The Stats
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: Love Your Life
AUTHOR: Sophie Kinsella @sophiekinsellawriter
Publisher: The Dial Press
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Published: October 27, 2020
The Review
✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
- I am a HUGE Sophie Kinsella fan and love her books, although a few of the standalone (non-Shopaholic) ones have not been my favs. I had been wanting to read this one for awhile.
💜 What I liked:
- The initial premise of how Ava and Matt met was cute and unique. They both had a vivid community of friends and seeing them together was a joy. Kinsella is a master of creating in depth and memorable characters, even the side ones you don’t see often.
😱 What I didn’t like:
- Unfortunately, the middle of this book is uncomfortable. I spent a lot of the book wanting to yell “TALK TO EACH OTHER”.
💁♀️ The Characters:
- Besides Ava and Matt (who meet at a writer’s retreat), We see Nell, Maud, and Sarika on Ava’s community side as well as Topher, Nihal, and Sam on Matt’s. This was one of my favorite parts of this book as seeing what they mean to each other was very meaningful.
🚦 The Ending:
- Positive and fulfilling! If you lag a bit in the middle, the end does make up for that.
💭 Consider if you like:
- Rom Coms that are full of fun and laugh out loud moments.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.
📘 Summary:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Owe You One, an utterly delightful novel about a woman who ditches her dating app for a writer’s retreat in Italy–only to find that real love comes with its own filters
“As close to perfect as romantic comedies get.”–Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner
Call Ava romantic, but she thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign. She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a remote writers’ retreat in coastal Italy. She’s determined to finish writing the novel she’s been fantasizing about, even though it means leaving her close-knit group of friends and her precious dog, Harold, behind.
At the retreat, she’s not allowed to use her real name or reveal any personal information. When the neighboring martial arts retreat is canceled and a few of its attendees join their small writing community, Ava, now going by “Aria,” meets “Dutch,” a man who seems too good to be true. The two embark on a baggage-free, whirlwind love affair, cliff-jumping into gem-colored Mediterranean waters and exploring the splendor of the Italian coast. Things seem to be perfect for Aria and Dutch.
But then their real identities–Ava and Matt–must return to London. As their fantasy starts to fade, they discover just how different their personal worlds are. From food choices to annoying habits to sauna etiquette . . . are they compatible in anything? And then there’s the prickly situation with Matt’s ex-girlfriend, who isn’t too eager to let him go. As one mishap follows another, it seems while they love each other, they just can’t love each other’s lives. Can they reconcile their differences to find one life together?