Author:       “Holly Denham”

Publisher:    Sourcebooks Casablanca

ISBN:          978-1-4022-1903-0

Website:      www.hollysinbox.com

Type:         Fiction:Women’s/ChickLit

Pages:        665 Trade Paperback

Purchase:   $10.19 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

This isn’t your typical ChickLit story, it is a completely new spin on it as it is not a novel like you’d typically expect.  Rather, it is a publication of fictional emails belonging to a character named Holly Denham at her job as a receptionist at an international bank in England.  The pages contain nothing but emails in the inbox & outbox of Holly (…and a few of her friends).  And, what friends she has! 

Holly’s “email friends” include a gay hotel manager and her girlfriend Aisha who works for him as a receptionist.  Holly quickly makes friends with the senior receptionist, Trish, who is the kind of gal we’d all love to work with.  At the bank, Holly also works with an old friend from school, Jennie.  The sorted cast of characters who also email Holly are her mother, grandmother, sister, brother, and friend “Pregnant Pam.”  Each of these characters have a host of interesting stories from their lives that the reader discovers through their emails.

Holly finds romance at the bank with the gorgeous James, however is unhappily faced with the fact that her high-school boyfriend, Toby, has joined the firm and has set his sights on her.

The Review

He Doesn't Look Like A Holly to Me!

First, I want to communicate that I really enjoyed this book.  It’s format is a great spin on “ChickLit.”  The website, www.HollysInbox.com is an on-going site with regular entries in the story of Holly.   The “backstory” to this creative project is that the true author of this project is Bill Surie.  He is the owner of an employment agency in London who specializes in receptionists and secretaries.  Surie started the website in 2007 and received over 90,000 visitors.  Eventually these website emails made their way into a book.

Although the book is a tad thick at 665 pages, because of the “email format” of those pages, it really reads rather quickly. I became quickly entangled into this book and its host of characters.  Holly is an extremely likeable character, one that I’d liken to Bridget Jones.  What the reader gets from Holly’s Inbox is humor, romance, and views of true friendship between its characters.      

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

This isn’t your typical ChickLit book, but if you’re a fan of the genre (as I am!), you will love this book.  This book has it all from romance to friendship… to ties with crazy family members… to the frustration of dealing with unbearable bosses and gossipy co-workers.  Every tid bit of the book is JUICY and fun!  It’s very different in format, but brings everything you need in a story alive one email at a time.  For the genre Fiction:Women’s/ChickLit, I am going to rate this book an 8 OUT OF 10. 

15 Responses to “Book Review: Holly’s Inbox”