Tudo começa com uma garota... (porque sim, sempre há uma garota...) Jason Priestley acabou de vê-la. Eles partilharam de um momento incrível e rápido de profunda possibilidade, em algum lugar da Charlotte Street. E então, em um piscar de olhos, ela partiu deixando-o, acidentalmente, segurando sua câmera descartável, com o filme de fotos completo... E agora Jason - ex-prodessor, ex-namorado, escritor e herói relutante - se depara com um dilema. Deveria tentar seguir A Garota? E se ela for A garota? Mas aquilo significaria utilizar suas únicas pistas, que estão ainda intocáveis em seu poder... É engraçado como as coisas algumas situações se desenrolam...

Review copy provided by the publisher in conjunction with TLC Book Tours
Publication date: October 23, 2012

Here is the summary from the back of the book:

Jason Priestley is in something of a rut. And no, that that Jason Priestley. This is the 32-year-old Jason Priestley who gave up his job as a teacher to pursue his journalistic dreams – writing snarky reviews of cheap restaurants for a free newspaper that they give you on the train. He’s living above a videogames shop, between a Polish newsagent’s and that place that everyone thinks is a brothel but isn’t. And now he’s found out on Facebook that the girlfriend who left him is engaged.

Reflecting on his most recent Facebook status – “Jason Priestley is…eating soup” – Jason’s beginning to think he needs a change. So when he notices a girl on the street struggling with an armload of packages, he surprises himself by moving to help her. She smiles an incredible smile, and there’s something, a fleeting moment, what feels like a beginning. But her cab pulls away, the sense of possibility cruelly cut off – until Jason notices that she’s dropped a disposable camera.

In the hands of his socially inept best friend Dev, what begins as a coincidence-based, half-joking idea becomes a full-fledged quest to find the woman of Jason’s dreams. Exploring that most common question – What if? – the ensuing adventure is surprising, wonderfully tender, and often hilarious.

I loved this book right away. Once Jason realized he still had The Girl’s camera and decided to develop the photos, turning it into a mission of sorts to track down the location of each photo and, he hopes, The Girl, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to see how things turned out. Would he figure out who she was and track her down, or not?

Part of what drew me into the story was Jason’s talk of the ‘what if’ moment – haven’t we all experienced something like that, where you catch someone’s eye and wonder if they feel what you feel, if it really is a moment, or if they’re just looking past you at something? Jason’s determination to go with that feeling and the optimism and hope with which he begins his pursuit was very touching.

At the same time, Jason is dealing with the knowledge that his ex-girlfriend is engaged. While the relationship didn’t exactly end well, Jason tried to be mature at times – for example, accepting the invitation to her engagement part – but relationships and emotions can get messy and despite Jason’s good intentions, things with his ex-girlfriend and her new fiance didn’t exactly go smoothly, and I really felt for Jason.

I really liked the characters. I must admit, as a major video game fan, I liked Dev as soon as he appeared on the page! He was funny, and encouraged Jason to pursue The Girl and her photos. Jason’s adventure leads him some interesting people, including Matt, a former student, and a young woman named Abbey. They become a part of Jason’s life and their stories become part of his story. I really enjoyed seeing the way it all came together. And of course, I liked Jason. He was not what I would call an unreliable narrator, but he was not always forthcoming, which certainly made for an interesting, occasionally unpredictable, read.

I think part of what resonated with me was that so much of it felt real – Jason comparing his life to those of people on Facebook, feeling like everyone else is growing up and moving on while he is stuck or drifting, wondering what’s next. Who hasn’t felt that way? And it wasn’t just Jason – we get glimpses of this in the lives of Abbey, Dev, his co-worker Zoe, and others. Everyone was going through something, no matter how put together they appeared to everyone else. I could really identify with that.

Have I mentioned how funny this book was? I laughed out loud so many times, and kept telling my husband how funny it was, that now he is going to read it!

I really am happy that I had the opportunity to read this book, because I absolutely loved its optimism and humour, and once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down! I definitely recommend this one!

(From http://pingwings.ca) ( )

A cute love story by Danny Wallace, whose writing I rather enjoy. ( )

I loved this book!

The character is speaking to the reader, like he would a friend. He tells you the details of his story, but slowly and cautiously at first like you really would do with someone you were just getting to know. He wants you to like him but he also tells you the true story.

Jason's life is in a bit of a rut and he realizes that it's mostly his fault.
One day, just like any other, he is walking down the street and he shares a moment (really more like a few seconds) with a stranger. He feels a connection to her and when he has accidentally kept her disposable camera (she had dropped some things on the sidewalk and he helped her pick them up) he has to decide what to do with it.

He develops the film after some strong encouragement from his best friend Dev.
But the girl was a stranger, so all he can do is try to use the pictures as clues to help him find her again to try return her pictures.

This reminds me a bit of Ted's journey on How I Met Your Mother, because it's not just about The Girl it's also about everything that he did while trying to find her.

I really just loved it. It made me laugh and cry (happy tears) and it made me feel like I was more inside the mind of the narrator then I normally do when reading a book.

This is already one of my favorite books that I've read this year :) ( )

Danny Wallace's books have never failed to amuse me and make me laugh out loud while reading them. This book is not an exception, although I wouldn't put in quite as on par as some of his previous novels (such as; Yes Man!) The story follows the classic thirty-something man down on his luck and recently split from a previous girlfriend he's not sure he is over yet. Enter the new woman, a woman he falls in love with just by looking at her and then the quest to find her.

The book is quite slow to get moving and I did find myself wondering what, if there was any, plot to the book at all. Eventually it begins to unravel as the main character, Jason Priestly begins to piece together the mystery woman's story through her photographs in order to find her. Although enjoyable to read, I did find some of the humour slightly forced and quite a few of the story's details were repeated a number of times during the book, for example; his flat was located next door to a building thought to have been a brothel, but actually wasn't. Details like this weren't necessarily important to the storyline but still were mentioned each and every time something about his living situation was brought up. Overall it was a good read with a great group of characters featured throughout the novel.

I would definitely recommend this book and any others written by Danny Wallace that you may come across! ( )