What if the last person you wanted to see was the person you needed?
Here's Looking At You is, in essence, an ugly duckling tale. Our heroine Anna returns to school after fifteen years for a reunion. School doesn't hold happy memories for her, as being a roly poly Italian (known as the Italian Galleon), and always armed with a Tupperware full of pungent Mediterranean food, she was bullied incessantly throughout her years there.
Now in her 30s, Anna wants to put the past behind her once and for all and face up to the bullies who made her life hell. But she is much-changed from the girl she once was - all curves and because I'm worth it hair - and no one recognizes her when she arrives. Losing her cool, she backs out on her plan for revenge and slinks off, hoping never to be reminded of her years at school again.
But fate gets in the way, and after the reunion her path keeps crossing with James - major hunk and Anna's major crush back at school. But alas, as a crony to the bullies, Anna to this day believes that his beautiful exterior hides an ugly interior. As they continue to cross paths a love/hate relationship ensues until eventually something shifts, and they both start to discover what the person underneath is really like…
Full of laugh out loud humor, Here's Looking At You is a novel about facing your demons and being happy with who you really are.
Here's Looking At You is, in essence, an ugly duckling tale. Our heroine Anna returns to school after fifteen years for a reunion. School doesn't hold happy memories for her, as being a roly poly Italian (known as the Italian Galleon), and always armed with a Tupperware full of pungent Mediterranean food, she was bullied incessantly throughout her years there.
Now in her 30s, Anna wants to put the past behind her once and for all and face up to the bullies who made her life hell. But she is much-changed from the girl she once was - all curves and because I'm worth it hair - and no one recognizes her when she arrives. Losing her cool, she backs out on her plan for revenge and slinks off, hoping never to be reminded of her years at school again.
But fate gets in the way, and after the reunion her path keeps crossing with James - major hunk and Anna's major crush back at school. But alas, as a crony to the bullies, Anna to this day believes that his beautiful exterior hides an ugly interior. As they continue to cross paths a love/hate relationship ensues until eventually something shifts, and they both start to discover what the person underneath is really like…
Full of laugh out loud humor, Here's Looking At You is a novel about facing your demons and being happy with who you really are.
From the very beginning, Here's Looking At You seemed like a complete cliche when the bullied high school girl meets the guy that bullied her at a reunion, they fall in love and everyone is happy. & in a way, it is the actual story of the book. However, I must give credit to this book because it is a lot more than just a simple chick-lit story. It's funny, witty, & even though it's quiet predictable, it's definitely a fun read.
Our main herione is Anna who is... CAN YOU GUESS? Yes! Was bullied in high school. She was overweight and of course with that comes low self-esteem and a complete miserable high school experience. But all the years later, she now has a great job, a lot of amazing friends, and even though her love life might suck a little bit, she has a very optimistic personality.
The love interest that's presented in this book is James - your typical jock who bullied girls in high school but have changed throughout the years. I wasn't too attractive to his characters in the beginning just because I couldn't connect with what he represented but he definitely was a good fit for Anna.
Overall, this was a great read and even though (again) it was a little cliche, I'm glad I picked this up and discovered this author. It takes a slow turn in the beginning and might take awhile to get into the story but if you have time or want something light - this is the book for you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mhairi McFarlane was born in Scotland in 1976, and has been explaining how to pronounce her name ever since (MH=V sound!). She is the author of You Had Me At Hello, and is based in Nottingham where she’s a freelance writer and blogger. You can follow her on Twitter: @MhairiMcF.
