"If You Don't Know Me By Now" by A.L. Michael

Imogen has worked hard caring for her widowed father while working and going to school part-time and now it is time for her to take a giant step that will change her life forever.  She is going to chase her dreams, moving to London to make it as a writer.  Or so she thinks.

Imogen made it to London but becoming a writer is proving to be much harder than she thought.  And so she is working a dead-end job at a coffee shop, serving drinks to hipsters, yummy mummy’s, and stressed out businessman.  Not the dream she had in mind.

But when her gorgeous colleague Declan puts an idea in her head, she may end up closer to her dream after all.  Imogen starts a tell-all blog about London’s rudest customers, all anonymous of course.  What she thinks is just a tiny little blog becomes an overnight viral sensation.  But writing the blog means remaining in her job.  And it turns out, trying to remain anonymous on the internet isn’t so easy after all.  

If You Don’t Know Me By Now by A.L Michael is a fun book about what it is really like to chase your dreams.  Anyone who has ever worked in the service industry, or just with people in general, will find themselves laughing and revelling in Imogen’s success.

At first glance, this book seems like it could be one of many with the same plot and same characters.  Girl moves to big city to chase dreams, dream doesn’t work out the way it should but she meets a really hot guy, everything works out in the end.  But by adding in the blog that expertly captures the way people who work in customer service feel, this book takes off from the pack.

Rude customers, a scary boss, good friends, a love rival, and a cute Irish boy, this book has it all when it comes to characters.  I mean yeah, Declan truly annoyed me with his feelings regarding relationships, but his charm is undeniable and it jumps right off the page.

There are a couple of things that might annoy readers, the main one being how quickly everything fell into place for Imogen once she began writing the blog.  Of course, if it actually took a realistic amount of time, would we read a book that long?  And Declan is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.  But I think that is something that readers can get past.

This book expertly sums up what life is like for bloggers and people who become the viral sensation of the moment.  I think a lot of people will relate to this book, whether it’s trying to make it in your career field or having to deal with rude people on a daily basis.  This is a fun, breezy read that will have you laughing and will definitely make you think twice about you treat the person who gets you your morning cup of coffee.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley. The opinions expressed above are my own.