Story about a first-year university student (Brian) who has the twin goals of trying to impress a gorgeous girl, and get on to the winning team in University Challenge.

This book was read in a period where I got behind with my reviews, so I don't remember well enough to do a proper review.

I did enjoy this book; it was very readable. It reminded me quite a lot of The Rotters' Club partly because it had a similar feel to it, and similar themes (youngish bookish man besotted with gorgeous girl), but quite a lot (I suspect) because the screen versions of both books cast Alice Eve in the role of gorgeous girl.

But unlike TRC, this one had few surprises in the plot. E.g. Brian, when trying to devise a strategy for winning the beautiful but rather unreliable Alice, makes friends with a not-conventionally beautiful, but interesting Scottish girl who acts as a foil throughout the book. It's absolutely no surprise that at the end of the book, things don't work out with Alice, but Brian and the Scottish girl realise that they're made for each other.

Very readable though, even if it was predictable. And there was a good line in there (I think, unless I'm getting mixed up with another book) about how Brian couldn't understand how someone as attractive as Alice could ever have reason to be unhappy. Can't remember the exact quote though..

But I'll try another by this author. He can write well, even if the plot wasn't fantastically original.

Completed : 27-Sep-2010