Synopsis
Olivia and Daniel certainly aren’t talking the language of love …
Olivia has been in love with Daniel forever but, despite her best efforts, they’ve never been able to get it together. Their relationship has always been a series of mixed messages and misunderstandings and the final straw comes when Daniel mysteriously starts dating her flatmate, Emily. Hurt and confused, Olivia resolves to forget her heartache with a spot of speed dating. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
One crazy stalker later and Olivia’s life is becoming increasingly strange and scary. Can she rely on Daniel to step in when events take a terrifying turn or will their communication breakdown ultimately result in tragedy?
Jules Wake
Bred but not born in Yorkshire, Jules considers herself an honorary Yorkshire woman and, despite living in the Chilterns, still misses proper hills. She’s always wanted to be a writer and blames this on her grandmother taking her at a young age to the Brontë’s parsonage in Haworth.
After reading English at the University of East Anglia, she found herself in the glamorous and deeply shallow world of PR, which she rather enjoyed, and spent a number of years honing her fiction writing skills on press releases.
Upon completing a creative writing course and finding no local writing group, she set up the Tring Writers’ Circle. As a result it was incumbent upon her to set a good example and actually write, which was rather fortunate as with a genuine allergy to cleaning, she finds writing offers the perfect displacement activity. Talk to Me is Jules’s debut novel.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
“Choc Lit is an independent publisher fast becoming a major force in the area of romance.
Wake has connections with Yorkshire and humour is a main component of this story about two friends who circle around the fact they should be together.
…The novel contains well-drawn characterisation and, even though predictable at times, brings satisfying light-hearted entertainment.”
Bill Spence, Bookshelf, Yorkshire Gazette & Herald – Feb ’15
Just finished “Talk to me”, the debut novel by Jules Wake. I don’t usually read genre fiction, so this was new territory for me, but it was an enjoyable trip. Jules Wake has a strong authorial voice, and the story is light and entertaining. I read another review that mentioned Bridget Jones, but Jules Wake’s heroine is much more on the ball and practical than that. I’d say “Talk to me” is a frothy cocktail made with a slug of David Nicholls, a measure of Helen Fielding, a splash of Jane Austen and a twist of Charlotte Bronte.
June 2014 Debut of the Month at LoveReading
A good build-up of tension towards the end of this romance adds a thriller element to it as the dangers of speed-dating is explored. Two girls, flatmates, hold the centre of the story and it is their relationships we follow, plus their working lives. Naturally there is a boy in the middle and all sorts of manipulations and deceit. It is a good, meaty romance with lots going on.
More details here…
“Talk to me” is a stunning début. Jules Wake taps into the Zeitgeist of the moment and delivers a novel that is contemporary and heart warming. It has the camaraderie and fashion sense of Sex in the City, but has the unique pulse of London.
“Talk to me” feels like it is fresh out from the pages of Hello magazine with it’s references to latest fashion trends. I have to admit, I am a bit of a fashion philistine and I didn’t know what a Manolo Blanik was before; but now I feel educated.
Jules Wake creates memorable characters that often say the most laugh out loud things- things I wish I would be able to say. Emily is the flatmate and not such a nice girl. Daniel is lovely, if not a bit misguided and Kate provides some antipodean charms.
Olivia and Daniel have problems getting past the starting gate. After a break up, Daniel starts to date Olivia Flatmate. That starts a whole series of events that make you wonder if they will ever come to their senses.
Although there are many soap opera reference and mentions of various cosmetics, there is more depth to it. There are some real consequence to Olivia’s speed dating disaster and how easily it is for something that seems innocent at the time to turn life threatening.
Jules Wake’s “Talk to me” is the next wave in chick lit – it is a brilliant novel that is funny, clever and romantic. Not since Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding, has there been such a coup d’etat for the genre. If you can only take one book with you on holiday this year- then this is that book.