Zoe May Archives - Proud Book Reviews

August 3, 2020February 4, 2021

As Luck Would Have It – Zoe May

Welcome back everyone, I can’t believe Zoe already has another book on tour. She’s had two books in two months on tour!

I thought this would be an enemy’s to lover’s style trope given the blurb. Who else is with me there?

Yet it turned out to be a second chances trope! Who would’ve thought?!

Set in beautiful Marrakesh we get a tiny glimpse of the sights, the food and the culture. I don’t think it’s enough for anyone familiar with that culture and city to take issues with anything, yet at the same time enough to give us the sense and feel of the location.

We had a little bit of everything in this story. Second chance love, getting over the betrayals of others, learning about a new culture and place, emotional growth, professional development and growth and even finding a new family.

I think my favourite part was when they went to see the Atlas Mountains. Even if I’m not sure that would actually happen in real life, I loved the romanticism of it. The whole time Natalie had been protecting her heart, and the time in the Atlas Mountains really showed her growth when it came to Will.

The ending also surprised me. Well, the main part of it was pretty predictable since it’s a romance. But one aspect of it was something I wasn’t expecting, and it made me so happy! It spoke true to Natalie’s personality and I hope it helps to break down some traditional views. Even if it is only just a tiny bit.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review; next week I’ll be reviewing In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

Zoe May is an author of romantic comedies. Zoe has dreamt of being a novelist since she was a teenager. She worked in journalism and copywriting in London before writing her debut novel, Perfect Match. Having experienced the London dating scene first hand, Zoe could not resist writing a novel about dating, since it seems to supply endless amounts of weird and wonderful material!

Perfect Match was one of Apple’s top-selling books of 2018. It was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award, with judges describing it as ‘a laugh out loud look at love and self-discovery – fresh and very funny’.

As well as writing, Zoe enjoys walking her dog, painting and, of course, reading! She adores animals and if she’s not taking a photo of a vegan meal, she’s probably tweeting about the dairy industry. She is half Greek and half Irish and can make a mean baklava. Zoe has a thing for horror films, India, swimming, hip hop and Radiohead. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of handbags having spent several years working in fashion copywriting and could probably win Mastermind if this was her specialist subject!

Zoe loves to hear from readers, you can contact and follow her on all her various social media channels.

July 6, 2020February 4, 2021

Flying Solo – Zoe May

Welcome back everyone, also, welcome back to the genre of romance! It’s been almost a month since you’ve featured on a Monday review!

This was not the romance I thought it’d be either at the start, or end of the book. How many times can you say that about the romance genre?

The first thing I want to say is any woman dumped by a guy like Paul should be happy. He obviously lacks basic communication skills, so much so, even I wasn’t clear whether he was wanting a “break” or an end to the relationship. And from the blurb it kinda tells you she’s going to be dumped.

I also loved her point of view of things. This was first made clear to me when she made a comment about buying a pair of cheap sunnies coz she’s going to an ashram when she has perfectly fine sunnies already available. Even if they are Burberry.

All her conversations with Seb feel real. They’re both people who think through both sides to something, are willing to grow and question the information they’ve been given. It’s the kind of thing I’d do. I don’t take something as being gospel just because someone “better informed” than me says it. I want to know both sides before making a decision.

I also loved that the main focus of the book wasn’t the romance, even though it kind of was. To me it felt more like a story of self-discovery, building positive relationships with others and recognising what’s truly important to you.

I smashed through this pretty quickly, so it’s not too deep and soul searching. But it scratches the surface and makes you think. In some cases it made me think of how stupid some people can be and that I can totally see some people calling Zoe a racist for describing the colour of someone’s skin even though we can’t build an accurate picture of what someone looks like in our heads without these descriptions.

You can’t help some people. And I don’t know enough about Indian culture and their way of life to comment on that, but I did enjoy the spiritual feeling I got from it. I even got to the end and wished for an epilogue to find out how the non-romance stuff plays out. Zoe, if you’re reading this you know what I mean!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review; on Friday I’ll be reviewing Crazy for Your Love by Lexi Ryan. Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

February 26, 2020February 1, 2021

When Polly Met Olly – Zoe May

Welcome back everyone, I’ve got another Rach Random Resource tour for you today. And it’s another Zoe May novel.

I’m starting to get the feeling that Zoe is great at coming up with ideas and stories. But personally, I feel like the execution was a little lacking. I never found myself falling in love with this book. Pretty much the whole way through I found it wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t reading it coz I was loving it. I was reading it to bring you this review.

Technically speaking there’s nothing wrong.

You’ve got a strong female lead, Polly. You’ve got a male lead who’s in touch with his emotions, Olly. You’ve got a father figure that helps the female lead find her way and looks after her, Derek. You’ve got a gay best friend only looking out for the female lead and adds an element of flair, Gabe.

Yet I didn’t connect with or fall in love with any of these characters. In fact, I actually hated Gabe. I didn’t think he had a place in the story and felt his character needed more reason to be there other than to critique and push Polly. Even his critiquing and gayness annoyed me. He felt like the type of “friend” that I’d cut out of my life in 2 seconds flat and that he was gay just to have the representation in the book rather than adding value.

It felt like Olly had almost no story time. I think I was about halfway through and it felt like he’d had all of one meetings worth of air time. For a male lead I was expecting much more angst, drama and revelations to happen. When they did, it felt rushed and like it was maybe just meant to be there, but Zoe hadn’t had time to do it earlier.

Personally, what could’ve made this book great was having Olly’s side included in the story. Not every love story needs it. But a lot of the drama, angst and feeling that might have made me fall in love with the story and characters might have happened if Olly’s perspective was included.

For a light, easy to read romance that you don’t have to get too caught up in this is a great read. I just felt like it was missing something for my brain and heart to really engage. My only other issues with this book have hopefully been resolved (I’ve been told they have) and they were caused because I read an advanced copy not a final edit version. So, I won’t be taking those into account with my score.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review; on Friday I’ll be reviewing Street Magic by Tamora Pierce. Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

Zoe May lives in London and writes romantic comedies. Zoe has dreamt of being a novelist since she was a teenager. She spent her twenties living in London, where she worked in journalism and copywriting before writing her debut novel, Perfect Match. Having experienced the London dating scene first hand, Zoe could not resist writing a novel about dating, since it seems to supply endless amounts of weird and wonderful material!

As well as writing, Zoe enjoys walking her dog, painting and, of course, reading.

January 17, 2020February 2, 2021

Perfect Match – Zoe May

Welcome back everyone, after the bit of a slump I got myself into with the previous read I can say I’m back into my normal reading habits.

I’ve taken advantage of a few hot days where I couldn’t really go out and do much (damn that heatstroke!) and stayed inside, where it’s cool to read. I’m not sure if this book should sit at 4.5 or 5 stars since I’m not sure if the previous one had me in enough of a slump that this felt amazing.

Regardless, the themes throughout the book are so positive and speak to experience and learning from mistakes that I loved it. The pacing throughout was consistent, well thought out and gave us a very clear heading when we had quite a jump in the timeline.

It felt like every character in this book had a reason for being there. With the focus of the book being online dating, this tended to revolve around how people meet, how you can get to know someone, how our past shapes our behaviours and so many little things in between.

For those suffering the dating scene of the 21^st century I feel like this is something they should read. Love can happen in the most unlikely of places and with the people you least expect. For me, when my step-mum suggested I go on a date with a 30 yr old accountant she works with (I was 21 at the time) my reaction was along the lines of “ewww! I don’t want to date an old, boring accountant!” I ended up meeting him briefly at my dad and step-mum’s housewarming and eight years later we’re going strong!

The main message I felt came through with this story was to give people a chance and take care of yourself first before looking to add someone to that mix. Being happy with yourself is something that’s so important but overlooked so much in our technological age so I’m so happy Zoe was able to include that in such a great way.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review, next week I will be reviewing Forbidden by Tracy Cooper-Posey and Julia Templeton. Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

Zoe May lives in southeast London and writes romantic comedies. Zoe has dreamt of being a novelist since she was a teenager. She worked in journalism and copywriting before writing her debut novel, Perfect Match. Having experienced the London dating scene first hand, Zoe could not resist writing a novel about dating, since it seems to supply endless amounts of weird and wonderful material!