The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather

Imagine if one day, you had the opportunity to meet your younger self? What would you tell this person? Would you have any specific advice for them? This is exactly what happened to Charlotte Merryweather, a successful public relations executive in London. At age 31, she has her own PR firm, a stylish wardrobe, a personal trainer and what would seem like the perfect boyfriend for the perfect life. Underneath it all, is a stressed out executive who at the bottom of her heart, wonders if she's made the right choices in life? Is she truly happy? One day, she catches a glimpse of a young women driving the exact car she drove at age 21. Out of curiosity, she follows the car into some sort of space-time continuum that leads her to meet up with her younger self. As it slowly dawns on her what has happened, she comes up with a plan to keep her younger self from making the same mistakes that she did. Of course, the plan backfires, but Miss Charlotte ends up learning a lot about herself in the process, and finds true happiness afterall, in a place she would have least expected! This is a wonderful story that makes one wonder what they would do if they could go back and make different choices? How would that change your current situation? I highly recommend this as a fun and engaging summer read.

//The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather// brims with the elements that make the chicklit genre so enjoyable: fashion, a glitzy job, endearing protagonist quirks, inevitable mistakes, and Prince Charming. But this book is unlike any other of its kind because the primary relationship in the book is between Miss Charlotte Merryweather, age 31, and Miss Charlotte Merryweather, age 21. The 31-year-old Charlotte, the owner of her own PR company, appears to live fabulously, but we quickly learn stress and obsession with self-help guides are slowly taking their toll. The stress only grows as Charlotte's relationship with her humdrum boyfriend turns suddenly serious and she accepts a high-profile Hollywood client despite his questionable morals. When Charlotte follows a 21 year old back to the neighborhood where she used to live, Charlotte discovers that the fancy-free, fun-loving girl //is// her. Somehow they've ended up together in the year 1997. Although the book contains time travel, it is steadfastly set in its genre, and thankfully avoids a feeling of science fiction or paranormal romance. Old Charlotte is in for some unexpected life changes as she continues to return to the time-warped neighborhood, determined to make young Charlotte stop wearing the pleather pants and start wearing sunscreen. Reviewed by Megan Just

I've never read a book by Alexandra Potter and I picked up this book as I was browsing because I thought the premise was rather clever. What would you do if you can go back in time and meet your much younger self? What advice would you give and what changes in your life would you to make? We meet a very successfull, very put together and slim but overworked and stressed out Charlotte Merryweather. She owns her own PR agency, has her own trainer, spends a ton of money on make up and hair to look sophisticated and has a boyfriend who has the perfect resume. When she sees a woman that looks just like her younger self and drives the same exact car that she drove when she was young, she decides to follow her. She somehow ends up going through time and meeting her much younger, more naive and less sophisticated, but much more carefree self. She then attempts to prevent certain mistakes from happening to her younger self and gives her advice on her life. To Charlotte's surprise, she learns a lot from her younger self and notices various opportunities that she had not noticed when she was younger. I kept reading because I wanted to see how Charlotte attempts to guide her younger self and prevents herself from making mistakes. There were a couple of times where I couldnt put the book down because I was really looking forward to their meetings. The overall plot is somewhat predictable, but the author gives enough little twists and turns in the story to make it original. At the end I was wondering about what I would tell my younger self if I had a chance to meet her. Fun and thoughtful read!

A decade ago twenty-one years old American college grad Charlotte Merryweather arrived in London. She quickly realized she was an uncouth moron when it came to class and style. Thus she reengineered herself from the idiot with the scrunchie hairdo into the guru of style. Now thirtyish Charlotte seeks a new home for her and her long time boyfriend while she and her office assistant Beatrice try to persuade a perspective new client to go with her company. However, she is stunned on the morning commute when she sees someone in a battered ugly orange Beetle who looks like her ten years ago. Unable to resist, Charlotte follows her younger self doppelganger home. She soon realizes this is her as twenty-one years old Lottie the loser. Thinking she has a second chance to avoid the stupid mistakes she made back then, Charlotte plans to mentor herself but begins to learn that her choices were super a decade ago as they led to her success; but recently have been poor as she had forgotten the lessons learned. This is an entertaining chick lit tale in which the mature Lottie learns much more than her naive younger version. Although time paradox issues are ignored, the two Lottie's make for a charming tale as the thirtyish woman begins to understand that she got to where she is today due to the unsophisticated twentyish version. Readers will enjoy this fine tale as the older heroine learns life lessons. Harriet Klausner