Cover Image: You've Got Mail

You've Got Mail

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Member Reviews

You’ve Got Mail was a fantastic premise and it was this, along with the cute cover, that really drew me in. It’s one of those books that feels so comfortably relatable, magnificently representing what it’s like to be young, single and scraping by in London. It’s the perfect time to live with your friends, make mistakes, and deal with most situations by looking for someone who is more adult than you.

This book follows Grace Wharton, a twenty-something woman in London, who works for a windows company and who is looking for something more from life. When she gets an email to her work inbox dumping her, she is pretty affronted. Especially because she doesn’t even have a boyfriend! On top of this, the office pretty boy Jack is going with her to a conference and she’s hoping that this could be the start of something great.

Throughout the book, we see Gracie navigate this new online email exchange, along with her blossoming relationship with Jack. Suddenly her dull life seems to have a lot going on! Unfortunately, I have known way too many men like Jack. Charming, has everyone at his beck and call and is a huge part of the problematic lad culture in his company. I would definitely be avoiding him in real life!

A really great part of this story was Gracie’s inner thoughts and this book was actually really funny! Her inner monologue was very relatable too, and her thoughts were not dissimilar to ones that I have had in the past. There were definitely some parts that made me snort out loud (for those who have read it: the part where her co-worker makes her tea with ‘extra love’). There were some times when I wanted to see a little more oomph from her, particularly early on, but even so I really appreciated her journey in self worth as we travelled through this story. I am pretty sure this is a personal preference, as I’m impatient to get to the part where she realises her worth is so much more than some people have let her think so far.

As with any modern romance, the focus was also on her friends a lot as well as her impending romance. The moments she spends with her flatmates and Harry, whether it’s digging through bins or chilling out over breakfast, were small pockets of familiarity that I really enjoyed.

This was a refreshing and really great romcom that was quick to read. If we’re ever allowed to go on beaches again I would definitely take this one with me!

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Did not finish at 38%

Unfortunately I couldn’t get on with any of the characters. I thought Jack was going to be a suave playboy I could get on board with but became a whimpering douche that is ok with keeping sexual assault under wraps. The main characters doesn’t like her job, and seemingly only actually like to get as drunk as possible in as many occasions as possible. Slightly redeeming is the mysterious Mr. Obnoxious but even that wasn’t enough to keep to sticking to this book.

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I love the concept of this book but for me it didn't deliver.

Toxic relationships, opinions on the fact that you have to be above a certain bra size to be classed as a woman rather than a 'girl' and just a rather annoying character. It was fine as a book but it had potential to be so much better.

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Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I thought the premise was cute and fun, and I love romcoms with flirty communication with anonymous strangers in an enemies-to-lovers -esque way so thought this would be right up my street. However, this is not what happens in this book.

Instead, about 3/4 of this book is taken up by the main character Grace pining after a man who is obviously lying to her, a situation so infuriating that it left me wanting to slap her at times (figuratively, obviously). I understood that Grace’s behaviour was all supposed to link to her low self esteem due to her crappy mum, however I still found her level of naivety infuriating.

This was only made doubly infuriating by how annoying I found Grace as a protagonist! I’m usually quite lenient towards protagonists, even if their beliefs and actions don’t line up perfectly with what I would do in a situation, I try not to let it bother me too much. However this simply wasn’t possible in this book. When Grace wasn’t busy doing absolutely bugger all at her job (I found myself empathising with her boss, who is posed to us as a snow queen but tbh if I had an employee slacking like Grace does I would react the same way), she was being an entirely crappy friend to her housemates Etta and Daisy. Grace barely engages with their lives, whilst going on and on about how much she loves her mates. I didn’t see much evidence of this love in how they treat one another, Grace spends much of her time zoning out whilst with them, and Etta and Daisy are both quite inconsiderate towards Grace at times. Another thing I found incredibly jarring was how Grace seemed to mention Primark every other chapter?? We get it! She’s not as cool and high-achieving as her sleek best mates, she’s the slightly pudgy, bland looking one who can only afford to shop at bargain stores. It is such a stereotypical character description that I really did not need reminding of it every twenty pages.

Pretty much the only character I found likeable was Harry, and I think this was purely due to the fact that he filled every stereotype of a gorgeous, lovely man who we’d all want to date. It was impossible to dislike him, because his character was given little depth beyond this cookie-cutter image. The ending was predictable, and combined with the dull and irritating characters it meant I unfortunately couldn’t rate this book higher than 2 stars.

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The story - ⭐
The writing - ⭐
Overall - ⭐

Usually in a romance you like the main character... I couldn't bloody stand ANY of the characters in this. Every single person was just awful, the main character was the worst, just completely self absorbed.

And what was that ending?! No. Just no.

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You've Got Mail is a fun read which doesn't take it self too seriously, which makes it a great book to unwind with. The storyline is cute. The only real issue lies with Grace, she's an extremely unlikeable character that makes her very hard to connect with and invest in her story. The other characters in the book are likeable and very relatable which is why over all this is a nice read.

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Do you ever pick up a book and just go why?

That was me with this book. Actually, it was more me with the main character the vast majority of the time. I thought this book sounded really fun but none of the characters were what I thought they'd be. Especially not Grace. I mean, she steals magazines from bins and this excites her....

I really wanted to love this book but I'm struggling to think of anything i enjoyed. I could say it's easy to get through but that's about it.

Sadly not for me but if you're looking for a rom-com with a fun concept, you could check this out.

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The premise of this book sounded really promising but it didn't live up to my expectations. I was expecting a lve story that unfolded via an email mistake but this didn't happen.
The main character Grace was pathetic and irritating and from early in the book I disliked her. She was shallow and didn't deserve the friends she had. As for her obsession with Jack are real women that shallow.
A big disappointment

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Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book, as I was struggling to connect with the characters and story-line, however I am grateful for the opportunity and know that this will be the perfect read for many others. Thank you.

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Such a great idea for a storyline and with the title of one of my favourite romcom films, I knew I had to read it. It didn't disappoint, great characters and warm and fuzzy ending with ups and downs along the way! Great read.

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‘You’ve Got Mail’ follows Grace as she gets dumped by an email from a relationship, she wasn’t even in. What follows is the narrative from the perspective of twenty-five years old Grace who lives with her two friends, hates her job and doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life.

‘You’ve Got Mail’ had a nice premise and offered a great opening for a rom-com, but unfortunately, I haven’t liked it as much as I thought I would. I often felt that the narrative felt not completely thought through which left the characters dry – though I have enjoyed many interactions between Grace and her two best friends, Daisy and Etta. Their friendship, as well as friendship with a charming Harry living in the same building, were probably the best parts of ‘You’ve Got Mail’ for me. Grace herself hasn’t felt like a character I could fully connect to, even though I’m exactly at the same age as she and we have some things in common. Overall, while it wasn’t a book for me, it may appeal to those looking for a light-hearted read with a lost heroine.

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This was pretty average. I thought it could be improved by splitting it into two different books. It was a little over stuffed with having both plots of the 'Dear John' emails AND the work situation. If they were the main focus of their own story, those plot lines could have been expanded and explored more in depth. I loved Grace as a character. She was messy, having fallen into a job that she doesn't care about and doesn't know how to get out. She was extremely relatable and fresh.

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You’ve Got Mail is a chick-lit rom-com in line with Sex and the City and Bridget Jones’ Diary. In retrospect, this should have been a warning for me since I’m not too fond of either of these. Still, I bet many people out there will enjoy this story, especially if they’re fans of these movies.

I DNfed You’ve Got Mail pretty early, around 20%, mainly because I couldn’t stand the main character. As a character-driven reader, I need to feel some connection with the main character, be it love or hate. But Grace just got on my nerves and pissed me off, which isn’t a good reading mood.

Grace is so unresponsible, I can’t stand it. Disliking your job is something that happens to everyone at some point in their life. But there are responsibilities to be accomplished, and Grace disregards what she has to do because she doesn’t enjoy it. That doesn’t vibe with me.

From what I’ve seen, all Grace does is work, sleep, drink (a lot, getting drunk every weekend isn’t healthy), shop, and moon over guys. She makes many bad decisions, like spending all her budget on underwear because she needs to feel powerful and impress a guy. I have no problem with how people decide to spend their money. But if you have a bunch of stuff you have to buy and then focus only on underwear for dumb reasons, that’s just stupid.

When I stopped, it’s hard to see how her love life is going to evolve. However, she’s portrayed as completely over the moon for a guy to the point of unrealistic distraction. This happens more than once with a playboy character that Grace has a history with, where he ended up ignoring her. And there she goes, becoming super nervous while talking to him, daydreaming about getting together, and forgetting the point of the business trip where she has to seal a big contract. I can’t, for the life of me, accept these kinds of priorities. This is a very me thing, yes, so Grace can still be a character you enjoy following.

Still, maybe this story is about Grace growing and finding who she wants to be and what she wants to do. There are definitely some hints of that. But she’s the type of character that gets on my nerves way too much for me to stay and see what happens.

You’ve Got Mail is a Sex and the City and Bridget Jones Diary like rom-com, with an annoying main character that didn’t work for me. Still, if everything you’ve read until now seems like a good fit for you, this book deserves a try.

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This was approved to me yesterday, so when I was this I changed my next read to this. And I am so sad for doing this because I just didn't like this book.
I thought this would be totally different read. But no. This was a little boring for me. And two guys... Jack and Harry don't like them.

Not not for me.

3 stars.

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Thanks to Kate G. Smith, NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for this advance review copy.

Grace is a single 20 something who lives with her two best mates Daisy and Etta, and her weekends are spent either shopping with the girls or rolling out of bed with a hangover, making recovery breakfasts for her flat mates and their incredibly good looking neighbour Harry.
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Stuck in a job she doesn't like (at company that sells windows!) the only real benefits of her boring career are the fact that her team leader is her best mate Daisy, the free breakfast pasties she grabs each morning and the eye candy that is Jack Lockett in sales. However everyone knows that Jack is the biggest flirt known to man and having been stung by thinking he was interested in the past - she's finally learnt her lesson - or has she?

One morning Grace receives a 'Dear John' email at work breaking up with her. For a minute she accepts it as yet another rejection, before remembering that she's single and that this email was clearly meant for someone else. So angry about the way this mystery 'Mr Obnoxious' has treated the intended recipient, Grace decides to reply and put him in his place. Regular interactions follow leading to other strangers approaching her for relationship advice and guidance on how to let people down gently!

When Grace is asked to go on a sales pitch and prove herself with none other than Jack Lockett himself, Grace finally gets to spend some quality time alone with him - is he the Lothario everyone says he is? Or does he have another side? Can Grace focus on business and prove to her boss that despite her lack of enthusiasm she is actually good at her job or will she be distracted by Jack's charms and the constant ping of her emails?

You've Got Mail is a light-hearted book, which at the time of reading was very much needed and a great distraction from breaking news updates. I enjoyed following Grace's journey and her interactions with other characters from her friends to Jack - who I absolutely loved to hate.

Grace is a likeable but somewhat frustrating character - incredibly naive and constantly doubting herself - something which is most likely due to her upbringing with an incredibly controlling mother that constantly put her down. Whilst part of me wanted to scream at her for making bad decisions and struggling to see the wood for the trees, I could also totally sympathise with some of her choices - let's face it - we've all been blinded by love (or lust!) before!

Is You've Got Mail predictable? Yes it is, but does that detract from the story? Not at all. If you're happy to not take things too seriously and are looking for distraction from 2021 and all its bought so far, You've Got Mail is a frustrating yet amusing stumble through the love life of Grace Wharton.

A 3/5 stars from me.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Grace Wharton doesn’t care about her job, or much else for that matter- but she does care when she’s dumped by email, despite being single. I really liked the idea behind this book, and a lot of the plot really did appeal to me. However I found Grace a very difficult narrator, Her constant self deprecation and catty comments about other women make her very difficult to like in parts. I do understand that Grace’s low confidence was part of the plot, but some of her inner monologue really grated on me. The side characters, such as her two best friends, provided some of the better moments in the book, and I don’t feel that Grace’s poor behaviour towards them was ever really redeemed.
All in all, a really nice idea but quite a long winded novel and a difficult main character.

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DNF at 21%.

And so my dismal reading record for 2021 continues ...

This sounded such fun, Grace Wharton gets dumped by email - by a complete stranger, although how he emailed her work email address by mistake is a mystery. I suspect, and suspected right from the start, that the email was deliberately sent by someone trying to get to talk to Grace. Grace starts up a snippy conversation with said anonymous dumper - frankly I enjoyed that but there was too little of it and too much of the other stuff.

Grace works for a window company which was named after the founder and recently renamed to the founder's initials after paying exorbitant sums to a consultant, the initials? C.O.W., oh how we laughed, not. Grace has worked there for years, hates it, makes absolutely no effort and routinely deletes/throws away work documents without bothering to do anything with them. Her boss is her BFF and flatmate but she even tunes her out at work. Strike one. Hate your job? Look for another one but do the job they pay you to do.

Grace is also gaga over Jack Lockett, a guy in her office. Despite being a complete slacker and bad at her job, Grace is picked to go to a prestigious conference with Jack and make a presentation (make or do? both sound wrong). Even when working side-by-side with Jack she still pays absolutely no attention to anything he says, she is on her way to the conference and she has absolutely no idea of the content she is supposed to deliver!

I truly, honestly wanted to punch Grace in the face for being such a stupid C.O.W. (okay that worked for me) and frankly single-handedly putting the cause of feminism back 20 years. Why anyone would want to date her, work with her, or be her friend I cannot fathom. Anyway, I predict that the mysterious dumper is either Jack or Grace's platonic friend/flatmate Harry. Probably totally wrong on both fronts.

Anyway, I picked it up and put it down three times, and for me three times is the charm, although it was ridiculously early in the book I had enough and gave up at 21%.

I received a free copy of his book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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This is a a a great, lighthearted read told through the voice of Grace, our protagonist. She is a single 20 something, stuck in a job she doesn’t like, living for weekends to go and get plastered with her friends. Life takes an interesting turn when she receives an email dumping her, which would be bad enough, but she’s single! She is incensed by this and writes back to tell the emailer just how shoddy he has been. This leads to an email correspondence between them which runs as a separate storyline. Definitely recommend for a highly readable fun read.

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Cute book with good characters but the story is a bit predictable though I enjoyed my time reading it. Recommend for people who loves fun, light rom-com with a cute ending and good friendship.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

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I really liked Grace the main character, she is a little Bridget Jones and very likeable even if sometimes you feel like shouting no don’t do it ! I was confused by the title as I remember the film my the same name but this story is different. A heartwarming story of friendship and a rocky path to love. A fab debut novel and I’d love to read more

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