Wilde About The Girl by Louise Pentland - book review
Multi-tasking Louise Pentland, a lifestyle and beauty blogger, vlogger, author and fashion designer, is back to make us laugh, cry and cringe with a shiny, new chapter in the life of the adorable young mother who stole the show in last year’s phenomenally successful debut novel, Wilde Like Me.
We first met Robin when she was eager to change her grey and lonely life from four years of ‘single-mum-dom’ into something more creative. It turned into a year from hell but she did discover that all she actually needed was the friendship of some wonderful women, and a little self-belief.
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Hide AdThe lovable Robin’s fears, insecurities and dreams hit the spot with thousands of readers who saw themselves in her frequently hilarious exploits and warmed to Pentland’s uplifting and empowering take on a woman’s pressured life in contemporary society.
Now Robin is back and ‘acing’ it. After the year from hell, she has pulled herself up and out of The Emptiness and learned a lot, not least that ‘you have to put your best foot forward and believe in yourself.’
Her love life with Edward, a Brit living and working in Manhattan, is ticking along nicely although she is adamant that she’s not looking for anything serious, single motherhood is turning out to be actually quite fun, and she is ready for whatever life throws at her.
When a thrilling opportunity arises in her job at the MADE IT make-up and modelling agency, Robin is more than excited to step up and show everyone, including herself and her perfectly manicured and tailored rival Skye, what she is made of.
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Hide AdBut away from the office, her best friend Lacey is increasingly broken-hearted about her struggles to get pregnant, and Robin’s seven-year-old daughter Lyla is starting to come out with some horrible attitudes that she is learning from someone at her posh pre-prep school.
Meanwhile Auntie Kath, her babysitter and backstop when it comes to juggling work and motherhood, seems to be hiding loneliness under her bubbly, loving veneer.
So what would Robin have done differently if she had known that in less than four weeks’ time, she would be on the verge of losing everything she has worked so hard for?
Pentland infuses her romp through Robin’s year of triumphs and disasters with the honesty, humour and genuine warmth that we have come to expect from this smart and sassy writer. Sparkling dialogue, heartfelt emotion and a cast of engaging characters are becoming the hallmarks of these original and entertaining stories.
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Hide AdBut underneath the quips and quirks are some important personal and social issues which are handled with sensitivity and insight, and inject real-life grit into all the highs and lows of Robin’s disaster-prone life.
Watching how the personalities of Robin, Lyla and the other cast members have developed over the course of two books has been one of the central delights… and an inspiration to other women who thought their dreams were out of reach.
(Zaffre, hardback, £12.99)