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Coco Pinchard #1
Ne baš tajni e-mailovi Coco Pinchard
Coco Pinchard oduvijek je sanjala da će postati uspješna spisateljica, no udala se mlada, rodila sina i stavila svoje snove na čekanje. Sada, u njezinim četrdesetima, objavljen joj je prvi roman i čini se da je njezin život konačno krenuo pravim putem. Coco za Božić od supruga Daniela ne dobiva željenu ogrlicu, nego jedan sasvim praktičan poklon - novi iPhone, a uskoro otkriva i da je Daniel vara s mladom glumicom. Mobitel tada postaje njezina ispovjedaonica kojim svakodnevno bilježi i komentira niz nesretnih ( i ponekad ludo zabavnih) događaja koji će uslijediti nakon Danielova odlaska. Njezini vjerni prijatelji Chris i Marika pomažu joj da nakon strmoglavog pada opet stane na noge, a Coco ubrzo upoznaje i zgodnog Adama, te otkriva otkačeni svijet društvenih mreža i ponovnih izlazaka...
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
About the author
Robert Bryndza
27 books6,703 followersRobert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over five million copies.
His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 29 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).
Robert has released a further six novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller. Fatal Witness, is the seventh Erika Foster novel.
Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands, the third book is, Darkness Falls and the fourth, Devil’s Way has just been published.
Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.
You can find out more about Robert and his books at www.robertbryndza.com
His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 29 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).
Robert has released a further six novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller. Fatal Witness, is the seventh Erika Foster novel.
Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands, the third book is, Darkness Falls and the fourth, Devil’s Way has just been published.
Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.
You can find out more about Robert and his books at www.robertbryndza.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 487 reviews
December 31, 2017
I cannot get over the fact that this man also wroteThe Girl In The Ice. You could not find two more different books if you tried. The Coco series is very definitely chick lit , but of the very best kind.
As the title suggests this whole book is made up of emails from Coco to her circle of friends, family and work colleagues. This has the effect of making you keep reading as each email is like a very short chapter that leads into the next one. All of a sudden you find an hour has passed and you have read a huge chunk of book!
The characters are all entertaining and the humour is excellent. Some bits were so good I had to read them out to anyone who would listen. I love the character of Coco in particular, especially when she stands her ground and fights back. Having read A Very Coco Christmas where she meets Daniel I can now say that I never did really like him!
This is a very enjoyable and comical series and I am very much looking forward to what happens next.
As the title suggests this whole book is made up of emails from Coco to her circle of friends, family and work colleagues. This has the effect of making you keep reading as each email is like a very short chapter that leads into the next one. All of a sudden you find an hour has passed and you have read a huge chunk of book!
The characters are all entertaining and the humour is excellent. Some bits were so good I had to read them out to anyone who would listen. I love the character of Coco in particular, especially when she stands her ground and fights back. Having read A Very Coco Christmas where she meets Daniel I can now say that I never did really like him!
This is a very enjoyable and comical series and I am very much looking forward to what happens next.
November 23, 2017
The talented Robert Bryndza is becoming one of my favourite authors. I really enjoy his gritty Detective Erika Foster series but it was a surprise to me that he also wrote such entertaining and laugh out loud books as well.
I have only awarded this book a 3 star rating but could easily up it to a 4, a very enjoyable read that is full of laughs.
This is the first in the Coco Pinchard series, Coco is a budding author with lots of baggage and she tells her story through her humorous emails.
I fully intend to read the other books in the series and feel that this is a good start to what I believe will be a most enjoyable read.
I have only awarded this book a 3 star rating but could easily up it to a 4, a very enjoyable read that is full of laughs.
This is the first in the Coco Pinchard series, Coco is a budding author with lots of baggage and she tells her story through her humorous emails.
I fully intend to read the other books in the series and feel that this is a good start to what I believe will be a most enjoyable read.
August 27, 2014
Yet another E-mail format book which makes this more book easier to read. 'The Not So Secret Emails Of Coco Pinchard' is a funny, hilarious, Bridget Jones-style novel, which will take you on a whirlwind ride. And honestly I couldn't stop laughing after reading this one.
This is about Coco, a pretty 40-something author, mother and wife, married young, living in London, have a full-grown son now, who's happen to be gay. It's Christmas and Coco, being technologically-backward, happen to receive an i-Phone from her husband, Daniel. This I-phone becomes her best friend. She uses it to send e-mails to her friends and even to her son, when he's upstairs. One day she catches her husband cheating on her and consequently they get a divorce and Coco ends up living with her devil mother-in-law, Ethel.
All the characters are equally funny from Coco's friends to her in-laws. There was never a dull moment is Coco's life, whether her in-laws giving her trouble or she's herself facing some. It's a witty one from the beginning of this book which really makes it hard to put it down. Get this book, if you want a good laugh.
This is about Coco, a pretty 40-something author, mother and wife, married young, living in London, have a full-grown son now, who's happen to be gay. It's Christmas and Coco, being technologically-backward, happen to receive an i-Phone from her husband, Daniel. This I-phone becomes her best friend. She uses it to send e-mails to her friends and even to her son, when he's upstairs. One day she catches her husband cheating on her and consequently they get a divorce and Coco ends up living with her devil mother-in-law, Ethel.
All the characters are equally funny from Coco's friends to her in-laws. There was never a dull moment is Coco's life, whether her in-laws giving her trouble or she's herself facing some. It's a witty one from the beginning of this book which really makes it hard to put it down. Get this book, if you want a good laugh.
May 19, 2018
The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard is the first full-length novel in the Coco Pinchard series by British-born author, Robert Bryndza. It’s some twenty-three years since we met Coco in A Very Coco Christmas. She’s married to Daniel (but for how much longer?) and has a grown son, Rosencrantz. Her book “Chasing Diana Spencer” is not doing too well; her mother-in-law, Ethel seems to need a lot of attention; Rosencrantz is having dramas in career and romance; Daniel’s entertainment career seems to be going well, but keeps him absent.
Readers may have suspected from the prequel that Daniel would not make the best husband: this is now confirmed, and Coco has to deal with divorce and the associated property division. She also gets to see the returns of her book pulped; has to switch off life-support; has to rescue someone from a US jail for drug possession; gets an allotment with attendant rules and drop-dead-gorgeous neighbour; takes a vacation in Slovakia; and writes a musical for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
All this we learn via emails to (ex-)husband, son, good friends Chris and Marika, her agent, her new agent, her newsagent, the takeaway shop; the bookshop; her (ex-)sister-in-law; a prospective nursing home for her (ex-)mother-in-law; a stair-lift company; the police; the allotment administrator; and the hot allotment neighbour. All very entertaining.
Readers may have suspected from the prequel that Daniel would not make the best husband: this is now confirmed, and Coco has to deal with divorce and the associated property division. She also gets to see the returns of her book pulped; has to switch off life-support; has to rescue someone from a US jail for drug possession; gets an allotment with attendant rules and drop-dead-gorgeous neighbour; takes a vacation in Slovakia; and writes a musical for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
All this we learn via emails to (ex-)husband, son, good friends Chris and Marika, her agent, her new agent, her newsagent, the takeaway shop; the bookshop; her (ex-)sister-in-law; a prospective nursing home for her (ex-)mother-in-law; a stair-lift company; the police; the allotment administrator; and the hot allotment neighbour. All very entertaining.
February 7, 2013
Hmmm... I'm going back and forth over this one and really can't decide how to rate it. So I think I'm going to go with 3.5 stars.
This book is brilliantly funny. Think Bridget Jones and you'll be somewhere along the right track. Very British, very comical and very 'Oh my God, how embarrassing'!
I unzipped my boots but they wouldn't budge. My feet had swollen in the heat. After much tugging, a queue had started to form behind us. Eventually I had no choice but to hold onto the rail with my legs in the air whilst Adam pulled. It wasn't my finest hour.
However, I'm going to get the negatives out first, before getting back to what I really enjoyed about the book...
Nowhere near enough romance! That's my first gripe. When I read a romance, I want to read romance. There was so much going on in this book that the relationship between Coco and Adam was virtually a sub plot... in fact, I almost feel a bit wrong even bothering to cast him, as there were other characters that played such a bigger part in this story.
I think this book is more suited to middle aged housewives, rather than me, a 20 something with no kids or husband. And perhaps someone who prefers comedy over a love story. Whilst I do enjoy a good giggle, the love story is of utmost importance to me.
Back to the good stuff. This book is mad. Poor poor Coco. Talk about a run of bad luck. When her waste-of-space husband, Daniel, is found in bed with younger woman soon after New Year, her life just spirals downward with rapid decline.
Thursday 1st January 00:15
TO: [email protected]
Fireworks from the London Eye are bursting above my head filling the garden with reds, yellows and blues, but I am on my own. I don't know where Daniel is. He promised he would be home by eleven.
Happy New Year x
I loved all of the surrounding characters. My favourite was Coco's gay teenage son, Rosencrantz (Really?! Who calls their son Rosencrantz?)
"There's like a dude at the door, asking for you?"
"Did you let him in?"
"No. I said I would check with you."
"Well, did you ask his name?"
"Yeah. It's Mr. Rickard."
"That's Adam you idiot! Go and let him in!"
"But he's like fit!"
"No need to sound so shocked."
"You're dating him?"
"Yes. look, I haven't got time to go this, and he is standing out on the doorstep."
"Fucking hell Mum, like, way to go."
Then there is Coco's gay best friend, Chris, and her Slovakian friend Marika, the outspoken elderly mother-in-law, Ethel and snobby, opinionated sister-in-law, Meryl, as well as a whole host of other crazy personalities.
"I didn't think I'd end up divorced with three kids and a bucket fanny, but there you go."
As Coco tries to get what is left of her life, back on track, she trips and stumbles from one calamity to the next. The scenarios she finds herself in will make you want the ground to open up and swallow you, but it is so funny!
I felt tears coming and for some reason, buried my head in Iain's chest. It was firm and muscled and he smelt so wonderful.
I realised what I was doing and pulled away, but a big string of snot hung between my nose and his shirt pocket.
She also struggles with the modern advances in technology, finding her way around her new iPhone, a new Facebook account and the intrusion of Skype first thing in the morning.
I came out of the bathroom naked this morning as the computer was ringing and Meryl and Tony appeared via Skype.
Getting back on the dating scene at 42 isn't easy. And Coco struggles to come to the terms with the fact she is now a single lady. She is most definitely not 'single and ready to mingle'. Despite this, she pulls on her big girl pants and gets stuck in. I can't imagine being newly single after a long marriage, but I pray if I ever found myself in that situation, I'd avoid something like the following...
Thursday 18th June 07:37
TO: [email protected]
Ow, ow ow. Sunburn. Grass burn. Torn dress. Mud in hair. Hung-over. Feel like a slut.
Okay, so perhaps nobody send emails like Coco Pinchard, but who cares, the way this is written really works. It's almost written in a diary style, but in the form of emails to friends, bosses, relatives. And it really will make you giggle.
There are so many things in this book that the reader can relate to, which makes it all the more funny. Emailing or texting the wrong person anyone...? We've all been there...
TO: [email protected]
Oh god! Oh god! Oh shit! I have just sent the email I was meant to send to you, slagging off Meryl to Meryl by mistake. Damn this email invention.
How about the annoyance that is predictive text?! Oh yes, Coco feels your pain...
Saturday 18th July 19:02
TO: [email protected]
Great. Will see you tomorrow. I am just going home for a bit of anal.
Saturday 18th July 19:04
TO: [email protected]
That was the auto correct! Not me! My email was meant to read 'I am just going home for a bit of a nap!'
I am tired, I am not, and I never have...
Anyway. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Coco.
Okay okay, I must stop now. Brilliant. I could have picked out so many quotes that made me laugh-out-loud. So, if comedy is your thing, read this.
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March 18, 2016
A word of warning - do not read this book in a doctors waiting room - trying hard to cover up your chuckles as you are laughing out loud has people looking at you trying to work out if you are in full control of your facilities - or not!
Very embarrassing when a small child asks her mother why is that lady snorting!!!
Very embarrassing when a small child asks her mother why is that lady snorting!!!
February 18, 2016
Oh what a super treat this book is. Coco Pinchard should be enjoying life, married, a grown up son and her first book written and published, but life is never what you expect it to be. When Coco receives an i phone at Xmas, from her husband, her life is about to take a dive. The story is told through emails that she sends from her new phone.
Robert Bryndza's humour works a dream. There is quite an innocence in the emails that is both endearing to the character of Coco and hilarious at the same time. I listen to my books while doing a night shift at work. I was literally laughing so much that I think my colleagues are now convinced that I am the "special one" the company employs to bump up government figures.
The thought of a novel just containing emails just doesn't sound like it would work but Robert Bryndza tells a cracking full blown entertaining story through them. The cast of characters isn't huge but the quality is top notch. Each is colourful, I especially loved Ethel, Coco's mother-in-law. There are some brilliant scenes in the hospital.
Loved this book and the journey continues, I already have the next 4 books in this series.
Robert Bryndza's humour works a dream. There is quite an innocence in the emails that is both endearing to the character of Coco and hilarious at the same time. I listen to my books while doing a night shift at work. I was literally laughing so much that I think my colleagues are now convinced that I am the "special one" the company employs to bump up government figures.
The thought of a novel just containing emails just doesn't sound like it would work but Robert Bryndza tells a cracking full blown entertaining story through them. The cast of characters isn't huge but the quality is top notch. Each is colourful, I especially loved Ethel, Coco's mother-in-law. There are some brilliant scenes in the hospital.
Loved this book and the journey continues, I already have the next 4 books in this series.
January 20, 2016
Third book of my holiday reads.
What a wonderfully funny and heartwarming book this is. Absolutely loved it. Really enjoyed reading Coco's emails and getting an insight into her life. Coco is just a fabulous character as is Ethel her ever embarrassing mother in law.
Can't recommend this book highly enough, especially if your after a book that will brighten up your day. Can't wait to read the next one.
What a wonderfully funny and heartwarming book this is. Absolutely loved it. Really enjoyed reading Coco's emails and getting an insight into her life. Coco is just a fabulous character as is Ethel her ever embarrassing mother in law.
Can't recommend this book highly enough, especially if your after a book that will brighten up your day. Can't wait to read the next one.
August 16, 2017
I wanted something funny to read, and I though this was it. Narrated in the form of emails from the protagonist, Coco Pinchard. We know of her life via the emails she writes to her best friends. Well, funny it is, but not hilarious, as I was expecting. Sometimes I found myself not even caring whatever happenned to her. It reminded me a bit of Bridget Jones diary, but I found Bridget to be a more interesting character. All in all, a light read, though not so funny as it looks
March 31, 2023
Za razbibrigu i odmaranje mozga skroz ok knjiga.
December 2, 2014
The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard is the first book from Robert Bryndza to feature the titular character, a forty something year old wife, mother and new author. It's Christmas and Coco is hosting the annual family lunch which includes her husband Daniel, who is late to the festivities, her near-adult son, Rosencranzt, David's mother, Ethel, and his sister and her husband, Meryl and Tony.
Related via a series of emails largely from Coco to her best friends, Chris, a wealthy trust fund baby, and Marika, a single and cynical schoolteacher with a fondness for wine, the reader is privy to the spiraling disaster that is Coco's life. Firstly her musical director husband announces he has signed a contract for a new tour, later she finds him in bed with his leading lady and hungover after drowning her sorrows, Coco makes an offhand remark in a radio interview that results in her being dropped by her publishing agent and her book, Chasing Diana Spencer, being pulped. It seems things can't get much worse when Ethel has a stroke and Coco is forced to take her in and her son is betrayed by his lover and arrested for drug smuggling. The one bright spot for Coco is meeting her handsome allotment neighbour, Adam, but even that is complicated, especially when Daniel returns, and wants her back.
The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard is a witty tale of domestic mid life crisis. There is a touch of romance, wry observation and lots of laugh out loud humour as Coco lurches from one disaster to another.
An entertaining read to provide an escape from the ordinary grind of life.
June 7, 2012
Fantastic fun read!! All written through emails of main character Coco Pichard. The email format could have been difficult to carry off, but the author uses it to excellent advantage. Coco's life brought smiles to my face and made me laugh like how I never thought I would with a book. Excellent read.
August 1, 2012
I do not even know where to start because I do not want to post too many spoilers. I have so many pieces of the book rolling through my head and I am laughing just thinking about them! There were a few things that I had to look up but after I did, I just laughed some more and went back to reading.
Coco Pinchard is a hilarious character that anyone can relate too. She is still fairly young at 40-something, an author, and has a grown son who is gay. She lives in London and the story is full of British humor. The story starts out as a series of emails from Coco to her various family members and friends. It is Christmas time and Coco spouts off what she got for Christmas, from a bunch of Marlboro Lights, to the iPhone that her husband, Daniel, gave her. The most hilarious part is that Coco was not expecting an impersonal iPhone from her husband, she was fully expecting a present from Tiffany’s. The iPhone becomes Coco’s most prized possession, as she uses it to email her friends that are far away, as well as just to tell her son something while he is upstairs.
Daniel tells Coco that he is going out of town to be the new director of a musical. This starts off a series of events that culminate with Coco finding out that Daniel is cheating on her, with no other than Snow White! (lol, you will have to read it now just to find out what I am talking about!)
Coco and Daniel separate and ultimately divorce, but not without a million mishaps along the way that Coco manages to get herself into. Newly separated, Coco does not know what to do with herself. She manages to outcast herself in the publishing world with her book, Chasing Diana Spencer, because of a rivalry with the bestselling author of the time. Because of that all of her books are taken off the shelves and Coco goes on an adventure to see all her books burned.
Then there is her mother-in-law, Ethel, who is a crotchety old broad, who ends up living with her. Ethel is hilarious and horrible, in a well-meaning way. You can tell she loves Coco but she puts her through Holy Hell.
Then comes Coco’s chance to prove herself once again, by making a musical out of her book. With the help of all her friends, a few romances that will have you rolling in the floor, a couple of holidays, a visit to a jail in California, and a garden plot, Coco Pinchard will have you rolling on the floor and laughing so hard that you snort tea up your nose. (lol, I really did!).
The entire book is in email format and it really works. It flows so smoothly and the pages turn so fast because you just cannot put the book down. The emails are only one way but the story is told flawlessly from Coco’s point of view. The characters are fantastic from Coco’s best friends, Chris and Marika, to her various in-laws, to the hunky Adam that helps Coco find her way. I give this book 5 stars and I would give it more if I could.
This is one book you do not want to miss if you enjoy British humor and chick-lit. I am looking forward to reading many more books from Robert Bryndza and I hope you check this one out!
Quotes from the book: (I am going to limit myself to three but there are so many great ones!)
“E’s nineteen years old! It’s not trees e’s gonna be going up.”
“I heard your bed going like the clappers. For my own peace of mind I am going to assume you, and whoever, were jumping up and down on it to the music you were playing.”
“He’s letting her eat his corn on the cob.”
I also have to mention some words and phrases that I thought were so funny.
Prat, up the duff, bollards, pipped me to the post (there are just so many that are so funny!)
For more reviews of Great Books please visit: http://cynthiashepp.wordpress.com
Coco Pinchard is a hilarious character that anyone can relate too. She is still fairly young at 40-something, an author, and has a grown son who is gay. She lives in London and the story is full of British humor. The story starts out as a series of emails from Coco to her various family members and friends. It is Christmas time and Coco spouts off what she got for Christmas, from a bunch of Marlboro Lights, to the iPhone that her husband, Daniel, gave her. The most hilarious part is that Coco was not expecting an impersonal iPhone from her husband, she was fully expecting a present from Tiffany’s. The iPhone becomes Coco’s most prized possession, as she uses it to email her friends that are far away, as well as just to tell her son something while he is upstairs.
Daniel tells Coco that he is going out of town to be the new director of a musical. This starts off a series of events that culminate with Coco finding out that Daniel is cheating on her, with no other than Snow White! (lol, you will have to read it now just to find out what I am talking about!)
Coco and Daniel separate and ultimately divorce, but not without a million mishaps along the way that Coco manages to get herself into. Newly separated, Coco does not know what to do with herself. She manages to outcast herself in the publishing world with her book, Chasing Diana Spencer, because of a rivalry with the bestselling author of the time. Because of that all of her books are taken off the shelves and Coco goes on an adventure to see all her books burned.
Then there is her mother-in-law, Ethel, who is a crotchety old broad, who ends up living with her. Ethel is hilarious and horrible, in a well-meaning way. You can tell she loves Coco but she puts her through Holy Hell.
Then comes Coco’s chance to prove herself once again, by making a musical out of her book. With the help of all her friends, a few romances that will have you rolling in the floor, a couple of holidays, a visit to a jail in California, and a garden plot, Coco Pinchard will have you rolling on the floor and laughing so hard that you snort tea up your nose. (lol, I really did!).
The entire book is in email format and it really works. It flows so smoothly and the pages turn so fast because you just cannot put the book down. The emails are only one way but the story is told flawlessly from Coco’s point of view. The characters are fantastic from Coco’s best friends, Chris and Marika, to her various in-laws, to the hunky Adam that helps Coco find her way. I give this book 5 stars and I would give it more if I could.
This is one book you do not want to miss if you enjoy British humor and chick-lit. I am looking forward to reading many more books from Robert Bryndza and I hope you check this one out!
Quotes from the book: (I am going to limit myself to three but there are so many great ones!)
“E’s nineteen years old! It’s not trees e’s gonna be going up.”
“I heard your bed going like the clappers. For my own peace of mind I am going to assume you, and whoever, were jumping up and down on it to the music you were playing.”
“He’s letting her eat his corn on the cob.”
I also have to mention some words and phrases that I thought were so funny.
Prat, up the duff, bollards, pipped me to the post (there are just so many that are so funny!)
For more reviews of Great Books please visit: http://cynthiashepp.wordpress.com
February 22, 2013
For a good time, read: “The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard.” It is quirky, funny, unique, and smart. I’m usually not a fan of diary-type books or even books written in first person, but this book changed my mind. I don’t remember ever laughing so much while reading a book.
Even though the last 20% of the book seemed to lose its spunk, and the main character, Coco, just kind of coasted without a real direction, it was still well worth the read. Fun!
Even though the last 20% of the book seemed to lose its spunk, and the main character, Coco, just kind of coasted without a real direction, it was still well worth the read. Fun!
September 23, 2021
Žalosno je šta se sve danas naziva knjigom.
Struja koja se potroši na ovakvu glupost.
Drva koja se nažalost poseku za ovakve budalaštine.
Kao i mnoge druge stvari.
Jedna od najgorih pročitanih knjiga, ikada!
Struja koja se potroši na ovakvu glupost.
Drva koja se nažalost poseku za ovakve budalaštine.
Kao i mnoge druge stvari.
Jedna od najgorih pročitanih knjiga, ikada!
January 14, 2014
tak toto ma fakt dostalo a prekvapilo. nečakala som moc a dostala som veľa. smiala som sa od začiatku do konca.
etela rules =D
etela rules =D
May 27, 2018
This book was hilarious! I seriously LOLed numerous times. I've already bought book #2 and hope to get to it soon.
November 8, 2022
3.5 Well, I needed a break from classics, and I love epistolary novels (or e-mail novels in modern literature), so I picked this up for some light entertainment. I was surprised how characters were well developed and the family dynamics in a bad family situation jumps from tragic to comic and back. The book seemed promising and the style is easy to read. It had some interesting insights into entertainment and publishing world, I thought it would be my new surprising favorite. But then it turned to absurd, soapy mess, like a draft of the novel before a harsh, but needed editing. So, the last third of the book was just for me to go through and finish the novel. It was what I expected, light and entertaining, but it could have been so much more, it had material enough and the characters (Ethel and Rosencratz especially) were there to support a good mix of humor and tragedy, but it turned into a totally different book in the end, purposefully absurd and disconnected from its story. Still, I'm glad I've read it.
November 19, 2021
I am sorry but this book is not for me. I think it is a better read for a yoga mom who gets the cultural refrences and finds the jokes funny.
It was an easy read witch i think is great but i don't realy like the email format and the jokes are outdated.
I read this in 2021 as a teenager and i think it was just wrong for me.
It was an easy read witch i think is great but i don't realy like the email format and the jokes are outdated.
I read this in 2021 as a teenager and i think it was just wrong for me.
January 29, 2015
My first 5 star read in 2015. And no it probably won't win any snobby book awards but it made me laugh out loud and that's good enough for me. Normally when I find something funny in a book, I do this weird little laugh, which my boyfriend always mimics. But no weird little laugh with Coco, just full on giggles.
You can't not like Coco, she's funny. Though she doesn't mean to be. And I love email format, very 'Holly's Inbox'. The supporting characters are all great. The story is not original but that never bothers me with chick-lit as generally the story is the same in all of them. It's how they are told and the characters which make them stand out.
I can't wait to read more about Coco, good thing my birthday is coming up soon. Oh, and I can't be the only one who wants to read 'Chasing Diana Spencer', can I?
You can't not like Coco, she's funny. Though she doesn't mean to be. And I love email format, very 'Holly's Inbox'. The supporting characters are all great. The story is not original but that never bothers me with chick-lit as generally the story is the same in all of them. It's how they are told and the characters which make them stand out.
I can't wait to read more about Coco, good thing my birthday is coming up soon. Oh, and I can't be the only one who wants to read 'Chasing Diana Spencer', can I?
July 10, 2013
You think you’ve got problems? Trust me, they are nothing compared to what Coco Pinchard has! And how the author of this marvel manages to achieve such a level of hilarity while Coco goes from one disaster to another is the mark of true creative genius. The first of a three book series, this novel, told totally in entertaining emails, is laugh-out-loud funny. Coco, to her dismay, discovers that the truth does not always set you free. In fact, if you say disparaging things about a beloved talk show host, you may find your career swirling down the proverbial toilet, even if people know you spoke the truth. Poor Coco! How she copes with all the stuff thrown her way will brighten your day with laughter.
December 21, 2014
I found this a complete joy from start to finish. Told via emails from the delightfully named Coco Pinchard, such a lot is packed into this novel. It’s light, undemanding and terribly funny. I normally read much darker material but I now realise there’s room for Coco in my reading schedule!
On contemplating why this book works so well - apart from the impressively high laughter count - I realised it’s because I love the characters. From the dreadful (but hilarious) mother-in-law, Ethel, to the ‘like’ gay son, Rosencrantz, via a host of other treats, I enjoyed spending time with them all!
On contemplating why this book works so well - apart from the impressively high laughter count - I realised it’s because I love the characters. From the dreadful (but hilarious) mother-in-law, Ethel, to the ‘like’ gay son, Rosencrantz, via a host of other treats, I enjoyed spending time with them all!
January 16, 2013
This was by far one of the funniest books I've read in the past year. Very 'Bridget Jones' but less stuffy and more 'Sex and the City' meets crazy family.
I adored the email format. Not being able to read Coco's 'incoming' emails made reading her outgoing messages all the funnier. As much as I loved Coco herself, my fave character was Rosencrantz.
I hope there's gonna be a second book!! I'd love to see what happens next.
I adored the email format. Not being able to read Coco's 'incoming' emails made reading her outgoing messages all the funnier. As much as I loved Coco herself, my fave character was Rosencrantz.
I hope there's gonna be a second book!! I'd love to see what happens next.
December 30, 2017
A hilarious book that is quick and easy to read. It was the perfect book to read in that period between Christmas and New Year when you don't have a clue what day it is and are mostly full of gin!
Loved it. Coco is my new literary hero
Loved it. Coco is my new literary hero
July 26, 2013
Super! Super! Super! Lebo aj na druhý krát to je perfektné!!!! Milujem Etelu, tá ženská ma raz zabije tými hláškami :-). A Coco to je proste pani! :-)
October 1, 2018
I very rarely read chick/chook lit these days, having got fed up with the plot always being the same and the heroines always being feeble, but Robert Bryndza writes the brilliant Erika Foster crime series, so when I saw a giveaway on the UK Crime Fiction Book Club Facebook page, I entered, and was amazed to hear I'd won (I never win anything!) I was very impressed that the author (who lives in Slovakia) was happy to post it all the way to New Zealand, and happy to see he had signed it too. It has taken me a little while to get to it, as I have had the literary equivalent of eyes being bigger than my tummy with NetGalley, so chasing publication deadlines, but I really needed something light and funny after several dark twisted thrillers in a row, and this fit the bill perfectly.
Coco Pinchard is having a bad month. Barely recovered from hosting her in-laws for Christmas, she is horrified to discover her husband of 20+ years in bed with a young actress, and then she torpedoes her budding career as a writer by slagging off an influential book reviewing personality live on the radio. She recounts her woes to her best friends, Chris and Marika, and her son, drama student Rosencrantz, through a series of emails on the iPhone that her soon-to-be-ex hubby got her for Christmas, instead of the Tiffany jewellery she covets.
There are not many books that make me snigger out loud, but this managed it. I loved Coco - warm and witty, she picks herself up after every embarrassing disaster (rather a lot of them alcohol-induced) and puts her oddball family first, but refuses to be walked over by Daniel and his mid-life crisis. There are some great minor characters - special mention to Byron and her classic Kiwi accent, and I loved the trip to Edinburgh (my home for 10 years) for the romp down memory lane. I even quite enjoyed the romance with hunky allotment gardener Adam (although would not so readily forgive someone reading my emails!)
The fact that this is so completely different to his crime series, but that I enjoyed both, is testament to what a clever writer Bryndza is. There are two later books, and now two prequels, which I may well be tempted to read (once I catch up with my NetGalleys, of course...)
Coco Pinchard is having a bad month. Barely recovered from hosting her in-laws for Christmas, she is horrified to discover her husband of 20+ years in bed with a young actress, and then she torpedoes her budding career as a writer by slagging off an influential book reviewing personality live on the radio. She recounts her woes to her best friends, Chris and Marika, and her son, drama student Rosencrantz, through a series of emails on the iPhone that her soon-to-be-ex hubby got her for Christmas, instead of the Tiffany jewellery she covets.
There are not many books that make me snigger out loud, but this managed it. I loved Coco - warm and witty, she picks herself up after every embarrassing disaster (rather a lot of them alcohol-induced) and puts her oddball family first, but refuses to be walked over by Daniel and his mid-life crisis. There are some great minor characters - special mention to Byron and her classic Kiwi accent, and I loved the trip to Edinburgh (my home for 10 years) for the romp down memory lane. I even quite enjoyed the romance with hunky allotment gardener Adam (although would not so readily forgive someone reading my emails!)
The fact that this is so completely different to his crime series, but that I enjoyed both, is testament to what a clever writer Bryndza is. There are two later books, and now two prequels, which I may well be tempted to read (once I catch up with my NetGalleys, of course...)
January 21, 2013
Having been introduced to this book by the author himself, I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I can't quite go so far. Firstly, I doubt very much that, at a few years older than Coco herself, I really fall into the target audience. My technological gadgetry is very much on an "as necessary" basis. I don't have an e-reader, since I don't have wi-fi, (and much prefer the feel of a real book, especially an old one with previous owners names and addresses, etc. inscribed in the fly cover,) and I don't own a smart phone. My mobile is so primitive, it doesn't even have a camera, (although when I had my dog, I discovered that it had a rather nifty torch in the end and was slim enough to hold in my hand together with the handle of his extend-a-lead!) But I can see how this book would actually benefit from being downloaded and read on a handheld device; it would kind of bring the reader in to the action, so to speak.
But it wasn't the format that was the problem for me; the problem was that I had no idea of what Coco was like. I felt that, at first, the book didn't really care about character, it was just a case of writing anything, so long as it was funny. And it was, don't get me wrong. I laughed out loud, once until I coughed and almost choked, but there was no real sense of who Coco was. Sometimes she was like Edina from Absolutely Fabulous, sometimes she was like a warm-hearted creation of Victoria Wood and sometimes she was like Lorraine Chase, circa the 1970s Campari adverts, wafted in from Luton Airport. And I had no idea what she looked like; was she plain and dumpy, was she slim and chic? It was really unclear because there didn't seem to be a consistent character behind her e-mails and her immediate family didn't appear to have any consistency. Her husband, Daniel, appeared to be fairly middle-class, but his mother, Ethel, would have been more at home in the recent BBC2 sitcom, Hebburn, so it was unclear as to whether Rosencrantz would be a plausible name for Coco's offspring, or whether it was just a name that sounded funny when applied to the OTT Gay son.
It was the other characters who were clearly defined; for all his OTT "theatrical" tendencies, I felt that Rosencrantz was a plausible end-of-teenager, Coco's friend Chris was the perfect Gay friend, clearly thriving on Coco's domestic crises, in the knowledge that he could whisk them away and make everything fabulous, darling if only until the hangover wore off, but best of all was Coco's Slovakian friend, Marika! She was my kind of girl; take no cr*p and take no prisoners! And, if I am honest, it was these characters who kept me reading at first.
Yes, there were plenty of laughs, but I couldn't really have cared less about Coco, or what happened to her. However, it was after everything went wrong and the tease of a possible romance for Coco, with the hunky Adam began, that I started to really engage with the book. Coco's character seemed to take on more consistency and I was truly hooked and had to keep reading. The laughs were fewer, but the story was more plausible, less contrived and more firmly rooted in a recognisably real world, as opposed to some exaggerated sitcom type world, where the protagonists will do obviously unrealistic things, such as decorate half of a Christmas tree in traditional family decorations and half all silver and then proceed to wage a surreptitious war, each turning the tree to display their preferred theme, when the other party wasn’t around. I mean who, (apart from my Auntie, who will decide that her Victoriana-style baubles are passé and that the all silver tree that she previously had was so last year and this year she wants an all gold tree and will go out an buy a complete tree-worth of baubles and tinsel,) even has a choice of festive décor? So, in the second half of the book, I really started to warm to Coco and was rooting for everything to turn out alright for her in the end
To summarise, perhaps, like the i-phone, this approach to book writing was a little too new for an old stick-in-the-mud like me. I would have liked a clear character to Coco from the outset, after all the best comedy is character-driven. When Darren Little was the archivist for Coronation Street he used to keep a file on every character, with a complete back story from their birth, to the time they supposedly arrived on “the street”, so that the scripts could be written with an integrity to the characters. It didn’t seem like even the author knew what Coco was really like until the book was about half way through. However, there are plenty of good laughs to be had and once you start to warm to Coco, there is enough humanity there to make the book more than just “a good laugh”. While I may not have loved it, I’ll certainly be keeping it on my bookshelf and will no doubt re-read it, perhaps one wet week, when I’m feeling down and need to be cheered up by a laugh and somebody else’s struggle to overcome adversity!
But it wasn't the format that was the problem for me; the problem was that I had no idea of what Coco was like. I felt that, at first, the book didn't really care about character, it was just a case of writing anything, so long as it was funny. And it was, don't get me wrong. I laughed out loud, once until I coughed and almost choked, but there was no real sense of who Coco was. Sometimes she was like Edina from Absolutely Fabulous, sometimes she was like a warm-hearted creation of Victoria Wood and sometimes she was like Lorraine Chase, circa the 1970s Campari adverts, wafted in from Luton Airport. And I had no idea what she looked like; was she plain and dumpy, was she slim and chic? It was really unclear because there didn't seem to be a consistent character behind her e-mails and her immediate family didn't appear to have any consistency. Her husband, Daniel, appeared to be fairly middle-class, but his mother, Ethel, would have been more at home in the recent BBC2 sitcom, Hebburn, so it was unclear as to whether Rosencrantz would be a plausible name for Coco's offspring, or whether it was just a name that sounded funny when applied to the OTT Gay son.
It was the other characters who were clearly defined; for all his OTT "theatrical" tendencies, I felt that Rosencrantz was a plausible end-of-teenager, Coco's friend Chris was the perfect Gay friend, clearly thriving on Coco's domestic crises, in the knowledge that he could whisk them away and make everything fabulous, darling if only until the hangover wore off, but best of all was Coco's Slovakian friend, Marika! She was my kind of girl; take no cr*p and take no prisoners! And, if I am honest, it was these characters who kept me reading at first.
Yes, there were plenty of laughs, but I couldn't really have cared less about Coco, or what happened to her. However, it was after everything went wrong and the tease of a possible romance for Coco, with the hunky Adam began, that I started to really engage with the book. Coco's character seemed to take on more consistency and I was truly hooked and had to keep reading. The laughs were fewer, but the story was more plausible, less contrived and more firmly rooted in a recognisably real world, as opposed to some exaggerated sitcom type world, where the protagonists will do obviously unrealistic things, such as decorate half of a Christmas tree in traditional family decorations and half all silver and then proceed to wage a surreptitious war, each turning the tree to display their preferred theme, when the other party wasn’t around. I mean who, (apart from my Auntie, who will decide that her Victoriana-style baubles are passé and that the all silver tree that she previously had was so last year and this year she wants an all gold tree and will go out an buy a complete tree-worth of baubles and tinsel,) even has a choice of festive décor? So, in the second half of the book, I really started to warm to Coco and was rooting for everything to turn out alright for her in the end
To summarise, perhaps, like the i-phone, this approach to book writing was a little too new for an old stick-in-the-mud like me. I would have liked a clear character to Coco from the outset, after all the best comedy is character-driven. When Darren Little was the archivist for Coronation Street he used to keep a file on every character, with a complete back story from their birth, to the time they supposedly arrived on “the street”, so that the scripts could be written with an integrity to the characters. It didn’t seem like even the author knew what Coco was really like until the book was about half way through. However, there are plenty of good laughs to be had and once you start to warm to Coco, there is enough humanity there to make the book more than just “a good laugh”. While I may not have loved it, I’ll certainly be keeping it on my bookshelf and will no doubt re-read it, perhaps one wet week, when I’m feeling down and need to be cheered up by a laugh and somebody else’s struggle to overcome adversity!
January 1, 2021
I loved this book! The concept of an entire book written as emails is definitely unique, but it was awesome. I seriously laughed out loud several times. Hilarious!
August 7, 2024
Sviđa mi se stil na koji ova spisateljica piše knjigu. Vrlo duhovito i doslovno sam pročitala u jednom dahu. Preporuka!
September 1, 2020
Light, fun, summer read :)
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