Air Kisses [Paperback]

Hannah Atkins has felt like a fraud ever since getting a job as beauty editor at a chic and trendy fashion magazine. Every day she struggles to fit in and to look like she's the perfect choice for the job. At least her realtionship seems to be ok, that is until she suspects her boyfriend of cheating and he breaks-up with her. Soon Hannah stumbles from one crazy (and sometimes stupid) situation with the wrong kind of guy into another.
Will Hannah manage to get her love life back on track and will she finally start making smarter choices?

When I started with "Air Kisses" I hoped for a light-hearted story that would make me laugh and that's exactly what I got. Right from the first pages on I enjoyed reading about Hannah, her job and her friends. Reading about her love life was at times frustrating because she did some dumb things but who doesn't. I liked that Hannah's work at the fashion magazine was not portrayed like for example in "Devil wears Prada" and that it was more like a normal job (of course with some very nice and extravagant extras).
I enjoyed that Hannah throughout the book grew comfortable in her job and didn't change too much. At the end of the book she was still the same clumsy Hannah just more glamorous, self-confident and happy. It took her a long time to realize what's good for her and I had to take some situations she stumbled in not too serious because otherwise I would have been furious with how careless she was. By just taking Hannah the way she was (all stupid actions and flaws) I was able to enjoy the book and was quiet satisfied when I finished the last page.

cover
I like it. The colours and the things pictured on the cover fit perfectly to the story.

final appraisal
This light-hearted chick-lit book with a wonderfully flawed heroine that stumbles from one chaotic (and sometimes stupid) situation into another was a lot of fun to read. At times I was frustrated with the heroine but I still enjoyed reading about her life, job and her friends. This book made me smile and laugh a lot and I'm happy that I read it.

Please don't waste your money on this book - I really wish I hadn't. This first offering from the otherwise talented Zoe Foster is a waste of time and money. I couldn't bring myself to finish it. The protagonist, Hannah, is unappealing and generally unlike-able as she lurches from awkward situation to awkward situation in search of something (?) but as a reader you get bored way before anything develops. Dumped by text by her boyfriend of two years and landing a dream job for which she seems unqualified and unappreciative of, we are supposed to relate to this ordinary girl who just comes off as self absorbed and flighty. Her friends, colleagues and love interests are one-dimensional and the humour throughout the book is forced and relies heavily on cheesey one-liners.

Apparently her next book (co-written by the gorgeous and hilarious Hamish Blake) is great. I sincerely hope her writing has matured as the first attempt, in my opinion, is a flop.

OK, I admit that I wasn't too sure about this book, had no idea what to expect, but I'm glad that I started reading it because I was completely blown away!!! Yes, this novel may sound shallow at first, but the author manages to turn it into something abolutely delicious and I devoured it like yummy chocolate cake while enjoying every second of it!

I thought the strongest point of this novel was the writing itself aka Hannah's narration - it's fresh (*wink wink*) and modern and sassy and vivacious and I absolutely loved it! I always say that the book is not about the story, it's how the author tells it and Ms Foster really made the best of it.

Based on the blurb, I expected Hannah to be more of an Ugly Betty or Andy at the beginning of DWP, but she seemed to fit in with the rest of the beauty girls just fine, even if she was a bit self-conscious. She annoyed me slightly when she got all emotional and mad, but on the whole I really enjoyed her narration and the girl evidently loves her job and thus makes it sound really interesting. I really enjoyed reading about what such a job involves, plus all the freebies they get and all the meetings and glamurous functions they attend. The author also shares an interesting and a useful beauty tip at the beginning of each chapter, which was a cute little addition.

I loved pretty much all the characters, I thought they were really well portrayed and no one annoyed me, which rarely happens. The best friend Iz was lovely and great, I loved their friendship, her gay friend Gabe was incredibly funny and fierce, the work friends all added to the story too so that was great! But the male characters - ooooh, what a charming bunch! I fell for pretty all the boys Hannah crossed paths with, haha. Trucker may have been slightly too aggressive in his approach, but I still thought he was kind of cute and hilarious. Jesse may have been a bit of an idiot, but I still couldn't hate him, he had his good moments. Dec was full-on adorable and dreamy, and I think I developed a serious crush on Dan (which was gone by the end of the book, you'll see why) - I loved his flirtatious ways and the texts between him and Hannah were just the best.

Honestly, I was surprised myself how much I enjoyed this novel, but I can mainly attribute this to Miss Foster's outstanding, original and sassy writing, which really makes the book stand out. This has to be of the best chick lit novels I've ever read (far better than certain others by more acknowledged authors) and I strongly recommend it all the fans of the genre.

All in all, I absolutely adore the Ms Foster's writing style and I'll definitely be looking out for more books by her!