DNF

This ticks all the boxes for a certified chicklit. It was funny, but never hilarious. Yet I rate it as 4 *, because of the feel-good factor.
Coco could have done better than fall for the insecure Adam, even if he was drop dead gorgeous.
Where can I find a friend like Christopher?

It was slightly depressing to read this - at least to begin with - after the romantic atmosphere of A Very Coco Christmas - but nevertheless the writing continues to engage and amuse me, and I soon got into the 2008 setting.

IMHO it's a little far fetched that so extensive communication with basically everyone in her life is conducted solely via email - I think it would have worked better if the emails had been interspersed with regular prose, but of course it also works as a commentary on our tech-obsessed culture, which is even more relevant today than in 2008 (or indeed 2012), so I'll chalk that up to artistic license.

A LOT happens in this book, it's a real roller-coaster of emotions and events, so you just have to hang on and keep turning those pages, because it's almost impossible to put down once you begin. It's chock-full of vivid characters that you either want to hug or punch in the face (sometimes a little of both).

A pleasant surprise for me was that the Edinburgh Fringe festival was featured, which is one of my favourite things/places in the world.

Definitely another entertaining read, and I'm sure I'll pick up another instalment soon.

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Coco Pinchard has just been bought an iPhone for Christmas by her husband, Daniel, it was not quite the Tiffany gift she had picked out for herself but at least she can e-mail her friends and family updates about her life, especially when she finds Daniel in bed with another woman.

I can honestly say that this is probably the funniest book I have read all year. Too many titles are available on Kindle Unlimited where the husband cheats on the wife and the author comically dictates the tidings of their characters lives in all seemingly the same way. I initially downloaded this for some light reading on the bus but found myself immersed.

The story follows a series of e-mails sent from Coco Pinchard to various people, and I cannot exaggerate the hilarity of them more! Robert Bryndza nails the ratio of drama and comedy, keeping the reader hooked to find out what will happen next, whilst ensuring each scenario is fresh and funny.

I truly think that humour is the hardest of all genres to write, because of how varied people can be. Never mind adding cultural differences to the mix. And I feel that with humour fiction, I read too much of the same thing that happens to characters that are too much alike. To be honest, I did think that this would pan out the same as the rest when I first started it, until I found myself being the last to get off the bus after hastily realising almost everyone was out the doors already, shoving my kindle into my bag and clumsily navigating between seats.

This is just one excerpt from an e-mail Coco sends to a company who was installing a stairlift in her home for her mother-in-law to use (contains no spoilers):

I came home to find, not a stair lift up to the second floor, but a stair lift installed from a door in the kitchen, which leads six steps down to the cellar. Your engineer had left, no card, no note. Did he leave his brain at home? Does he regularly install stair lifts for elderly serial killers who need an easy access option to their victims in the basement?

Not only is this novel a feel-good fluffy read, but it is actually genuinely funny. With an extremely likeable heroine in the midst of the plot. Thoroughly enjoyed and I will be reading the second one.

I couldn't really get into this or get behind Coco. Her husband's family rode roughshod over her even after the divorce although Ethel was more entertaining after her near-death experience.

I liked Adam but felt he could have been more fleshed out a bit although it's hard when we are only reading Coco's thoughts and opinions.

I may pick up the sequel if only to find out more about Adam

It did take me a while to get into the hang of it - one sided emails and all the peopls names but once i got into the swing of it i really enjoyed it. I was always looking for time to read it and enjoyed it more and more.

The drama was great, it was just one thing after the other. If it was me i woudl have hibernated about January and never to be seen again, but she just kept going and going even though the bad stuff just kept coming.


I did get a few funny looks on the train when reading my kindle. I just couldnt hold in the laughing or the tears running down my face from holding it all in...! Hey! they are the ones missing out.

I will definately recommend this and i look forward to reading any other books by this author.

Cute, quick read. If you love Brit Chick-Lit like Bridget Jones Diary, you'll love this!

The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard is the first book from Robert Bryndza to feature the titular character, a forty something year old wife, mother and new author. It's Christmas and Coco is hosting the annual family lunch which includes her husband Daniel, who is late to the festivities, her near-adult son, Rosencranzt, David's mother, Ethel, and his sister and her husband, Meryl and Tony.

Related via a series of emails largely from Coco to her best friends, Chris, a wealthy trust fund baby, and Marika, a single and cynical schoolteacher with a fondness for wine, the reader is privy to the spiraling disaster that is Coco's life. Firstly her musical director husband announces he has signed a contract for a new tour, later she finds him in bed with his leading lady and hungover after drowning her sorrows, Coco makes an offhand remark in a radio interview that results in her being dropped by her publishing agent and her book, Chasing Diana Spencer, being pulped. It seems things can't get much worse when Ethel has a stroke and Coco is forced to take her in and her son is betrayed by his lover and arrested for drug smuggling. The one bright spot for Coco is meeting her handsome allotment neighbour, Adam, but even that is complicated, especially when Daniel returns, and wants her back.

The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard is a witty tale of domestic mid life crisis. There is a touch of romance, wry observation and lots of laugh out loud humour as Coco lurches from one disaster to another.
An entertaining read to provide an escape from the ordinary grind of life.