I was absolutely delighted when I received a tweet from Nicola May saying that she had read my review for Working it Out and she wanted to send me an advanced copy of her new book, The Bow Wow Club, which is out next month. I really enjoyed the last book, and it was so cool to know that I was reading the book before pretty much anyone else. Because it’s not out yet, I’m not going to give too much away about the plot, because it’s not fair to have that all over the internet before the book is even out.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a book make me cry within the first 10 pages, and especially not make me laugh and cry at the same time. But this did. The book is a sequel to Working it Out; we are back a couple of years later to catch up with Ruby, but her life hasn’t been going too well and she’s in a bad place. But throughout the course of the book, with the help of a great set of friends including her lovely neighbour Margaret and her nutty friend Fi (who is not exactly trouble-free in this book either), she gets herself back on track.

I found myself getting caught out in the book by predicting what was going to happen and then being proved wrong again and again by twist after twist which kept the book exciting. I found the Bow Wow Club itself a lovely place (although not what I first thought it was going to be), and each person in there had a sad tale to tell, but all ultimately helped Ruby in her journey to self re-discovery.

There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like about the book, it kept me scrolling and scrolling to get to the end, and as I had connected so much to Ruby in Working it Out, I had an instant connection with her as soon as I started reading. It took me a while to warm to Michael, at first I was suspicious of him, but it turns out that he was the only guy who didn’t really deserve suspicion.

The only thing that lessened my enjoyment of the book was that there were a few spelling and grammar mistakes which stopped the flow of the book a few times while I went back to re-read the sentence, but I’m sure that’s to be expected when you’re reading an advanced copy of a book.

To sum up: if you love chick-lit and you like a book that takes you through a whole range of emotions but ultimately makes you smile, then this book is perfect for you.