Review: Meet Me in London by Georgia Toffolo

Aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea, and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.

Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her. A girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion. Something to keep his mother from interfering while he focuses on the business.

When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his store and he will provide an opportunity for Victoria to showcase her designs. But what starts as a business arrangement soon becomes something more tempting, as the fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for…

REVIEW

I'll admit it was curiosity about the author that first drew me to this book. My experiences with 'celebrity authors' have been a bit hit and miss in the past, but I really enjoyed this! Meet Me In London is a wonderfully cosy, romantic, feel-good story - exactly what I need at the moment. It's festive, but not overly so, which makes it the perfect read for this time of year. It has a lovely cast of characters that I grew to really like, so I was pleased to discover that this was the first in a series (don't worry though - there's no cliffhangers!). Whilst love and romance of course take centre stage, at the heart of this novel is female friendship. Victoria, Zoe, Malie and Lily, four best friends forever bound by a life changing incident, are each making their own way in the world, and have chosen very different paths. Each book in the series follows one of the girls as she chases her dreams, and hopefully finds her happily ever after.

In Meet Me in London we meet Victoria and Oliver. Victoria dreams of running her own fashion business, working in a bar to make ends meet whilst running classes for underprivileged kids who want to get into the fashion industry. Oliver is the heir to the department store chain Russell and Co, a giant of the industry with stores all over the world. He has never had time for love, has never met 'the one', and his parents are piling on the pressure. So when he meets Victoria, he has an idea that might get them off his back... Victoria was a character that I really rooted for. She is so considerate and caring, scarred by her past both mentally and physically. Oliver sees past the scars like no one else ever has, and what starts as a fake relationship very quickly escalates into something neither of them can walk away from. Their chemistry was off the chart, and I loved that the narrative alternated perspective between them, allowing us to see both sides of the story. Their lack of communication did frustrate me though - seriously, if characters just talked to each other so many problems and story lines would be resolved in an instant! London of course is a character in itself. Toff has written about what she knows best with the majority of the action set in Chelsea, and her local knowledge shines through. 

Meet Me in London is a heartwarming read, perfect for a cold winter's night. I'm already looking forward to the next installment in the series, Meet Me in Hawaii! Thanks to Mills & Boon and NetGalley for the for providing an e-copy of this book in exchange for a review!