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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
Love Your Life
By: Sophie Kinsella
Random House Publishing
The Dial Press
I’m a big fan of author Sophie Kinsella and Love Your Life is another winner!
If you’ve read any of my reviews, it’s no secret that I love a quirky character! And boy is Ava delightfully quirky! Ava is a freelancer and dabbles in aromatherapy, writing, and furniture restoration. She starts a lot of projects, but doesn’t finish them. She likes to rescue books that no one wants and garbage furniture. She is an obsessed dog mom to her precious rescue beagle, Harold. She decides she wants to write a historical fiction novel and goes on a retreat in Italy that helps writers. The retreat has some kooky rule where you use a made up name instead of your own to help with the creative process. There she becomes “Aria” and meets “Dutch”. They have a steamy week of romance and when they find out they both live in London, decide to reveal themselves and continue the relationship.
But the perfect week for “Aria” and “Dutch” does not equal the perfect relationship for Ava and Matt. These two begin to see just how different they are! From food choices (Ava is a vegetarian and tries to covert Matt) to mattress types (firm vs. soft), apartments (modern with robots vs. shabby chic), dog training (dogs in bed or not) . . . Are they compatible in anything? They seem to love each other, but not each other’s lifestyles.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I adored this one. Ava and Matt were great characters and as a bonus their friends/roomates Nell, Maud, Topher and Nihal were great secondary characters. I could honestly see future books with those characters. Pretty, please!?
By: Sophie Kinsella
Random House Publishing
The Dial Press
I’m a big fan of author Sophie Kinsella and Love Your Life is another winner!
If you’ve read any of my reviews, it’s no secret that I love a quirky character! And boy is Ava delightfully quirky! Ava is a freelancer and dabbles in aromatherapy, writing, and furniture restoration. She starts a lot of projects, but doesn’t finish them. She likes to rescue books that no one wants and garbage furniture. She is an obsessed dog mom to her precious rescue beagle, Harold. She decides she wants to write a historical fiction novel and goes on a retreat in Italy that helps writers. The retreat has some kooky rule where you use a made up name instead of your own to help with the creative process. There she becomes “Aria” and meets “Dutch”. They have a steamy week of romance and when they find out they both live in London, decide to reveal themselves and continue the relationship.
But the perfect week for “Aria” and “Dutch” does not equal the perfect relationship for Ava and Matt. These two begin to see just how different they are! From food choices (Ava is a vegetarian and tries to covert Matt) to mattress types (firm vs. soft), apartments (modern with robots vs. shabby chic), dog training (dogs in bed or not) . . . Are they compatible in anything? They seem to love each other, but not each other’s lifestyles.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I adored this one. Ava and Matt were great characters and as a bonus their friends/roomates Nell, Maud, Topher and Nihal were great secondary characters. I could honestly see future books with those characters. Pretty, please!?
True to Sophie Kinsella form, this book was light and fun. Ava was so likable and I really enjoyed her perspective. It was fun to follow her. However, I did get a little bored at times and it was hard to push through from lack of excitement.
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I count Sophie Kinsella as one of my favorite authors and am always so excited when she has a new release. Love Your Life was enjoyable even if I didn't find Ava to be my favorite Kinsella heroine- but she was still pretty great. Present were zany moments (naked sauna!), fantastic supporting characters (Matt and Ava's friends were quirky and unique and such a hoot, especially when all together), and some true heart-tugging moments. I especially loved how much value was placed on the close friendships featured in the book. The last section of the book was my favorite part and left me with a big smile on my face.
I usually love Sophie Kinsella but these characters were just really unlikeable most of the book. It got better but not her best work.
3.5. This latest standalone novel by Kinsella is a bit of an insta-love type story, which is not my favorite (the couple gets together in the first 15-20% of the novel). But it has her trademark humor and it's a fun ride, even if the heroine (and the hero a bit less) is ridiculous and annoying. Ultimately, great character development by the end and it had the real emotion that was lacking in the beginning.
I hated the characters and so many plot points were completely useless. It gets 1 star because I still finished it, and 1 more star for originality.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“It’s the ineffable, mysterious connection that happens between two humans when they connect, and they feel it…and they just know.”
I love Sophie Kinsella and that's basically the only reason why I had bought this book. I'm a collector of her book ever since the Shopaholic series made me want to read book back in my grade school years. This is the first time I wanted to DNF a book made by her ever. Half-way thru, I was basically just done. I hated Ava. She's not that likeable. To the point where my dog chewed on a bit of the book (when I wasn't looking because I placed it on my bed, wanting to read it before I go to sleep) and I wasn't bothered because it's not a book that I'm loving at that moment. Halfway thru, I was just done. I want to DNF it so bad I just read through and barely annotate anymore. Two-thirds thru though, I was invested. It look that long for me to be invested. I can see why Sophie made Ava unlikeable and it was because of her redeeming arc. She needs to have a redeeming arc for this book to be above one star and that's basically what happened. Although it's very very very very very predictable and can basically see what was going to happen even without reading the ending. Minus points for even including a Harold accident since it's very unnecessary.
I've been writing throughout my physical book and I'm very Matt-sided. He has a point even though he is also very flawed but not as flawed as Ava (but who's keeping scores, right?).
I love Sophie Kinsella & I loved this book!
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes