Thank you to Julie Shackman for sending a copy of this book to me for review. I loved Julie’s debut novel Rock My World so when I was asked to review Hero or Zero I jumped at the chance.
The idea for this story was great and something that I’ve never seen before. It is something that everybody would love to do, meet their favourite actor/singer/author etc., but rarely get the chance to do. However, we don’t think about the possibility of them being the total opposite of what you think, a completely different person to the one you have married yourself off to in your imagination. What happens, if the person you want them not to be, is exactly the person they are?
This book gives us a great insight to celebrities and how they live, act and see the world (and their fans). It also shows us that meeting our favourite celebrities isn’t always what it may seem. I was lucky enough to meet one of my favourite author’s, David Nicholls, a few weeks ago at a book signing and to tell you the truth I was a little apprehensive of how he might be. I was so excited to meet him but as I was waiting in the queue I started to worry in case he disappointed me in some way. I didn’t know how but I so badly didn’t want him to let me down. Thankfully and as expected he was a lovely man that had all the time in the world to chat and have photographs with fans.
After reading this book I realise that I think I unknowingly had done what Chloe had, built up an image of him, like I have with many other celebrities I like and although I did know they could have a side to them you don’t see on TV, you still I really don’t want that side to be real.
From quite early on in the book you think you can guess the ending but trust me you can’t, yes there are a few things you guess but there is also a bit of a twist on what you think might happen. This takes nothing away from the story however as you are still completely hooked on Chloe's life and can't wait to see what will happen next.
I adored the character of Chloe; she is the perfect down to earth, normal, eccentric fan-girl that we can all relate to. You can laugh, cry and cringe with her throughout the whole book and she is such a likeable character that you can’t help but support and relate to her.
I absolutely loved Danny, it was a great addition to the book having a young child that says it as it is and doesn’t know when he’s put his foot in it. He makes you laugh out loud and cringe for Chloe!
I hated Ethan pretty much right away, as soon as he started called Danny, Dylan and showed that he had no time of day for him or Chloe’s family, even though he will be spending a month with them. He also made my skin crawl the way he assumed he could have any woman he wanted, Chloe included, I just wanted to pop that big head of his! Ethan is well and truly a zero!! Not the hero we think at the start of the book.
Sean however was a gentleman from the start and although we didn’t learn too much about him until near the end of the book, you could see his good intentions were always there from the little subtle things he did for Chloe and Danny. I loved the way throughout the story we got snippets from Ethan and Sean’s past which let us know how each of them got to where they are now and we get to learn a bit more about them this way.
I loved how at the end Julie jumps to 6 months later where we re-join Chloe and Ethan to see how their lives have turned out and it is just how I wanted! I was hoping throughout the book that we would get to read the article that Chloe writes on Ethan and Julie doesn’t disappoint us! Although I wanted her to dish the dirt on Ethan and show the world the real Ethan Blake! I did admire her for not doing this though as we see that despite everything she is a loyal and caring woman. A lot of people that spend time with celebrities could learn a lot from her!
This is another fabulously written novel, showing how brilliant an author Julie is. She has the ability to make you laugh and keep you hooked throughout the whole of her books. This has made me want to re-read Rock My World to experience her writing again. Her books just keep getting better and better and I have a feeling she is one to watch! Thank you Julie for another wonderful novel!
Read my review of Julie's debut novel Rock My World here:
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