A review by leahmichelle_13
The Breakup Doctor by Phoebe Fox

3.0

When Phoebe Fox emailed me asking me to review her novel The Breakup Doctor, I told her I would be delighted to – I had spotted the novel on Netgalley previously but because I was trying to be good and only request novels I really, really, really wanted to read (in a bid to make sure I could review every book I’m requesting) I had let it go, but Phoebe’s email convinced me, and I happily requested myself a copy and couldn’t wait to get stuck in as it had such an interesting premise.


I knew from the opening pages of The Breakup Doctor that it was a novel I was going to enjoy. And it was. I did have a few issues as the novel wore on, but overall it was a wonderful read and I very much liked the idea of such a thing as a breakup doctor – after all, breakups can be tough, and some may need a little help to get over a relationship, and who better to advise the lonely and miserable people of Florida than Brook Ogden, who’s day job is being a therapist and who knows what it’s like to be dumped out of the blue! The execution of the novel was great – I loved the interactions between Brook and her clients and Brook and her best friend Sasha, Sasha is like the greatest friend ever, just saying. I also loved reading Brook’s articles that she wrote for the newspaper where Sasha worked.

It was with a fair amount of irony that the breakup doctor ends up dumped once again – and I did rather feel it was out of character for Brook to act like she did – we’re told early on that Brook is level headed, cool as ice, doesn’t let anything get to her but after her breakup with Kendall she goes off the rails. It’s fun – especially the tattoo scene, but it seemed unusual for Brook although she has the self awareness to realise that perhaps her cool persona up until her breakup with Kendall may have been her undoing when he left. So I suppose it did make sense!

The only thing I wished we had had a bit more of was the delectable Ben. We meet him in the ER and I just wish he’d been utilised more, because he interested me immediately, right from the word go. I don’t know if this is the first book of a series, but I would definitely be interested in a sequel – Brook is so good at her job, the breakup doctor is such a clever idea, and I would love to be back with the gang again – I would probably even give Sasha her own book as she was awesome. The Breakup Doctor was a good, solid read with some wonderful characters and one or two laugh out loud scenes, and a wonderful narrative.