Essex Girls by Laura Ziepe

The Blurb:

OMG, babe! Shut up – the Essex girls are going to Marbs!

Jade did everything she could to fit in at university and make boyfriend Tom happy – toned down her tan, gave up her favourite fake lashes, and retired her curling tongs. But something wasn’t right.

When Jade finds Tom’s been cheating she heads home with a broken heart: to Essex. Reunited with her best mates Kelly and Lisa, even a night out at The Sugar Hut isn’t enough to put a smile back on her face. So they hatch a plan to get away from it all, to a place so reem it’s unreal – Marbella. Sun, sea, men, vajazzles: what could possibly go wrong?

My Thoughts:

As most of you know, I grew up in Essex and most of my family still live there. However, it seems to have evolved a lot since I moved away nine years ago. For instance, not one of my friends used to wear fake eyelashes, only one of us had hair extensions (she worked in a hairdressers – it was all very experimental) and we hadn’t even heard of Marbella, which seems to be the place to go these days. For us (back in the day) it was all about Ibiza or Ayia Napa. It’s all changed! The new Essex has been well documented on TOWIE – it’s all about looking your best and realising that there’s always a place for bling. It’s quite fascinating.

The obvious thing to say would be that fans of TOWIE will love this book, but I think its readership shouldn’t be so finely pinpointed. A lot of people can relate to the characters Laura has created, even if they’ve never had a vajazzle or uttered the words ‘OMG, shut up!’

Essex Girls is funny, sparkly and heart-warming – it’ll certainly bring a bit of sunshine into your dreary January.