Review: Love is a Number by Lee Monroe

Publisher: Hodder Childrens Books
Publication Date: 04 July 2013
Source: Library

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Blurb: 

When her beloved boyfriend Huck dies, Eloise is wrecked. All she has left of him are the texts that he sent: short, succinct - but full of love. 

They keep Huck alive. And so Eloise texts him back as if he can receive her messages from beyond the grave. She never expected to get a reply ....

Dan is travelling South America in one last hurrah before university and real life kick in. 

He's ready for love, but not of the casual kind. He's not met a girl that's set his world alight. But he's ready for her when she decides to make an appearance. One night on his travels, Dan discovers an abandoned phone. 

He pockets it, then forgets about it. He never expected it to ring ...

I picked this book up on a whim from my local library. I'd never heard anything about this book, and from the interesting blurb and bright cover, I decided to give it a go. 


I am so very glad that I picked up this novel, as while it did not "blow my mind", I really really enjoyed the novel as a whole, although it loses a star from me as I found the beginning of the novel slow and some of the pacing at the end of the novel to be too fast and rushed. 


This book is written in dual point of view of our two main characters, Daniel and Eloise. Daniel is travelling in South America with his friends before he starts his first year of college and Eloise is grieving the recent death of her boyfriend. Both of these characters were very real and I could feel their thoughts and personalities leap from the page as I read more into the story. 


I really liked reading about Eloise's life and home life. I felt her side of the story touched on a lot of subjects that readers could relate to like depression, grief, loss, family problems and having a not-so-good group of friends. I enjoyed reading about Eloise's thought process on family life and friends and her standing up to change her life for the better and move on. 

I also loved the friendship Eloise had with Nat & Sarah, two friends from her childhood. I felt this was such a well written friendship and loved the way Monroe wrote this re-connection between them. 

Daniel's character was less interesting to me than Eloise but I still really enjoyed reading his chapters. I did find him to be somewhat of a complainer at times but I loved reading about his time in South America and his crazy friends. I really liked seeing his character develop from the beginning of the story where he is very reliant on others, to further in the story when he becomes more of an independent person. I also really enjoyed reading about his relationship with Paula and her family in South America. 

I loved reading about the relationship that develops between Eloise and Daniel, and Lee if you're reading this I would love to know what happens next for them! 

I thought the build up of the romance was well paced, definitely no "insta-love" in sight, and thought that the characters were so very well suited for each other. If you've read the novel you'll know what I mean, but the part near the end with the coffee shop and running around was one of my favourite scenes in the novel!

While the book deals with some heavy topics, such as death, grief, struggling to find yourself, the book is not a depressing read. This book has a good balance between light and dark themes and really draws in the reader.