follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet–like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Viking for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

The book also suffers from the same problem as a lot of others on the market at the moment -- it’s about 100 pages too long. The plot is indeed partly predictable, but “good” predictable, and (*spoilers alert*) even though I knew from the very beginning that Monica and Hazard were supposed to be together, I was still rooting for them the whole time and enjoyed their careful realisation of their feelings.

With that ripple effect, I loved how this novel interwove and connected each character and their story to each other. Pooley was obviously going for a Love, Actually/Four Weddings and a Funeral type interconnecting characters feel. As the notebook is passed from one character to another and authentic thoughts are shared, these characters lives begin to intertwine. She'd spent all day talking to people, serving them coffees and cakes, chatting about the weather and the latest celebrity gossip. She gave each character a unique voice and I was never confused as to who’s perspective the story was being told from.

It also gives food for thought in taking time to talk to people and not jumping to first impressions as this story shows that a lot of the time they couldn’t be further than the truth. In my opinion there were a core group of characters and there were a few that didn't seem completely necessary. It's run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street.Still, this definitely was a unique story with characters you couldn’t help but root for – and then, some twists and turns along the way. Reading the book was like hanging out with a rowdy, affectionate bunch of friends where you don't want the party to stop. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves--and soon find each other in real life at Monica's café. Leaving it on a table in Monica’s café, a warm, friendly place where Julian escapes at his most lonely moments, he never expects Monica to find it and track him down. You would think that with everyone baring their souls in the notebook that they wouldn’t be hiding too many secrets from each other but this is absolutely what happens and anguish ensues.