Air Kisses - Zoe Foster

When I still lived in New Zealand the Austrailian version of Cosmopolitan Magazine was my version of a bible, I particularily enjoyed the articles by beauty editor Zoe Foster so when I read on the net that she had written a novel I just knew I had to read it. To be honest it was slightly difficult for me to get my hands on a copy, I scoured the net, searched the shelves at the book shop meticulously and finally found a copy on ebay. There may have been a squeal of delight when I saw it on ebay but anyway I purchased it and waited in eager anticipation for it to come all wrapped and brand new through my mail slot.

Here's what the back cover says: Is love really more important than lip gloss? Hannah Atkins - the girl most likely to be sporting streaky fake tan and a wobbly trail of liquid eyeliner - has bluffed her way into the position of beauty editor at Gloss magazine. Just as she's carving a path into the gorgeous world of guerrilla air kisses, she reads about her boyfriend and another girl in the gossip pages of the local newspaper. Then she gets dumped. By text.

Vowing to claw back some dignity and make her ex regret what he's done, Hannah adopts some hard core rules - look fabulous, steer clear of unsuitable men. But as her resolution starts to slip away, she finds herself having to decide on more important things than the perfect mascara....

My preconceived notion of what this book would be like was that there would be a love interest come into Hannah's life, heal her broken heart and prove to her that love still exists and that her ex is a plonker. This did not happen. The story is focused on Hannah and her sorting her life out for her and finding ways to be happy that doesn't revolve around a man. It's about her finding where she fits in at her new job, carving her own little place in the world and discovering who she is for herself. I found this to be a refreshing approach (though I still secretly hoped for a hunky man to sweep Hannah off her feet) as so many novels have romances and have the love interest as the defining point in the heroine's life. At the start Hannah is a girl who is fumbling about in a job she's not sure she deserves or can do and has a boyfriend she discovers has been cheating on her, as book progresses we see her gain confidence within herself and realise that yes she can actually do the job and do it well.

Another little quirky point of difference which makes Air Kisses stand out is each chapter is headed up with a beauty tip which coincides with the title of the chapter and the theme running through it.

Overall, even though I was slightly hoping for a bit of a romance, I really enjoyed this book, it was quirky, sweet, intelligence and I really found myself rooting for Hannah and feeling all the emotions she rode on her own personal emotional roller coaster.