Review: Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? by Hazel Osmond

 Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ellie Somerset is a great advertising copywriter going nowhere fast - a boyfriend who is always at work, a tendency to dress like a short-sighted bag lady and a Creative Director who rejects her fresh ideas - they all conspire to keep her just treading water. Even her Great Aunt Edith, a demon at filthy scrabble, has a better social life than she does. All that changes when Jack Wolfe becomes her boss. Whilst everyone else at the agency thinks he's Heathcliff in jeans, Ellie just sees a stalking, scowling Alpha male with a nasty redundancy plan up his sleeve. As Jack makes it his mission to smarten up Ellie's attitude and her appearance, it's time for her to prove herself. But that means getting closer to this very sexy, very wicked man, and as she does Ellie discovers that this particular Heathcliff has an awful lot to hide.

Review:

I admit that the title 'Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe?' put me off at first. It's cheesy. But the blurb was so good that I had to give it a go. Luckily, I didn't regret it. Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? is a great chick-lit book. I adored the banter between Ellie and Jack. I loved the mystery surrounding Jack.

At first, Ellie doesn't have much confidence in herself and others take advantage of her. She doesn't even notice that things are going downhill with her idiot of a boyfriend. When Jack points out her shortcomings, it's only natural that Ellie should be defensive. That's the start of their bumpy relationship.

I loved how Ellie developed throughout the book. Slowly but surely, she does gain confidence and works out what she wants. She felt like a real person and I understood how confused she felt by the ever-puzzling Mr Wolfe. I liked both Jack and Ellie because Osmond wrote from both their perspectives. However, I always felt closer to Ellie because some of Jack's reasoning seemed weak.

I would give Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? five stars because I liked all the characters and I couldn't stop turning the pages until I finished this book but I had to take off a star because of some things that happened towards the end of the book. I wished Ellie took much more of an active role in solving the mystery surrounding Jack from earlier in the story and I wished Jack wasn't so horrible to Ellie at one point.

Overall, I really enjoyed Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? as Ellie and Jack were great characters. It was a funny and light book at times and much more serious at other moments. It's quite a thick book and I finished it in a day so it is one worth reading. I'm quite new to chick-lit but this has definitely been one of the best ones I've read so far. I can't wait to read Hazel Osmond's next book, The First Time I Saw Your Face. 

Rating: 4/5
Author: Hazel Osmond