a cute story. I can really relate to the main characters passion for travelling. 🌎 I also really liked the character Alex I thought his story worked really well. I wouldn't say this is an amazing read but I enjoyed it as a relaxed read.
December 3, 2010
Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster… And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton’s world. All her life she’s dreamt of travelling the globe – fate always got in the way. Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in. With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers that she’s alienating those around her. Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri’s leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?
Last year I read and adored Miranda Dickinson’s debut novel Fairytale of New York, I thought the story was excellent, and the ending made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside which is all I ask from a novel. So when I saw her second novel up on Amazon, I was thrilled and it became one of the novels I was desperate to read and it killed me I had to wait until November to read it but when my copy finally arrived, I immediately finished up my previous novel and got stuck into Welcome To My World.
I was sucked into Welcome To My World immediately as the full extent of Harri’s problems isn’t immediately told to us. All we know from the first paragraph is that Harri is not the type of person to lock herself in a toilet, yet that is where she finds herself. We then travel back to the fateful day that sets the night in question in motion and from then on, at the beginning of each chapter we get a snippet about Harri’s present situation before diving back into how it all came that Harri found herself locked in a toilet stall. I thought it was such a clever way of writing the novel as it really built up the suspense over why exactly Harri had seen fit to lock herself in a toilet. I’m not the most patient person in the world, and used to have a habit of skipping to the back of the novel to learn how it all ends, and you have no idea how desperate I was to do the same with Welcome To My World. However, I kept my patience in check and was handsomely rewarded come the end of the novel.
But what Miranda really excells at, is that she manages to make her characters so real and she connects us to them so well. I fell in love with Harri from the first line, and she’s such a wonderful character that I truly hoped the story would end well for her. The fact that she’s a travel agent who has never actually travelled made me feel so sad. I wasn’t entirely convinced by Rob, Harri’s boyfriend, because he worked away a lot we barely get to see him, and I admit he did seem nice at first but I always had a few doubts about him. The main man for me, though, was the lovely lovely Alex. I loved how he fed Harri’s travelling addiction, and I loved how easy-going their relationship was. For me, that was my favourite part of the novel. Alex’s mum Viv is a prominent character and really sparkled and Harri’s best friend Stella and Aunt Rosemary (who you may recognise from Fairytale of New York as she’s Rosie’s mum!) add to the cast nicely.
I must admit, I did worry that Welcome To My World wouldn’t live up to my expectations, and wouldn’t match the fantasticness that was Fairytale of New York but I am very happy to announce that I was wrong. Welcome To My World was just as good as Fairytale of New York. It’s true, there’s not a lot going action-wise, but for me, I read Miranda’s books for the story, for the unravelling of the plot, not for cliched action scenes that appear in a lot of Chick Lit novels. Miranda has a very distinct writing style, and a distinct way of telling a story and for me it’s a huge hit. You have no idea how sad I am to have finished the novel as it means a wait of another 12 months before Miranda’s next one It Started With A Kiss, but believe me, it will definitely be worth the wait.
Last year I read and adored Miranda Dickinson’s debut novel Fairytale of New York, I thought the story was excellent, and the ending made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside which is all I ask from a novel. So when I saw her second novel up on Amazon, I was thrilled and it became one of the novels I was desperate to read and it killed me I had to wait until November to read it but when my copy finally arrived, I immediately finished up my previous novel and got stuck into Welcome To My World.
I was sucked into Welcome To My World immediately as the full extent of Harri’s problems isn’t immediately told to us. All we know from the first paragraph is that Harri is not the type of person to lock herself in a toilet, yet that is where she finds herself. We then travel back to the fateful day that sets the night in question in motion and from then on, at the beginning of each chapter we get a snippet about Harri’s present situation before diving back into how it all came that Harri found herself locked in a toilet stall. I thought it was such a clever way of writing the novel as it really built up the suspense over why exactly Harri had seen fit to lock herself in a toilet. I’m not the most patient person in the world, and used to have a habit of skipping to the back of the novel to learn how it all ends, and you have no idea how desperate I was to do the same with Welcome To My World. However, I kept my patience in check and was handsomely rewarded come the end of the novel.
But what Miranda really excells at, is that she manages to make her characters so real and she connects us to them so well. I fell in love with Harri from the first line, and she’s such a wonderful character that I truly hoped the story would end well for her. The fact that she’s a travel agent who has never actually travelled made me feel so sad. I wasn’t entirely convinced by Rob, Harri’s boyfriend, because he worked away a lot we barely get to see him, and I admit he did seem nice at first but I always had a few doubts about him. The main man for me, though, was the lovely lovely Alex. I loved how he fed Harri’s travelling addiction, and I loved how easy-going their relationship was. For me, that was my favourite part of the novel. Alex’s mum Viv is a prominent character and really sparkled and Harri’s best friend Stella and Aunt Rosemary (who you may recognise from Fairytale of New York as she’s Rosie’s mum!) add to the cast nicely.
I must admit, I did worry that Welcome To My World wouldn’t live up to my expectations, and wouldn’t match the fantasticness that was Fairytale of New York but I am very happy to announce that I was wrong. Welcome To My World was just as good as Fairytale of New York. It’s true, there’s not a lot going action-wise, but for me, I read Miranda’s books for the story, for the unravelling of the plot, not for cliched action scenes that appear in a lot of Chick Lit novels. Miranda has a very distinct writing style, and a distinct way of telling a story and for me it’s a huge hit. You have no idea how sad I am to have finished the novel as it means a wait of another 12 months before Miranda’s next one It Started With A Kiss, but believe me, it will definitely be worth the wait.
May 1, 2013
I read Miranda Dickinson's other three novels before and really enjoyed them, but this one I really couldn't get into. I struggled to read through it all, I hated half the characters, even the ones I know I was supposed to be cheering for, and I was really disappointed by the lack of resolution to the story at the end of it all. I have to say that I really loved the concept of a story's main character, Harri, - a travel agent who had never travelled abroad before - but the whole thing was an exercise in confusion and despicable characters who all appear to be cheating on each other or ruining each other's lives when they're all supposed to love and care about each other. And I swear I could rant endlessly about the character of Stella, the 'best friend' of the novel who seems to delight in cutting Harri down at every available moment while she swans around with her perfect, and highly unrealistic, life.
The whole novel was just so frustrating to read, especially because I was looking forward to it and it ended up so far below my expectations. I gave Welcome to My World two stars because I liked the idea behind it and I actually finished it without flouncing. This isn't one that I would recommend though.
The whole novel was just so frustrating to read, especially because I was looking forward to it and it ended up so far below my expectations. I gave Welcome to My World two stars because I liked the idea behind it and I actually finished it without flouncing. This isn't one that I would recommend though.
April 13, 2011
Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for chick lit, but by the end of this book I was annoyed and the more I think about it, the more annoyed I become. I may have liked it better in first person and I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I'd liked the main character better. I kept thinking fondly of Kirstin Gore's character Sammy in Sammy's Hill and wishing for a protagonist like that to cheer up the book.
August 16, 2012
This book frustrated me. There were times when I had to convince myself to keep going and parts that kept me moving along. Perhaps if it had been a little shorter I would have enjoyed it more?? At times it felt like getting to the point took way too long and some of the dialogue felt unnatural. I also dislike when authors blatantly say things like "little did they know that would all change" at the end of a chapter. (Last comment: the cat's name was Ron Howard. That got annoying fast.)
May 12, 2018
Harriet was a character which i found was likeable and relate-able to this is one of the main reasons i enjoyed this book. The first paragraph or so is set in a ladies loo were Harriet is hiding (in the present day) each chapter takes you through how she ended up there. The book was better than i thought it was going to be at first i wondered how long it would take to find out why she's hiding in a ladies loo cubical. The main plot of the book is Harriet's boyfriend Rob is always working away (or so she thinks) so she agrees to help best friend Alex's mum set him up with a woman. They set him on several dates through a magazine sort of thing for them to fall out and Harriet sets Alex up with Chelsea (a fake tanned barbie doll). He surprising takes to Chelsea. However the biggest shock for both of them is yet to come when Harriet and Alex kiss. I enjoyed the details about the holidays she would like to take her number one place to visit is Venice. She does end up visiting Venice however it is right at the end of the book so we don't get to hear much about the spots she visits in Venice.
November 29, 2025
2.5 stars. I wanted to like this book but it was just too disjointed and underdeveloped for me. The book follows Harriett (Harri) who really wants to go to Venice, but she has never traveled. She is a travel agent who lives through other people. She didn't travel as a kid because her parents were scared of flying, but why she never traveled as an adult is beyond me. Anywho, her parents are both dead so her "mom" figure is her guy friend's mom. She convinces her to help sign the guy up for a dating ad in a magazine. She starts weeding through responses (without him knowing) and setting him up with people. They're all misses until she gets mad at him and sets him up with a joke date and surprise! it sticks. She has a boyfriend who always chooses work over her and we don't like him from the beginning. You know from the get go that the ultimate goal is for her and her friend to get together, but there was no chemistry and no development of their relationship or of him as a character. The traveling thing was also a dumb add on. There are too many side characters and this book just felt chaotic and not good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2017
When I read Dickinson’s It Started With A Kiss, I looked forward to reading more of her work. So, I read Welcome to My World. Dickinson’s book is about Harriet Langton. Harriet works for a local travel agency. But she’s never travelled, and the one place that she really wants to visit (Venice) will be no fun without going with the love of her life. She meets Alex, a care-free spirit, who travelled for 10 years. They form a friendship, and Harriet finds herself in a surreal situation involving a magazine, lots of letters and a new realisation.
I liked Harriet’s passion for travel. It’s nice to meet a character passionate about visiting different countries. She had great chemistry with her best friend Alex and his mum. Her work colleagues added an extra depth of humour to the novel...
Read the rest of the review at www.wordscollide.co.uk
I liked Harriet’s passion for travel. It’s nice to meet a character passionate about visiting different countries. She had great chemistry with her best friend Alex and his mum. Her work colleagues added an extra depth of humour to the novel...
Read the rest of the review at www.wordscollide.co.uk
September 10, 2018
These characters are not fun to read about, unfortunately. It had potential but I feel like everyone was making decisions that just didn't make sense. A huge fight was brewing and then it was over in half a paragraph. The travel obsessed travel agent has never left the country, only saying 'you know why' except the readers had no idea why. Alex may not have pitied her, but I sure did since she waited around for permission to live her life. I finished it only to be done it. I've read some other Dickenson books and they've been entertaining enough but she missed by a long while with this one.
July 11, 2019
I loved the structure of this book. When the book opens, something has happened to make Harri take refuge in a cubicle of the ladies' toilets at Stone Yardley Village Hall. Each chapter returns to Harri in her cubicle and then goes onto reveal more backstory until it leads up to the present and takes you on from there to the conclusion. It's an unusual device but one that really works well and each time it lets you digest what's happened to date before the story moves on.
April 19, 2020
My third read from Miranda Dickinson. I didn’t like this book at the first few chapters, it was too dragging, but the ending did not disappoint me, unlike “It Started With A Kiss”. Cheers to this one though, it’s almost as good as “Fairytale of New York” and I now get Dickinson’s style of writing — she drags the storyline and wraps it up in the last chapter. It’s cool, but I’d still prefer elaborate endings that shows a bit of an epilogue on the characters lives.
December 22, 2020
I really thought this book was leading to something good, maybe some travelling, some feel good romance. And while the ending was an expected satisfaction, I feel like I spent more time reading descriptions of eating and the characters' boring everyday lives.
Seriously. I can't even believe I bought this book, and there was a HUGE potential but it just felt like there were only 3 chapters worth reading and the rest were filler chapters of nothingness.
Absolutely wasted RM17.90 on this.
Seriously. I can't even believe I bought this book, and there was a HUGE potential but it just felt like there were only 3 chapters worth reading and the rest were filler chapters of nothingness.
Absolutely wasted RM17.90 on this.
January 2, 2022
So I’m a big fan of a chick lit read - I can whiz through them, I know I’ll enjoy it and they’ll fill my heart with joy. What I particularly loved about this one, was that for a long time, I couldn’t quite predict what would happen. I mean, I knew most likely what the outcome would be but I had zero clue how it would get there. Super fun with lots of travelly dreaming - ideal start to my 52 book challenge!
September 14, 2022
I probably wouldn’t have finished this if I had listened to it. Since I read it, I could skim large parts of it. The writing was really weak, Hatti was a sad sack, and it was very predictable. The only thing I didn’t predict was the relationship with Chelsea which just made me think Alex was a sad sack.
Two stars because I finished it, although I’m not completely sure why. Maybe just 1 1/2 stars.
Two stars because I finished it, although I’m not completely sure why. Maybe just 1 1/2 stars.
April 17, 2023
Harri works in a travel agent and has always dreamt of going to Venice but has been nowhere.
Her boyfriend of 7 years is unreliable.
Without giving it away, her life is turn upside down and she decides to go to Greece. Things change in her return.
As someone who had always wanted to go to Venice (since I was 11) and waited over 20 years to finally go, I felt for Harri. I liked this book and I wanted Harri to ditch her useless boyfriend so badly.
Her boyfriend of 7 years is unreliable.
Without giving it away, her life is turn upside down and she decides to go to Greece. Things change in her return.
As someone who had always wanted to go to Venice (since I was 11) and waited over 20 years to finally go, I felt for Harri. I liked this book and I wanted Harri to ditch her useless boyfriend so badly.
December 23, 2022
I was hooked onto this story from the beginning as each chapter starts with a snippet from the present and then goes back to the past which keeps you pulled in. And goes full circle in the end.
However, it does take the whole book to get to what is being alluded to and it could be a bit shorter, some of the plot just feels like fluff to add pages.
Overall, a nice easy read.
However, it does take the whole book to get to what is being alluded to and it could be a bit shorter, some of the plot just feels like fluff to add pages.
Overall, a nice easy read.
January 24, 2017
"Absolute truth is the only pure thing we have in this life. To deny its place,is to deny life itself " - Pg 87 of Welcome To My World by Miranda Dickinson. ➡️This is my 2nd read of Miranda Dickinson's spilled inks. And, I must say she has definitely gotta fan in me
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2019
La storia narrata non è affatto brutta, peccato che Harriet in molti capitoli sia un po noiosa e ripetitiva, non mi ha attratta molto il suo personaggio. È un peccato perché, ribadisco, la storia non è male.
June 1, 2021
Lovely book, can’t believe this was in the back of my book shelf.
Decided it was time to see what was lurking behind the front row.
Great story, kept me guessing why Harri was hiding all the way to the end.
Thank you Miranda.
Decided it was time to see what was lurking behind the front row.
Great story, kept me guessing why Harri was hiding all the way to the end.
Thank you Miranda.
June 12, 2017
Nahh its all a book that would get you to sleep
October 16, 2017
I so enjoyed Miranda's writing style. Though once or twice a little irritated with Harri and wanted to give her a shake. Something I think Miranda had wanted from her readers. Great holiday read.
June 11, 2018
glad I stuck with it. slow beginning but much better after awhile. the ending was interesting
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