Review of From Notting Hill with Love Actually

From Notting Hill with Love Actually by Ali McNamara

Pages: 448

Publisher: Sourcebook Landmark

Review Source: Netgalley

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by: Stormi

She was a girl, standing in front of a boy...

Movie fanatic Scarlett O'Brien dreams of a life as glamorous and romantic as all the big screen flicks she worships. When a chance house-sitting job in iconic Notting Hill comes along, she knows living in one of her favorite movie settings is an opportunity too good to pass up.

Leaving behind her skeptical friends, family, and fiancé  Scarlett heads to London and finds herself thrust into the lead role of her very own romantic comedy. But can real life ever be just like the movies? Larger-than-life new friends, a handsome but irksome new neighbor, and a mystery from her past may prove to Scarlett that living her life like a RomCom is more complicated than she thought!

This is my first book by Ali McNamara and I really enjoyed it. There is just something about British Chick Lit that just makes you smile and laugh. From Notting Hill with Love Actually is a very light-hearted read with a lot of movie references. If your a movie buff like I am you will get all the references before the main character tell you.

Scarlett is at a time in her life were she is about to get married, but there is just something missing. She is a dreamer and thinks everything in live is in the movies, it drives her fiancé and father crazy. It also makes her a bit restless when she thinks of life with David. It's not so much that she doesn't love him, but that he is a bit dull.

Her father tells her that she needs to take some time away from everyone and pretty much get her head out of the clouds. She decides to go and prove her father and fiancé that life can be a lot like the movies and she has a level head. He friend finds her a place to house sit in Notting Hill, well she can't pass that up. Notting Hill is one of her favorite movies and as she arrives she sees the book store  the garden park and a lot of other Notting Hill favorites. For an avid movie buff she is in heaven.

While the famous book store she meets Sean, and he is definitely not Hugh Grant. He is rude and incorrigible and she hopes to never run into him again. Then she meets Oscar, and let me tell you this character is a hoot! She literally runs into him and it reminds her of another movie, and Oscar is taken with her right away. He invites her to his house to get cleaned up since she has orange juice spilt on her, and while there he decided to help her with her movie moments and has a dinner party. Guess who is coming to dinner....Sean.

Now it's bad enough that this horrible man is at her dinner party but that is not all, he ends up being her neighbor! Now Sean is not really all that bad of a guy, they just got off on the wrong foot when they first met. Sean has not really fully recovered from a huge heartbreak and I think it is why he is a little gruff at times. He is a business man, sort of like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman. I found him to be very sweet and I liked him right away. 

A lot of different things happen during the book that gives you lots of fun movie references and over all I thought it was just a very fun book to read. The ending was totally movie magic and I loved it probably more than the whole book. If you like chick lit then I would really recommend that you give this book a try.

Happy Reading,
Stormi