Review:: Going La La by Alexandra Potter

Title: Going La La 
Author: Alexandra Potter 
Publisher: Hodder
Pages: 336
Review by: Catriona

What do you when your boyfriend tells you he wants space?
You give him six thousand miles of it...

Frankie's life is falling apart. In less than a week she's gone from having everything - a great job, lovely flat and gorgeous Hugh - to having nothing at all.

Devastated, dumped and on the dole, she packs her bags and flies to Los Angeles to stay with an old friend. Her goal? To sort out her life and get over Hugh. She does not, repeat not, go to LA to fall head over heels for an American photographer called Reilly and to run away to Las Vegas. But what happens when Hugh wants her back? Who will she choose? And is it really true that whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?

Review::
Having recently read Alexandra Potter’s first novel, a little out of order for me, I was excited to see the progression that came with her second novel. I am used to her more up to date writing and I found her first novel to be no different from her more recent offerings; however I found Going La La lacking somewhat in substance compared to the kind of writing that I am used to from this highly-addictive author. I know that each novel should be looked at as a separate adventure but I can’t help being a little disappointed in this one when comparing it to Alexandra Potter’s usual offerings.

 Despite there being a lack of substance I still enjoyed this novel. It was a really quick read and that really suited me this week! The storyline centres around Frankie who find herself dumped and out of a job in close succession and so decides to make an open ended visit to her best friend in La. As you can imagine, there are plenty of tales of fabulous parties, crazy fad diets and hours of endless Californian sunshine, and I loved this aspect of the book. Even before Frankie boards to the flight to La we meet the potential new love interest, although of course Frankie doesn’t know it yet, but as a reader I always appreciate when the potential romantic storyline is introduced straight away. As a female character, Frankie isn’t the strongest of women, and her lack of decision making can be a little irritating, but her best friend Rita, more than makes up for this, and she and neighbour Dorian have a very fun storyline of their own!

 The magic and mysticism that is usually ever present in this authors novels is missing from this one and I whilst I don’t need that to enjoy a novel, indeed most other novels I read have nothing to do with that, however when you are expecting some sort of spooky, co-incidental goings on and then nothing happens, it can be a bit of a let-down. The love story was nice, and the background storyline involving Rita was also lovely, however I expect more meat and humour from this author and so therefore I was lost wanting something more… It’s a good job I have the rest of her novel collection on my bookshelf to restore my faith in love and magic!