This is an interesting concept for a book, and I enjoyed reading it very much. The story is told by Verity Bell, a 24 year old who seems at odds with her own life at times. The interesting part is that it's done alphabetically, and each letter has a variety of different entries. Verity has lost both her parents, but still has her best friend Sally, although Sally is having an affair with a married man. Verity experiences her own relationship issues, and you start to realise that she's an insecure person. At times I thought she was pretty unlikeable in fact, but there were times when I did feel sorry for her.

Sarah Salway has written a clever, quirky and amusing novel. I recommend it, and it's a quick and easy read. ( )

At first glance you might write this book off as chicklit with a gimmick - for it is written in an A to Z format with entries under key words and phrases. The longest entries are no more than a couple of pages, and they're all cross-referenced with an index at the back too. This may seem to imply that the novel could be read in any order by jumping back and forward following the references, however you would miss the layers of nuance and subtlety building up - and a real sense of anticipation that things are going to happen.

Twentysomething Verity works as a secretary in a magazine publishing company and she really enjoys her job. Her parents are dead, and she modestly lives alone in a flat, although as an heiress she could afford better. She's known her best friend Sally since school, and she worries about her. Sally has become the mistress of a married millionaire - surely it can't work. Then as Sally's relationship deteriorates, Verity too falls for a married man.

These relationships are the meat of this novel, but in between them are Verity's musings on life, the universe and everything. She is delightfully naive and quietly eccentric. Within the first few alphabetical vignettes you warm to her completely. The following is typical:

"Phantom E-mails
The first time I e-mailed myself, it was just a joke. To see what would happen. Dear Verity, I wrote, You are my life. Every time I wake up, I wish you were next to me. Nothing is worth us being apart.
And then one click of a button and it was gone. I forgot all about it, but the next time I checked my e-mails, I felt a rush of joy when I found there was one waiting for me in my in-box."

This engaging novel can be read in one session. It was Salway's debut and is totally delightful, it is both frothy and darkly witty, and occasionally sad. It also has many good things to say about friendship, relationships and standing up for oneself. Pure chicklit it most definitely is not - and this is a very good thing. ( )

This book was published in the US as The ABCs of Love. Whatever the name, it’s not an easy book to describe. It’s written in an almost diary format, but the entries are alphabetically arranged. So, we have a few thoughts on Ambition, Ants and Attitude, before moving on to Baked Beans, Best Friends.. etc. In this way, Verity tells her story. It sounds odd, but it works.

We find out a little about her past, her feelings about her best friend’s affair with a married man, then also Verity’s own love affair, also with a married man.

On the surface, this appears to be your usual ‘chick lit’ type book, just told in an unusual way. However, Sarah’s skill is the way she writes her narrator.. she has captured a rather naive, easily-lead young girl, along with all her thoughts and feelings. It can be read as a rather straight-forward little tale, or if you look for it, you will find a lot more told between the lines. It’s a book that will make you smile, then make you think.

I picked up this book expecting a light and easy 'chick-lit' read. There is actually far more to this. It's very clever in that it is written almost like a series of diary entries, and the chapters are in alphabetical order. For example, everything that the narrator, Verity writes about in chapter 1 begins with A, everything she writes about in chapter 2 begins with B, and so on.

Through her observations, we discover that she is actually a deeply insecure girl, and matters are not helped when she embarks on an affair with a married man. Verity's innermost thoughts are revealed in this book, and some of them aren't very nice! But we can all identify with some of the things she says. I felt at times like shaking her and telling her to wake up and smell the coffee, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. ( )