This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Kira Slaughter
Sophie Klein walks into a bar one Friday night and her life changes. She meets James Stephens: charismatic, elusive, and with a hosiery model ex who casts a long, thin shadow over their burgeoning relationship.
He’s clever, funny and shares her greatest pleasure in life: to eat and drink slightly too much and then have a little lie down. Sophie’s instinct tells her James is too good to be true- and he is.
Looking at the cover of this book and seeing the gorgeous light blue background teamed with the swirly pink writing, you’d be fooled into thinking that this is a piece of light-hearted chick lit. Upon reading the book I found it to be heart-wrenching and bittersweet as we follow Sophie in her quest to get over the one guy who broke her heart.
When we’re introduced to Sophie, she is confident, happy and loving her job as a Pudding Developer for a company called Fletchers. I know what you’re thinking: chick lit mixed with talk of puddings sounds like the best book EVER, but it’s not all sweetness and light.
When she meets James, Sophie is taken in by his sureness and good looks and they immediately hit it off. Their relationship is off to a flying start when James’ behaviour toward Sophie suddenly changes. When she confronts him about it he says that he’s never been in a relationship with someone who looks like she does, meaning her size. When I read this I think steam actually came out of my ears. I was all ready to jump into the page and kick James in the face, yet Sophie spirals into a pit of depression.
We follow Sophie through the ups and downs of attempting to pull herself out of a slump with the help of anti-depressants and her friend, Laura. I couldn’t help but feel for Sophie as she comes to terms with the breaking of her heart, and found myself going through each emotion with her.
With a writing style akin to Marian Keyes, Stella Newman tackles the darker side of relationships and breaking up, and doesn’t hesitate to let the reader know that it’s not always hearts and flowers.
7/10