The Not So Secret Emails Of Coco Pinchard by Robert Bryndza

This book was brought to my attention by BookBub (deal expired).

There are two reasons why I downloaded this book without giving it much thought: first, it was free, and second, it is made up entirely of emails and I wanted to see what that looked like. The style is jarring at first but after a while, I got used to it. Each chapter is a month of emails from her Sent items, many of which to one or both of her longtime friends Chris and Marika. The familiarity between Coco and her recipients made it difficult at first but after a while, I found the characters familiar and followed easier.

We meet up with Coco at Christmas in London after she has published her first book, Chasing Diana Spencer. She is celebrating with her husband, Daniel, her college-age son, Rosencrantz, her mother-in-law, Ethel, her sister-in-law, Meryl, and Meryl's husband Tony. Coco does not keep up the pretense that her life is perfect and we witness as it unravels. First, Coco catches Daniel cheating on her in the bed that they share and they divorce. Then Coco's literary agent drops her as her publisher decides to recall and pulp her novel. So in a couple of strokes, Mr. Bryndza has stripped Ms. Pinchard of her career and her relationship. She goes through a depression, but as with all "feel good romantic comedies" when a door closes, a window opens, and Coco finds a new normal.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I expected in how the emails would look like but I found myself surprised at their format. You get a date/time, an email address, and the body of the message. Also, as I mentioned before, you have to get through several emails before you get into the groove of the characters because you are effectively peeking into someone's Sent items and they aren't assuming you don't know these people in their life. The other thing I found strange (in that I don't expect anyone writes emails like this) is that Coco tends to start describing a scene and then writes out the dialogue like a normal novel which makes it not feel like an email anymore.

That being said, I liked this book. Coco is endearing and as I read, I was rooting for her. She made the classic mistakes when someone has been betrayed, rejected, and humiliated and while I found myself wanting to shake her out of it, she worked it out and came out on the other side better for the experience. It is the first in a set of three, with a promise of more on the author's website. I don't have plans to read anymore in the series in the near future (I have too many other things I want to read) so that leaves them in my list in the distant future.

Visit Robert Bryndza's website for more information about the author and how to purchase his books.