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amera314's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is the love story of Ava and Matt who meet on a writers retreat and don’t know anything about each other. They fall in love and return to London to find their lives aren’t compatible.
If you don’t like instalove, don’t read this. If you don’t like quirky FMCs, don’t read this. I wanted to like this book as I love a good romcom but Ava was one of the most irritating characters I have ever read about. She marches to the beat of her own drum and has no idea how the rest of the world works. Also I have no idea how you fall in love with someone without knowing anything about them. Maybe I’m too cynical for this book.
If you don’t like instalove, don’t read this. If you don’t like quirky FMCs, don’t read this. I wanted to like this book as I love a good romcom but Ava was one of the most irritating characters I have ever read about. She marches to the beat of her own drum and has no idea how the rest of the world works. Also I have no idea how you fall in love with someone without knowing anything about them. Maybe I’m too cynical for this book.
fer28's review against another edition
3.0
I struggled a little with the two main characters in this book. They both are somewhat unlike able and so different, it seems fairly impossible that their romance would ever get past their 1st meeting.
The book improves as it goes along but I actually would have preferred a book about the main characters friends Nell and Topher. Their characters seem to have more depth and strength of character.
Still, I liked where things ended but it took a bit too long to get there.
The book improves as it goes along but I actually would have preferred a book about the main characters friends Nell and Topher. Their characters seem to have more depth and strength of character.
Still, I liked where things ended but it took a bit too long to get there.
confessions_of_a_bookaholic's review against another edition
3.0
When Ava heads to a writing retreat in Italy to focus on finishing her novel the last thing on her mind is finding love. That is atleast until she meets Matt and falls in love at first sight. After a whirlwind romance Matt and Ava return to their normal lives in London. They're both determined that they will make their holiday love a long time thing, but as their real lives start to collide it's one mishap after another. Can they overcome their differences and make their relationship work in the real world?
I normally love Sophie Kinsella and find her books great light relief. Whilst this one ticked that box in a lot of ways it wasn't my favourite, and I found it easy to put down (especially in the first half or so).
Plot wise you can kind of get the general gist of this, it follows a trope we're all familiar with, but as I've said many times nobody reads these sorts of books to be surprised. You read them for a happy ending and a giggle along the way.
I think the thing I found hard about this one was that I found Ava really really irritating! Just about everything about her was grinding my gears, from her 'portfolio career' - read doesn't finish anything, to her refusal to properly train her dog. That last one is a pet peeve of mine actually, as a dog owner myself nothing annoys me more than other dog owners who refuse to take responsibility for how their dogs behave. Anyway back to the book. Ava just was not my cup of tea. She's the kind of protagonist I hate reading about. I did however love Topher and Nihal, they were my favourite characters.
Things did pick up a bit towards the end, but overall I wasn't really invested in Ava and Matt as a couple, they would have been better off going their separate ways. As I said at the start this wasn't my favourite Kinsella book, but fans of rom coms will find plenty to like.
I normally love Sophie Kinsella and find her books great light relief. Whilst this one ticked that box in a lot of ways it wasn't my favourite, and I found it easy to put down (especially in the first half or so).
Plot wise you can kind of get the general gist of this, it follows a trope we're all familiar with, but as I've said many times nobody reads these sorts of books to be surprised. You read them for a happy ending and a giggle along the way.
I think the thing I found hard about this one was that I found Ava really really irritating! Just about everything about her was grinding my gears, from her 'portfolio career' - read doesn't finish anything, to her refusal to properly train her dog. That last one is a pet peeve of mine actually, as a dog owner myself nothing annoys me more than other dog owners who refuse to take responsibility for how their dogs behave. Anyway back to the book. Ava just was not my cup of tea. She's the kind of protagonist I hate reading about. I did however love Topher and Nihal, they were my favourite characters.
Things did pick up a bit towards the end, but overall I wasn't really invested in Ava and Matt as a couple, they would have been better off going their separate ways. As I said at the start this wasn't my favourite Kinsella book, but fans of rom coms will find plenty to like.
kaulhilo's review against another edition
5.0
i have...so many emotions.....
this book read more like her older novels than her more recent ones and i’m so incredibly glad for that; most of my life has been spent finding comfort from sophie kinsella novels and i’m glad this one, even slightly, imitated what drew me to her in the first place. i couldn’t stop thinking about becky and luke while reading about matt and ava, and honestly love your life followed a lot of the shopaholic blueprint, especially when it came to the romance, but like... it made sense. it felt right. it was perfect. (although now i’m feeling very beg-gy for more shopaholic novels, which is alarming because i’m always feeling desperate for more but.. the need is exceptionally strong right now).
all in all, it’s 4 am, i have zero coherent thoughts, but i loved this book and it absolutely broke my heart and ruined me, but also picked me up and fixed everything and added glitter to the wound so... (not very sanitary but) all good. if anyone can pick up what’s been an absolute disaster of a month, it’s sophie and i’m so glad she chose to put out a book now, when i needed it desperately.
> 4.5 stars but i’m openly biased and will give anything sophie kinsella writes 5,000 stars.
this book read more like her older novels than her more recent ones and i’m so incredibly glad for that; most of my life has been spent finding comfort from sophie kinsella novels and i’m glad this one, even slightly, imitated what drew me to her in the first place. i couldn’t stop thinking about becky and luke while reading about matt and ava, and honestly love your life followed a lot of the shopaholic blueprint, especially when it came to the romance, but like... it made sense. it felt right. it was perfect. (although now i’m feeling very beg-gy for more shopaholic novels, which is alarming because i’m always feeling desperate for more but.. the need is exceptionally strong right now).
all in all, it’s 4 am, i have zero coherent thoughts, but i loved this book and it absolutely broke my heart and ruined me, but also picked me up and fixed everything and added glitter to the wound so... (not very sanitary but) all good. if anyone can pick up what’s been an absolute disaster of a month, it’s sophie and i’m so glad she chose to put out a book now, when i needed it desperately.
> 4.5 stars but i’m openly biased and will give anything sophie kinsella writes 5,000 stars.
wwsimon93's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
evarano's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 ⭐️
I want to start this off by saying I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan. I own and love all of her books, that's why I was beyond excited when I received this ARC! So it greatly disappoints me to say I could barely make it through this book, I strongly disliked every single character. Everything about this book felt amateurish and if Kinsella hadn't written it, I would've dropped out very early on.
Ava, a writer who strongly believes in true love and romance whisks off to a writing retreat in Italy after many failed attempts at dating. While in Italy, meant to be working on her novel, circumstances lead her to meeting Dutch, a mysterious and handsome man who joins the retreat as a late entry. The two have an instant attraction and begin a relationship-maintaining the rules about not sharing any personal information. The whirlwind love affair continues back to London, where Ava and Dutch (Matt) begin to discover each other for their true selves. Quickly, they realize that they aren't who the other thought they were, can they make it through?
First, the characters. Ava, while good intentioned and loyal, is a mess. I think she was meant to come off as quirky and different, and she does, but she's also annoying, frustrating and delusional. She seems to lack understanding of the world as it happens around her, is attached to her dog in a way that made me cringe and lives this all over the place, super disorganized life. She constantly makes excuses for those around her, claims she's a feminist but allows herself to be treated horribly by her friends and Matt, and continuously stops herself from expressing her true thoughts and feelings. The fact that she "fell in love" so quickly with someone she had zero chemistry with, and claimed to stay in love with that person was so unbelievable. Matt is a liar, he's inconsiderate and secretive. He came off as so bland and boring past the beginning of the book it was hard to read about the relationship with Ava. Again, absolutely zero chemistry between the two. I found the countless friends, I believe who were also written to be different and quirky, annoying, weird and rude in their own way. While I found them realistic, which I appreciated because Ava certainly wasn't, Ava brushed them off and they were present but just odd. Next, the plot. Basically if you want to read a book about two characters who have absolutely nothing in common besides a love of ice cream, with zero chemistry, who in no world should be together, this is the book for you. The entire book is just them realizing they're not meant for each other but staying together anyways. I thought the side plot with Harold just made Ava weirder. Ava is just so naive and all she wanted was to make something work that so clearly wasn't, although it tried, this book was about little else. I do not recommend this read at all. I would rate it 1 star but since I finished I'll rate it a 1.5 rounded up.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start this off by saying I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan. I own and love all of her books, that's why I was beyond excited when I received this ARC! So it greatly disappoints me to say I could barely make it through this book, I strongly disliked every single character. Everything about this book felt amateurish and if Kinsella hadn't written it, I would've dropped out very early on.
Ava, a writer who strongly believes in true love and romance whisks off to a writing retreat in Italy after many failed attempts at dating. While in Italy, meant to be working on her novel, circumstances lead her to meeting Dutch, a mysterious and handsome man who joins the retreat as a late entry. The two have an instant attraction and begin a relationship-maintaining the rules about not sharing any personal information. The whirlwind love affair continues back to London, where Ava and Dutch (Matt) begin to discover each other for their true selves. Quickly, they realize that they aren't who the other thought they were, can they make it through?
First, the characters. Ava, while good intentioned and loyal, is a mess. I think she was meant to come off as quirky and different, and she does, but she's also annoying, frustrating and delusional. She seems to lack understanding of the world as it happens around her, is attached to her dog in a way that made me cringe and lives this all over the place, super disorganized life. She constantly makes excuses for those around her, claims she's a feminist but allows herself to be treated horribly by her friends and Matt, and continuously stops herself from expressing her true thoughts and feelings. The fact that she "fell in love" so quickly with someone she had zero chemistry with, and claimed to stay in love with that person was so unbelievable. Matt is a liar, he's inconsiderate and secretive. He came off as so bland and boring past the beginning of the book it was hard to read about the relationship with Ava. Again, absolutely zero chemistry between the two. I found the countless friends, I believe who were also written to be different and quirky, annoying, weird and rude in their own way. While I found them realistic, which I appreciated because Ava certainly wasn't, Ava brushed them off and they were present but just odd. Next, the plot. Basically if you want to read a book about two characters who have absolutely nothing in common besides a love of ice cream, with zero chemistry, who in no world should be together, this is the book for you. The entire book is just them realizing they're not meant for each other but staying together anyways. I thought the side plot with Harold just made Ava weirder. Ava is just so naive and all she wanted was to make something work that so clearly wasn't, although it tried, this book was about little else. I do not recommend this read at all. I would rate it 1 star but since I finished I'll rate it a 1.5 rounded up.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.
elissa8's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
ljw_117's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maggiegroene's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I love a good romcom, abstract art covered, summer read, but this book was the most atrocious book I’ve ever finished. The characters are intolerable; Ava’s commentary is so oblivious and self-righteous, and Matt’s character is written as though he is two different people. The storyline is bland and every character is annoying in their own repetitive archetype they become. Every mention of Harold drove me closer to the edge and I was rooting against every character in this book.
Seriously, don’t waste your time.
Seriously, don’t waste your time.