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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
lighthearted
2.5 stars? This was rather disappointing because the premise was interesting, and the fact that this was a male author writing a romcom intrigued me, and I would want more men's perspectives writing within this genre. Too bad this wasn't amazing for me, but granted this was a debut, and there were some parts I enjoyed... Mostly the Britishness of the setting and characters, the little idiosyncrasies and specificities that make the background of the author known within the story.
Impressions after weeks since reading this book, is that this was entirely forgettable and the writing style I remember being not very well done, the main driving premise of everyday British bloke Josh, being broken up with unexpectedly when he was proposing to his girlfriend, losing his love life, home and job all in one fell swoop, then deciding to base his decisions on the toss of this coin he found for a whole year, where that leads him into rebuilding his life in that time period. This concept was very wasted and I felt it was dropped by the wayside. Instead, this book turned into a sort of grown-up shallow romcom version of Dash and Lily (recently watched the show adaptation on Netflix so this comparison is fresh and came to mind). Where Josh meets this "girl of his dreams" no-personality woman by chance, and spends most of the book searching for her, his friends being backdrop characters to helping him find her.
This adventure clue-finding premise wasn't even executed in a fun whimsical way- it read as very "he goes here, now he goes here" dry way to me, and lacked the spark and magic that such a plot should automatically generate. Here he is going around London's museums, then Amsterdam, and Paris, and I was very *shrugs shoulders* at it all. I found the story wandering and not quite cohesive in what it wanted to be: is this supposed to be a self-discovery message where Josh surrenders his choices to the universe and ends up with a stronger sense of self by the end, or is the main story being about Josh wandering about Europe and finding his manic pixie dream girl to date, replacing his bland girlfriend at the beginning of this book with this magical woman he's created in his mind after a brief romcom encounter? The character work was bland too, with Josh and Sunflower girl Lucy, his group of friends, not getting a strong sense of personality from any of them.
The romance was not even there, it felt nonexistent to me, and the very basis of it was super creepy to me. Josh meets this mysterious stranger woman once for a few minutes, and proceeds to hunt her down across the globe based on scant clues and this is viewed by the story as romantic, and when they meet again against all odds, the "manic pixie dream girl" element isn't even addressed. The plot just goes full steam ahead in making the two kind of "meant to be together" and doesn't bring up the reasonable point that they really have no basis or groundwork to "earn" the romance that would get the reader to root for them as a couple. Josh doesn't even evolve as a character nor does he seem to go through any kind of character arc or learning experience over this year of storyline either.
Impressions after weeks since reading this book, is that this was entirely forgettable and the writing style I remember being not very well done, the main driving premise of everyday British bloke Josh, being broken up with unexpectedly when he was proposing to his girlfriend, losing his love life, home and job all in one fell swoop, then deciding to base his decisions on the toss of this coin he found for a whole year, where that leads him into rebuilding his life in that time period. This concept was very wasted and I felt it was dropped by the wayside. Instead, this book turned into a sort of grown-up shallow romcom version of Dash and Lily (recently watched the show adaptation on Netflix so this comparison is fresh and came to mind). Where Josh meets this "girl of his dreams" no-personality woman by chance, and spends most of the book searching for her, his friends being backdrop characters to helping him find her.
This adventure clue-finding premise wasn't even executed in a fun whimsical way- it read as very "he goes here, now he goes here" dry way to me, and lacked the spark and magic that such a plot should automatically generate. Here he is going around London's museums, then Amsterdam, and Paris, and I was very *shrugs shoulders* at it all. I found the story wandering and not quite cohesive in what it wanted to be: is this supposed to be a self-discovery message where Josh surrenders his choices to the universe and ends up with a stronger sense of self by the end, or is the main story being about Josh wandering about Europe and finding his manic pixie dream girl to date, replacing his bland girlfriend at the beginning of this book with this magical woman he's created in his mind after a brief romcom encounter? The character work was bland too, with Josh and Sunflower girl Lucy, his group of friends, not getting a strong sense of personality from any of them.
The romance was not even there, it felt nonexistent to me, and the very basis of it was super creepy to me. Josh meets this mysterious stranger woman once for a few minutes, and proceeds to hunt her down across the globe based on scant clues and this is viewed by the story as romantic, and when they meet again against all odds, the "manic pixie dream girl" element isn't even addressed. The plot just goes full steam ahead in making the two kind of "meant to be together" and doesn't bring up the reasonable point that they really have no basis or groundwork to "earn" the romance that would get the reader to root for them as a couple. Josh doesn't even evolve as a character nor does he seem to go through any kind of character arc or learning experience over this year of storyline either.
You know that feeling where you really, really like a book, so you look up other books by that author to read, and it turns out it’s their first book? You’re sad because you wanted to binge-read all of their books, and you’re excited and hopeful because there may be other, even better books coming eventually.
This book gave me that feeling.
This book gave me that feeling.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Flip Side was a fun little book about chance and finding love, and all the thousand twists and turns you might come across along the way. I learned a lot of really interesting bits of info along the way too, such as about Tumbleweeds in Paris (which sounds idyllic!) and fun facts from their quiz team experiences, which were some nice little extras.
Overall quite fun and I loved all the different settings as the characters travelled all over the world!
Overall quite fun and I loved all the different settings as the characters travelled all over the world!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just finished this book and it was so so lovely! So, when I first started reading it I felt like it was really boring. I mean it was funny and everything, but their wasn’t a romance until the half of the book and every chapter was like the same, but in a different setting. Don’t get me wrong tho the first half was really funny tho. I laughed a lot while reading it. But when the romance got included it got amazing. The book got a purpose and ugh it was an amazing journey to read this book. The romance was so so cute and unique too. I also had never laughed this much while reading a book. I have so many post its for just the jokes.
The jokes, the romance, the story, the fact that it was really realistic and unique made me love the book. I just couldn’t even drop the book at the second half of the book. I loved it. It made me feel so good and ugh this book is just happiness. The struggles Josh had, but also his originality. Long story short I really loved this book and I definitely recommend it to everyone that wants to read a cute story about a man that kinda lost everything, but than made a coin his fate and find himself back. It had a cute romance, it was really funny and I think that this is the kind of book that you can read at every age.
Loved it!!!!
The jokes, the romance, the story, the fact that it was really realistic and unique made me love the book. I just couldn’t even drop the book at the second half of the book. I loved it. It made me feel so good and ugh this book is just happiness. The struggles Josh had, but also his originality. Long story short I really loved this book and I definitely recommend it to everyone that wants to read a cute story about a man that kinda lost everything, but than made a coin his fate and find himself back. It had a cute romance, it was really funny and I think that this is the kind of book that you can read at every age.
Loved it!!!!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Although I absolutely love this genre, this was a little unusual for me in that the main character was a man not a woman. I worried that this might make it less relatable, but Josh is such a likeable character that you can’t help but root for him the whole way through.
And boy does he need someone to root for him. We begin the book with Josh and his girlfriend on the London Eye on New Year’s Eve. What a perfectly romantic setting for a proposal, at least that’s what Josh thinks.
What Josh does not expect is that his girlfriend will say no, then reveal she’s actually been cheating on him. Needless to say, the rest of the ride round the wheel is painful.
So instead of gaining a fiancé and celebrating the happiest night of his life, he loses his fiancé, his job and his home all in one fell swoop.
Shortly after, Josh makes a decision that he will no longer make any major decisions himself. Instead, he will leave it up to the flip of a coin.
We then follow Josh through many ups and downs as he leaves his fate to the coin. He takes it a lot more seriously than I would have been able to, which leads him into some awkward situations – eating fish and chips in your parents house, with your parents, with a girl you’ve just met on tinder is probably not the most auspicious start to a relationship…
Things start to look up for Josh when he meets the girl of his dreams while watching his friend running the London Marathon. The only problem is he loses track of her without even getting her name, and what follows is a charming chase around Europe to track her down.
I read this book in one sitting, it was like being lost in a movie – a gripping plot, extremely loveable characters and just generally well written, it was a fabulous way to spend a morning.
I really enjoyed this. Having never read a rom-com from the perspective of the male lead, it was a welcome change. A total 'airport book' - a light and easy slice of escapism that managed not to be too cheesy. I loved the idea of flipping a coin to make decisions; an interesting, and possibly very brave, take on fate. For a debut, this was wonderful.
lighthearted
medium-paced