A Day at the Office Book Review

A Day at the Office by Matt Dunn

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Blurb: For most people, Valentine's Day means flowers, chocolates, and candlelit dinners. But for five of Seek Software's employees, it's shaping up to be as much fun as a trip to the dentist.

Long-term singleton Sophie has a crush on colleague Nathan but worries he doesn't even know her name. And is there really any point in her sending a card to the man who organises the annual office Anti-Valentine's party?

Overweight, insecure, and still living with his mum, Calum's desperate for a girlfriend. He's recently met the woman of his dreams online but his exaggerated profile might mean tonight's first date could also be their last.

Mark's been besotted with Julie since she kissed him at the office Christmas party. While she doesn't seem to remember a thing, today might be his best change to remind her. If only he could work out how.

A Day at the Office is a wise, wonderfully moving, and laugh-out-loud novel about life, love, and relationships by bestselling novelist Matt Dunn.

Review by Brittany:

I stumbled across this book during a promotional period when it was a free Kindle download. Matt Dunn is not an author I'm familiar with, but I tend to gravitate toward British authors (I've found they write some of the most lighthearted books) and thought the blurb sounded interesting.

The book had a bit of a slow start as the first chapter basically introduces the five characters (Sophie, Calum, Nathan, Julie, and Mark) and gives a little background of each of them and their particular romantic situations. Once I got past the first chapter, the characters begin interacting with one another and the story begins to pick up.

Nathan's Anti-Valentine's day party is, ironically, a focal point of this Valentine's Day story. Many of the characters are using this event as a way to try to romance one another, although by the end of the book the event loses some of its luster.

The point of view of the novel is always third person, but the author does a really excellent job of still putting the reader inside each character's head. It was really interesting to read what each character was thinking, and - predictably - everyone was getting each other confused on who was interested in who in the office.

One thing I really enjoyed about the book was the banter between characters. There were often times where the characters would interact with one another and there were very slapstick-type jokes throughout. I enjoyed the lightheartedness of the comedy and the easy way the jokes flowed.

The ending is happy, as you might expect, but not in the way you think it will be. It is unpredictable enough to be interesting but you can count on the happy ending.

I found this book to be a cute and quick read, but it's not a book that I think I will reread. It's worth picking up once, but maybe waiting for the price to drop during a promotional period before doing so.

Notable Quotes:

And while at the same time Nathan had fought a wild urge to warn them they might be wasting their time, equally, ironically, he knew that was the only way love had a chance to develop: by wasting your time with someone else who maybe might like to waste theirs with you.

"The rest of anyone's life...It's a long time. I wasn't sure you weren't right for me, but equally, I wasn't sure you were."