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It Started With A Snub

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Heather Green is a fun loving, happy go lucky, twenty-six year old who has remained upright and beaming despite a few wobbles in life. She wears her heart on her sleeve and pins on her thoughts for good measure.

We meet Heather as she moves out of her family home to share with four guys, much to the dismay of her long suffering (by his own admission!) boyfriend Graham. We follow her housemates and watch their sometimes funny, sometimes-fraught relationships as they go about their daily lives.

Join Heather as she navigates the simple things in life, her inability to remember the code for the house alarm, odd driving habits, general musings on chick flicks, casualties in cooking, as well as her attempts to talk down the “mad farmer with the gun.” Experience comedy and drama as we get to know her family and housemates, and, as an unexpected event finally takes her down, learn what happens when the last people you expected to turn to are actually the ones you need the most.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 18, 2015

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26 people want to read

About the author

B.R. Maycock

7 books69 followers
Hi Readers, I’m Berni and I’m a rom-commer!

My start: Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and the entire contents of our local library, then Sweet Valley High, Point Horror, Babysitters Club and Saddle Club before edging into adulthood and reading … Jenny Colgan, Marian Keyes, Patricia Cornwall, Stephen King and John Grisham.

I am now an absolute chick lit, rom com, and thriller addict and former book blogger (you might know me from B R Maycock’s book blog).

My goal is always to give someone something they can settle down with for a bit of escapism and a laugh with small town series, ‘mom lit’ books and sparkly standalones.

Then there’s the official line...

B R Maycock (Berni to all you lovely people!) writes romantic comedies that are warm, sparkly and fun. She can be found in Co. Westmeath, Ireland with her brilliantly out there husband, Keith, their four epic little men, and four cats She has one goal and that’s simply to make readers smile and/ or laugh (a splutter rates highest;)).

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Sarah.
2,920 reviews215 followers
November 5, 2018
I adored Heather in this book. She is so lovely and I know if she was a real person we would get on really well. I have to admit I was quite envious that she was gong to be sharing a house with four guys. I mean come on, honestly, who wouldn't want to?

All the men are very different in personalities and I really enjoyed getting to know them better. Any of them had to be better than Graham, of who the further into the book I got, the more I started to dislike him. I was desperate for Heather to wake up and realise she deserved way better. 

It was really quite endearing in parts to see this group of people bonding. It isn't just Heather and the guys, there are quite a few other characters that spend quite a bit of time in the house also. Even though there is quite a vast amount of characters, it was still easy to keep up with who was seeing who and what relation they were to everyone else in the house. 

Rob was definitely one of my favourite characters by the end. He just grew on me the more and more I read about him. At times I wanted to give him a good shake but you know his heart's in the right place really.

It Started With A Snub was a great mix of friendship and romance. The story line itself had enough going on that kept me enthralled and I couldn't wait to see how everything was going to end. It really did have a bit of everything and sends your emotions haywire. Really enjoyed it and very much look forward to reading more by the author. 
Profile Image for Siobhan Davis.
Author 112 books9,429 followers
February 26, 2016
I'm not a big fan of chick-lit so I wasn't sure whether this would be my type of read. Thankfully, it was. It was a fun, easy read, and one I really enjoyed. I was deliberately looking to read some lighthearted books after a few emotionally-heavy reads, and this book hit the spot perfectly.

Heather is a likeable MC, despite obvious flaws, and she had me in fits of laughter at the twists and turns in her life. Heather lives in a house with a bunch of blokes so who wouldn't enjoy a setting like that! Graham is a total douche canoe but I understood him better as the story went on. Both of them are on a journey to self-discovery, and where it could have been very predictable, it took a turn I wasn't expecting. Kudos to the author for that.

I loved the drama and the angst and the family connection. I always love stories that have a strong family and friends theme and this book delivered in that regard.

I also like the Irish setting, phrases, mannerisms etc. I don't read many books set in Ireland so this was a nice change.

For me, the thing that stood out the most with this book was the great cast of characters and how well developed they were. It was also very humorous and littered with witty dialogue.

I would recommend this book if you enjoy light-hearted rom-com/chick lit.
Profile Image for Geralyn Corcillo.
Author 17 books53 followers
January 27, 2016
Exceptional Chick Lit! Maycock does an incredible job unfolding the story of a woman who's got to learn to accept herself as awesome and a guy who starts off as a jerk and has to realize how much of a jerk he can be so that he can be a better person. The two characters grow as they get to know one another and the evolution of their feelings and their lives is really quite wonderful to read about. Both characters are flawed, but the way they connect, even in the beginning when they ostensibly do not like one another, makes the story utterly compelling. This book is filled with lively characters and their different perspectives, making the book so dynamic you won't want to put it down - you will just want to keep hanging out with everyone, watching to see how their lives and stories turn out. For sure, I could not WAIT to get back to this book every time I had to put it down.
Profile Image for Yvonne.
1,710 reviews137 followers
April 6, 2020
Heather has just moved out of her family home and into a shared house. Her fellow housemates are all men and she sends a text to one of her friends listing them in slightly stereotypical terms and this is a really good way of getting a quick snapshot or first impression of the four guys.

Heather and Graham have been in a relationship for over 6 years, though they don’t live together. Now right from the off I didn’t like him, and throughout the story I wished she would just drop him, I mean she is living in a house with four guys and they sound so much better than he is!

This is a rom-com that is more than it appears, yes there is romance there is humour but there is also a cracking story that brings so much more than I expected. Family is an important aspect of Heather’s life, as is her job and as she gets to know her housemates they also become important.

The story takes in various turns that have a serious impact on Heather’s life and way of thinking. The more I got to know Heather the more I liked her, she would be such a great person to know in real life a bit ditsy, a chatterbox who says whatever comes into her head and is a woman with a big heart.

I really enjoyed this story and it is the first book I have read by this author and I will be buying more in the future. I was only going to read a couple of chapters before starting on the housework… the housework was still waiting to be done a few hours later when I got to the end of the book!

A story that I really enjoyed, that had some surprises and was a lot of fun to read and one I would happily recommend to other readers who like rom-com, romance, family and relationship books.
Profile Image for Audrey.
Author 11 books107 followers
June 3, 2019
This is an entertaining story, with a light touch of humour and enough interesting characters to engage the reader. I totally warmed to Heather, although I would dispute the term 'long-suffering' in the blurb for her boyfriend, Graham. I found him thoroughly unpleasant and found it hard to believe they were a couple. In my opinion, Heather was a saint to put up with him! My only niggle about the book was the tendency to 'head hop', meaning point of view switches which were a bit distracting. However, this is a fun read and a good choice for a lazy day in the sun.
Profile Image for Claire Huston.
Author 5 books156 followers
November 14, 2018
It Started with a Snub is a very enjoyable contemporary romance with a cast of relatable, likeable characters and a real villain you'd dearly love to kick in the shins!

Highly recommended to fans of the genre and all those looking for some fun romantic escapism.
Profile Image for Sylvia Ashby.
Author 6 books57 followers
March 31, 2016
In It Started with a Snub, Bernadette has created a cast of characters that is as full of contradictions as any human beings I’ve ever met. Take Heather’s boyfriend, Graham, for example. He could be unbelievably selfish one minute, then he’d pick her up and carry her halfway from the pub to her house because her feet hurt. We’ve all met people like that, haven’t we? Some of us dated people like that for a long time. I’m not naming names and pointing fingers. It’s the sort of thing that could happen to anyone.

The story in Bernadette’s book, just as suggested in the blurb, revolves around Heather “…as she navigates the simple things in life, her inability to remember the code for the house alarm, odd driving habits, general musings on chick flicks, casualties in cooking, as well as her attempts to talk down the “mad farmer with the gun.”” There are dark times in Heather’s life too and they were treated with the sensitivity that, as mentioned above, I’ve come to expect from an Irish author.

There are a lot of characters in It Started with a Snub. There are Heather’s family and her housemates, but also her workmates and the friends and girlfriends of her friends, still they come forward with their own voices and character traits. Here is a little sample of a dialog that springs out from the page:

“‘The other night I asked him to come up with three words to describe me and he came up with sexy, beautiful, funny – could he not have done better than that? Oh and don’t take offence at this but if I hear anything else about how amazing Heather is, I’ll lose it! She’s so strong, she’s so funny, she’s so amazing. I mean we even started talking about you in the lead up to getting down and dirty. He said you were like a ray of light. Ray-of-light… now there’s three words I would have been happy with…’
‘Sweet Jesus.’ Heather’s face felt like it was about to explode. ‘Please don’t talk about me before sex again.’”

Bernadette manages to carry us through the ups and downs of the narrative with a smooth and melodic voice that’s delightful to read.

One thing I’d like to point out, though, and that’s the only point of possible improvement for the books Bernadette would write in the future, is that the book was overly long for me. As much as I liked the bubbly way the characters talked, I found myself distracted at times from the plot with all the details they shared.

All in all, It Started with a Snub is a fantastic debut that finished very satisfactory (I’m not saying more!) and left me with the lingering pleasant sensation usually associated with having a drink with a friend.
28 reviews
June 22, 2015
After reading a few chapters of this book, I couldn’t wait for Heather, the main character, to dump her awful boyfriend and expected the usual rom-com denouement, but the author had other plans! The story took an unexpected turn and the road to Heather’s happiness wasn’t as predictable as I initially thought it would be.

I really enjoyed this book, Heather was immediately likeable as well as her family and flatmates, and the terrible boyfriend was so well depicted. It was a fun read, lots of laughs and I liked the unexpected drama that added depth to the story.

Congrats to the author on her first book. Looking forward to the next one!
Profile Image for Teresa Hanley.
24 reviews
June 10, 2015
I loved this book and all it's characters and think that the author definitely has a future as an author. The characters are all very real and I could relate to every one of them. Heather is a typical Irish girl and has many imperfections but I really got her and related to her. I laughed and cried at the ups and downs of her life and rooted for her to leave her despicable boyfriend Graham. This book is one for light reading on the holidays sitting beside the pool. I am looking forward to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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