Review: Holly's Inbox

Summary: System alert: Inbox full of scandal, romance, and office hilarity!

Meet Holly Denham. It's her first day as a receptionist at a London investment bank and inexperienced Holly is struggling. How's a working girl supposed to have a love life with a demanding job, crazy friends, a dysfunctional family, and gossipy colleagues? Not to mention that Holly's been keeping a secret from everyone - and the past is about to catch up with her.

An affair with a sexy VP heats things up at the office, but when Holly's first flame (who, she thinks, left her in the lurch) gets a job at the same company, complications abound and Holly's inbox becomes a daily source of drama, laughter and scandal.

Repeatedly compared to Bridget Jones' Diary, www.hollysinbox.com became a website phenomenon, with thousands of daily visitors from all over the world. This novel tells Holly's story in full, and also includes exclusive extra material not available on the site. -- Sourcebooks Casablanca

When I opened the package containing HOLLY'S INBOX by Holly Denham, my first reaction was "This book is huge!" -- it's actually over 660 pages. My second reaction, which came pretty quickly after my first one, was "It better be good because it's a really big book." However, when I opened the book and saw that the story was written entirely in the form of e-mail messages, I realized that it wasn't that intimidating. Plus this book was already a huge hit in the U.K. and has been translated into six languages; so I knew lots of people had already enjoyed this book!

I packed up HOLLY'S INBOX to read at the shore because I figured it would be a light and funny book, and I really didn't want to concentrate too much on my vacation; however, I actually started the book on the way to the beach. It took me about 25 pages to get into the swing of things -- I had a few problems following the e-mails going back and forth and keeping track of who the characters were. But after I figured things out, I couldn't put the book down. I was shocked by how quickly the book moved and by how much I enjoyed it! I took the book with me to the beach later in the day and finished it within a few hours. It was just a perfect read for my vacation!

HOLLY'S INBOX is actually written by Bill Surie, not Holly Denham -- Holly is just the main characters in the story/e-mails. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about a chick-lit book being written by a man. I mean...how can a 40 year old guy really "get" women and their issues? Well, it's been awhile since I was working in an office and dealing with co-workers, but I swear Mr. Surie nailed it. All the office gossip and pettiness that I remember were incorporated into this novel (but they were a lot funnier to me now that I'm removed from all of that.) I read an interview with Mr. Surie in the New York Post, and I learned that he got the idea for this book from the e-mails of a woman he had just fired. For some reason, I thought this was just hilarious!

Before there was a book, there was a very popular website devoted to "Holly's Inbox." If you are interested in this book, then you have to check it out. The site looks just like an e-mail inbox with contacts and e-mails. The site has had thousands of people from 120 countries visiting it. You can definitely learn more about Holly and her friends/co-workers/family/etc. as well as the author's writing style. I think it's a great way to preview the book before you buy it.

I thoroughly enjoyed HOLLY'S INBOX and I definitely recommend it to all of you who are fans of the chick lit genre (especially Brit Chick Lit.) It is a very funny story with lots of cute storylines and even a little romance thrown in. I think it's a perfect summer getaway book -- whether you read it while you're away on vacation or just when you want to escape from everyday life!

Thanks to the publisher and author for sending me a copy of this very entertaining book!