Book Review... You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Sarra Manning

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Sarra Manning
Corgi, 2011
ISBN: 9780552165402













My rating

From the back cover:

"Sweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules. 
And the rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don't get guys like gorgeous William, heir to Neve's heart since university. But William's been in LA for three years, and Neve's been slimming down and reinventing herself so that when he returns, he'll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her. 
So she's not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she's an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she'd better get some, well, experience. 
What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia's colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he's such a man-slut, and so not Neve's type, she certainly won't fall for him. Because William is the man for her... right?"


I'm on a run of really good books at the moment!

I picked this one up from the library and, to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. The blurb sounds okay, I thought it would be interesting but same-old same-old.

How wrong I was, this book simply blew me away.

Not only is this a surprisingly sexy read, but it is also full of emotion, wit, intelligence, and plenty of fun.

I applaud the author for writing such a brilliant heroine - Neve is a wonderfully crafted character. When I read the blurb the bit about the heroine being a 'fat girl' I thought, 'oh hear we go... another 'chick lit' book with a perfectly normal size 12 girl banging on and on about how she's so fat, etc'. But again the author surprised me - not only is the heroine a size 14 and struggling to get out of the overweight bracket, but she was once 26st - very brave of the author and very honest.

Sarra Manning doesn't hold anything back about her heroine's struggles with her weight and food issues - both physical and emotional - and I for one appreciated the sincerity of this. I have since found out that Sarra Manning herself has gone through the same experience as her heroine, so she clearly writes with plenty of knowledge and experience on the subject, and this shows.

The journey that the heroine, and the hero, go on is beautiful. The characters feel like real people, often something you don't find in the chick-lit area. Once I started reading I couldn't stop, I wanted to know everything about these characters, and the author doesn't disappoint.

This book has it all and it will make you laugh, cry, and sigh in equal measures.

The wonderfully complex love story weaved into this book is the cherry on top of this brilliant book.

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