‘Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. A marketing manager by day, she tweets her friends, instagrams every meal and arranges (frankly, appalling) dates on Tinder. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall.
Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria, that she just happens to need help doing up. Soon, too, Daisy finds herself with two welcome distractions: sexy French exchange-help Jean-Marie, and Jack, the brusque and rugged man-next-door, who keeps accidentally rescuing her.
But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone?’ (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon UK.)
If anyone hasn’t heard of Anna Bell yet, she’s an author worth checking out. I’ve reviewed a few of her books now and have enjoyed them all. It’s great when you find an author whose books you continually look forward to reading; your ‘go-to’ author you know won’t disappoint, and Anna Bell is definitely one of my current favourites. So as you can imagine, I was pleased to receive her latest book, It Started With a Tweet, for review.
Daisy is a social media addict whose constant use leads to quite a major slip up on a night out when she drunkenly posts using her work account instead of her personal one. Cue Daisy suddenly finding herself without a job. Daisy is also increasingly playing gooseberry at home where she lives with her loved-up best friend. So when her sister Rosie suggests a detox break in Cumbria, she reluctantly agrees. But this detox trip isn’t quite what Daisy had in mind. Luxury it is not.
As usual, Anna cleverly weaves in social media platforms into her novel to make give it that contemporary feel. Again, it delivers on having a traditional ‘chick lit’ feel whilst being very current in delivery.
The idea of exploring life without access to a mobile and the Internet was an interesting one. We probably all like to think we could manage, but could we? Well, I enjoyed Daisy’s journey, and struggle, to live life offline. There are plenty of funny moments in this novel concerning Daisy’s desperation to get online. There are also moving moments and a real sense of getting back to basics which I loved. I personally love getting away to remote places that have no/poor signals, so enjoyed the isolated setting of the novel in Cumbria and all this had to offer.
As well as a literal need to get back to basics, there were some lovely moments between the characters who couldn’t rely on phones or social media to ‘connect’ with each other. Daisy and Rosie aren’t actually that close at the beginning of the novel, but it was moving to see how this relationship developed. I also enjoyed the sweet notes between Daisy and a love interest, it all felt very romantic.
Another great read from Anna Bell. Put down your phones for a few hours and enjoy a detox through reading! Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks to Zaffre for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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