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What’s it about?
Their love survived the 80s. She wished she hadn’t.
A funny, bitter-sweet romantic dramedy set to an 80’s soundtrack, proving first love never truly dies…
Libby London fell in love in with the 80s, came of age in the 90s, and now, in the 21st Century, she’s completely falling apart… Her New York City fashion sensibility is more ‘vintage tragedy’ than ‘retro babe’ and might just be what’s holding her back in all matters of life and love…
At least that’s what her well-meaning friends think. They’ve staged a #80sIntervention in an effort to bring Libby bang up-to-date. But how do you move forward when the one you love holds you in the past? Between her dreaded birthday party, friend’s madcap ambush, and being forced to relocate her Pretty In Pink thrift shop, Libby’s nearing the end of the rope… If her therapist isn’t quick, it could be a literal one.
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Review
“As we get older, every relationship is tainted by the ones before. You enter sceptical, wanting to be proved wrong. But with your first love, you aren’t experienced enough to know any better. Your heart is wide open and unblemished. That’s why it stays with you. Why Ollie’s stayed with me.”
What a wonderful story ! Holding Out for a Hero is all about the eighties, so like it or leave it. Libby is seriously stuck in the ‘80s and her friends call for an intervention. She needs a make-over badly as far as they’re concerned and she needs to move forward with her life. In two weeks’ time it’s her 33rd birthday and they want her to show up at her birthday party with a partner. In order to bring her into the twenty-first century, they set her up with a series of blind dates, each one corresponding to one of the characters of the ’85 movie The Breakfast Club, a movie that defined the decade she’s stuck in. If you haven’t seen it, like me, you are kind of missing out on some of the fun since there are a lot of references to the movie and the actors. In fact, there are lots of references to the ‘80s in general and the more knowledge you have of what was hot and happening, the more fully you’ll be able to enjoy the story. It did annoy me at times that I did not really understand some references, it was like I sometimes didn’t really get the punchline of a joke. Even so, google helped me a long way with that, and I just loved all the different dates Libby had to undergo, each one almost more hilarious than the other and my absolute favorite part was the account of the pirate mini-golf.
Reading Holding Out for a Hero about Libby’s struggle with life and love made me laugh so much! This is really a laugh-out-loud book so be aware and don’t be surprised for the looks you might get if you read it in a public place. It’s bound to put you in a good mood for the day, it’s written with so much wit and ease, and Libby London has delightful tongue-in-cheek humour.
It’s hard to believe the book is so funny when the main character is also seeing a psychologist because she needs help with her insomnia and bouts of depression as she calls it. These moments of distress are perfectly combined with the hilarious dates that fall upon Libby, and ultimately, as the story progresses, this serious side comes up more and more and her slow surrender to let go of her first love, really lifts up the story.
This book is not only a light-hearted chick-lit novel but is also touching and hart-warming. A great read!
*I received a free copy of this book from the publicist in exchange for my honest opinion*
The Belgian Reviewer 