I have exams in two days and I'm hooked into this series. Really really hooked. At the beginning it was kind of like a meh it's entertaining enough series but now I can't get enough of the cast. I won't lie, I thought this was the last instalment and I nearly cried but yay there's another one. Fuck exams I'll just get out my life saving and go to New York, who needs college when the potential of finding a hot musician boyfriend and JLo as my BFF is waiting for me in the big apple. Angela Clark is loved up in New York with her rocker boyfriend Alex who has proposed and is now her fiance. She’s working towards an exciting new job and now she’s just been told that if she can pull off a presentation back in London, her new job will be much more exciting than she imagined. So Angela has to go home and the presentation combines perfectly with her mother’s 60th birthday.When Angela steps back on England soil, it’s like she immediately regresses to her teenage self, sulkily arguing with her mother. Alex is also coming over for the birthday and to meet her parents properly who have made it quite clear that they don’t really trust this new American musician boyfriend. A misunderstanding and a manically depressed Jenny Lopez lead to Angela reluctantly agreeing to get married in London, combining the wedding with her mother’s birthday party.Everyone remembers how well Angela behaved at the last wedding she attended and now everything is combining to stress her out. Jenny is an unstoppable force but her and Angela’s longtime best friend don’t see eye to eye on anything and Angela feels like she’s constantly in the middle trying to keep the peace. Her mother thinks there’s a special reason Angela is getting married to Alex and keeps trying to feed her crackers. And Mark, her cheating ex is suddenly back in the picture. Is Angela making the right choice or is everything leading towards another disaster?Okay so I did something I pretty much never do knowingly and that’s read a series out of order. I’ve read the first book in this series, I Heart New York and had numbers 3, 4 and 5 from my local library. However someone had #2 and didn’t really seem at all interested in returning it and in the end I had to return the ones I had as well. When I saw this in a pile of my Nan’s books (to be honest I’m not entirely sure why it’s there, it’s not really her sort of book) I decided to throw caution to the wind and read it while I was here. I already knew who Angela ended up with, it happens in the end of I Heart New York and I love Alex so I wanted to read them getting married. I’ve obviously missed quite a bit of stuff in their relationship but honestly, it didn’t really matter that much.This book sees Angela returning to her previous home to London. It’s been some time since she was there and a few things have changed – her childhood best friend Louisa has a baby now, which has obviously altered Louisa’s life and what she can do. Angela isn’t quite sure how to interact with baby Grace, especially when Louisa chides her for not having had ‘the conversation’ with Alex about whether or not they’ll be having children. Her mother seems to know precisely how to push all of Angela’s buttons and seems set against Alex, simply because he’s both an American and a musician. Her mother is actually pretty irritating in general for most of the book and I ended up forming quite a lot of sympathy for Angela’s father. It’s really no wonder he has his secret vice out in his garden shed!I really liked Jenny in I Heart New York and this may be the one part where not reading books 2, 3 and 4 became a bit problematic. It is summarised briefly, what has happened to her recently but perhaps not experiencing it made me less sympathetic towards Jenny and more likely to get irritated with her. She was like a woman possessed with the wedding, throwing herself into organising it within an inch of its life, taking over every single detail. At times I really just wanted Angela to tell her to pull her head in! But Angela seemed too scared to stand up to her, just letting the juggernaut of Jenny roll on, even when she and Louisa started getting into some pretty crazy arguments. It’s never nice to be in the middle of two friends, both of whom are probably a bit jealous and insecure of each other, having been at different times, the closest friends Angela’s ever had. Sometimes both of them got pretty out of line and mostly what Angela wanted was getting swallowed up in their rivalry and she was desperately trying to appease them both.As always, Alex is amazing! I do love his character and I love him and Angela together. I absolutely have to go back and re-request all the books I haven’t read now and hope that the person who was hoarding #2 has finally returned it (and it looks like they have so now I am going to request *all of the things!* and make my husband go and pick them up for me whilst I am still away). Do I care that I have read this one out of order? Surprisingly, no. Normally it bugs me a lot but reading about Angela and Alex just made me happy. Maybe the earlier books are full of angst so when I’m reading them, I can hold onto the knowledge that it will all be okay.
What do You think about Ik Hou Van Londen (2012)?
So, when I found out the I Heart series would be coming back home I was beyond excited, and I must say all my expectations were met and exceeded. The quirky Surrey suburban descriptions were spot on so much so I can't believe Lindsey is a northerner, the way she writes it is as if she has lived there forever. Every character was assigned a duty in this book which I really liked, it was the first time I began to slightly warm to Jenny, and dare I say it felt sorry for her. I felt that she was more giving and selfless in this episode than in previous I Hearts and it was nice to see. As always Alex is amazing and not just a pretty face! He is super kind and courteous, but still mysterious - do we know anything about his family?I found Louisa's jealousy really mean and her bitterness towards Angela regarding her new life very unfair, this strung a chord with me personally so really tugged at my heart strings. The constant guilt trips were horrid, that is a big bear of mine. I have always felt Angela never speaks her mind enough and can be too soft at times, her inner lioness come out finally. The very Britishness of everyone in Angela's home town is hilarious, Angela's parents with their funny little ways, the annoying ex who just won't give-in and the secret in the shed was just a gem!I don't want to give the plot away but I think I loved this book the best because of the reason why everyone was n London, and the furore surrounding the event with all the joy, confusion, tears, laughter, paranoia, anger, guilt, jealousy, glamour, glitz and disaster I reallllly wanted everything to tie up perfectly.So I was over the moon with the ending, and I'm hoping that I heart Christmas will have the pitter patter of little feet...
—Gabz
It's been a while since I've caught up on Angela's adventures. Having read I heart Paris & Vegas quite close together I was ready for a bit of a break.So when I picked up I heart London I wasn't sure what scrapes she'd get into this time. All the usual suspects are there, Jenny, Delia, CiCi Alex's bandmates and this time her parent's are featured heavily in the story...as is the scumbag ex, Mark (who after two years, I still kinda hope his wash bag stinks of pee).I do love the humour in these books and Angela's mishaps would seem a bit unbelievable if they happened to anyone else except Angela, I love Angela & Alex together, he is the calm to her insanity.Thoroughly happy with the ending to this book and Angela has definitely come a long way!
—Klstroli
Just usual chick lit. Nothing memorable, didn't really engage with the characters
—alexee
The best and my favourite I heart book.
—saikat
I heart the I heart books!!! Amazing!!
—Echavez9579
