Blokes, Beers and Burritos

I was sent Blokes, Beers and Burritos, to review for you and initially I was a bit dazzled by the vibrant pink cover. While I love chick lit, this was quite full on.

The book turns out to be a fascinating read, though, and shouldn’t be dismissed as just another disposable chick lit novel. Yes, it manages to be lovely and light, and even rather saucy in places, BUT it will also make you think and maybe even teach you a thing or two.

Heroine Cath goes on quite a journey, literally and figuratively, and I found myself enjoying the comic back-packer’s eye view of various exotic countries (Mexico, South America, bits of the Caribbean) almost as much as her misadventures with a bunch of ‘unsuitable’ men.

The writer, Jo Blakeley, admits it’s a semi-autobiographical tale and she has a laudable mission – to stop other drifting 20- and 30-somethings from making her own mistakes. It’s hard to imagine from such a positive and bouncy narrative, but apparently she was full of negativity and had a tendency to choose the wrong boyfriends as well.

I found myself eagerly looking forward to each lesson and thought it seemed a very useful self-help book for people who wouldn’t normally go near that genre, as well as a fun read. I never thought I’d be reading about NLP in a chick lit novel, that’s for sure. If I had one quibble, it would be that the proof reading could have been improved – but I’m an editor as well as a writer so I would say that, wouldn’t I?

A fun and intriguing book which I really enjoyed and read from cover to cover in a couple of sittings. I’ll pass it on to my daughters in the hope that they never have to get up to half the things Cath does in order to attain inner peace and happiness. A perfect summer read.

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