For fans of Sophie Kinsella, this book is pure joy. Following Katie Brenner's ups and downs in her career and relationships is "classic" and wonderful women's fiction just as it should be. The British setting and the cast of rural and city characters is greatly enjoyable, and this book is well written. This book brings me back to the great women's fiction of the earlier 2000s (dare I say to the "chick lit" days?), before the genre was over-saturated and over-done. I didn't know I'd been missing this book until I read it!

I had mixed feelings throughout this book. I chose this book because I like Sophia Kinsella, I have read and enjoyed several books written by her in the past, and I was really excited to jump into this one. I happened to be starting a vacation and figured this would be the perfect beach read. Well I was right in the fact that it is a very light beach read, but it was far from perfect. Although it kept my interest for the most part (and at one point, it even made me laugh out loud), I found it to be way too predictable and I really loathed the ending. I almost didn't read the last two pages. It was a little "too happy" if that is such a thing. Overall, I would say I give this book 3.5/5 stars. I enjoyed the characters but the storyline was a bit boring and the plot was one dimensional. I feel like this is a book I have already forgotten about. Maybe I just expected more from Sophia?

This is another Sophie Kinsella favorite! Will definitely buy the print version to add to my collection.

This was a mostly solid, quick read about a young woman whose life isn't as perfect as she tries to make it appear on social media. I think it was a great theme to explore and long overdue, especially in the chick lit genre. I loved Katie as a character, though I found her father's business and her relationship with Alex a little too difficult to believe. I also would have liked more depth in exploring the social media versus reality angle, but depth is really a lot to ask of chick lit. Still an enjoyable, easy to recommend book for the chick lit crowd.

I would like to thank Sophie Kinsella, Random House and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.
Review by Stephanie
5 Stars
First I must admit I am a HUGE Sophie Kinsella, so was stoked when I saw her new book on netgalley! Her books are always my go to for a good easy read! 

Katie Brenner wants the "perfect life" which of course includes having it all. She forces her days on what everyone else has and how they seem to have the "perfect life". She is questioning why they are privileged enough to have it all while she is struggling to make ends meet. Then everything came crashing down which makes her question everything.
 I loved this book so very much. The focus was on a great message of why try to keep up with the Jones when you should just focus on being the best you! You will be more happy in your every day when you release the need to be "better" "richer".
I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from Sophie!

This book is the perfect chick lit read of 2017. It's so real and relatable and by the end of the book I was literally sitting in my chair fist pumping for Katie!! I love relatable main characters and this book definitely delivered. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves chick lit!!

Sophie's books are my treat to myself. A really good group of characters in this story. Katie is like a lot of people her age, posting all kinds of lovely pictures on Instagram and to look at her site you would think she was living the high life in London when her actual life is nothing she would want to share. Inconsiderate flatmates, a scatty boss and barely scraping by in the city.

When she is let go she returns to Somerset and the farm where she grew up. Helping her dad and Ms.Biddy set up their glamping operation with her talent for branding and selling, the business becomes a big hit. Until one day Demeter shows up with her family and Katie learns that just like her Instagram life, everyone else is not exactly who or what they seem.

In this age of instant information and photo shop, lives can look entirely different than reality. A great lesson in not making judgments based on social media.

A really well done book of understanding and doing the right thing!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for this one!

My Not So Perfect Life is one of my favorites of Sophie Kinsella. It was a witty, realistic, modern story about Katie or "Cat" Brenner who finally gets her chance to have the perfect life as a Londoner. The reality definitely didn't equal the childhood dream, but she never wants to give it up or explain it to the ones that she cares about because she thinks she would worry or disappoint them.

Cat becomes the masterful creator of her perfect, rebranded life through social media and acting the part. It all goes crashing down when she is fired by her mentor, Demeter, who doesn't even know the impact she has played in Cat's life. Now she has to figure out how to overcome this obstacle before anyone finds out the truth.

One of my favorite parts of the book besides the laugh out loud story was the strong female characters that make their mark in the world. Katie and Demeter find their passion and voice in all aspects of their lives. The journey to their realization made me not want to put the book down and my heart swell in parts too.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Kinsella, and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy for an honest review.

Another fantastically funny book by Sophie Kinsella. Her sense of humour is wonderful and I had to leave the room in case I woke up the hubby, I was laughing so much.

In true Sophia Kinsella form, this book builds to a fantastic ending. I love all the characters in this book.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review (thank you) and I'll be honest, I was cautious when I started this book. I know that Sophie Kinsella is wildly popular and awhile back I had picked up one of her books and couldn't get through it.

That being said, I truly enjoyed this book! Just enough mystery, just enough romance, and just enough warm and fuzzies. To be frank, it was really hard for me to adjust to the constant stream of inner dialogue (same issue I had with her previous book) but once I adjusted to kind of glancing over those sentences, I got caught up. I loved how much the main character, Katie Brenner, evolved. I rather disliked her in the beginning, and by the end, I was cheering her along and rooting for her. I was pleased with how the rest of the crew developed as well, and the epilogue was a perfect ending to this quaint story.

Katie Brenner has a plan for her life and it most certainly does not include the farm where she grew up. In fact, she has completely transformed herself in order to fit into a London world. New hair, new style and even a new name. (Cat is so much cooler than Katie isn’t it?) And when she overhears some women in the bathroom making fun of her accent, she works hard to make that go away too.

She’s got the mind for marketing. She picks things up quickly and her ideas are really good. She just needs to learn how to break out and make a name for herself like her boss Demeter Farlowe did. Demeter has made her way to the top of the food chain in her company and she’s got the perfect life. She runs an entire division. She works with the top tier of clients. She always looks impeccable. Heck, the house she lives in has even been featured in magazine layouts! Demeter has it all. Except – well, being nice. Around the office she seems really scattered and she takes advantage of other people’s ideas.

Katie isn’t having an easy time of it in London. She barely makes enough money to keep her head above water – but she is determined. She’s also determined to fit in with the other girls around the office, but even that isn’t working out as she’d hoped.

Through a series of misadventures (what do you expect from the creator of the Shopaholic series?) Katie ends up being fired and living back home with her step-mother and father on the farm. She doesn’t want to look like a failure, so she doesn’t tell them she lost her job. So she tells her family that she is on a paid leave from work while she helps them turn the farm into a glamping (glamorous camping) paradise. She’s doing a great job at getting the business up and running and her marketing ideas have shot the buzz and publicity for the farm to the top of the charts. While she’s doing this, she juggles resumes, applications and job interviews so she can get back to her ‘real’ life dreams – London!

Just when it seems she has a relative handle on things, who books a week-long retreat at her parent’s camp? Demeter Farlowe and her family. Katie does not want to be recognized, so she disguises herself and decides that she’s going to exact revenge on her boss. During this plan though, she realizes that Demeter’s life is not what it appeared. In fact, everything she thought about Demeter was absolutely wrong. Oh and did I mention romance? There is some fantastic romance in this one too!

I loved this story. To be fair, Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorites. I always enjoy getting into the heads of her characters and experiencing the glitz and glamor, but with that touch of reality that keeps it grounded. Katie is one of those fabulous characters that I would happily continue to follow through even more adventures.

Though sometimes Katie’s misadventures are totally off the wall, there are still enough ‘real’ moments to make me able to see it actually happening. After all, who hasn’t had some moment in their lives that is just insane? We all do and I adore watching how Kinsella’s characters muddle through their messes.

One of the things I loved about this story was the inclusion of social media. I’ve always said that on social media, we’re comparing our behind the scenes to the highlight reels of others. (I work in film. Can you tell?) But it’s really true. People don’t tend to put the messy up there for the world to see. It’s always perfect and looks so good and the rest of us look on thinking we have to live that way.

Kudos to Sophie Kinsella for addressing a big issue in such a fun way!

Note: My review will go live at the link on 2-7-17

One of Sophie Kinsella's best! Its a nice departure from the Shopaholic series in that the protagonist is very grounded and more composed. Its always nice to see books that depict women in positions of power.

I love Sophie Kinsella's books, and you'll love this book as much as I did! I read it in one sitting and couldn't put it down. The main character, Katie, leaves her Somerset farm and changes herself into a new and improved city version named Cat pursue to lifelong dream of working in advertising. She wants to have the perfect life and her Instagram account documents her faux perfection to her friends, but she finds out it isn't as easy as she thought. She imagines that everyone around her has their version of the perfect life, and her journey to the truth about herself and her friends and family takes her back to the country and then to London again.
This book does a great job of showing the differences between people's social media facades and the realities of their lives. When Katie loses her dream job, she ends up back in the country helping her family launch a new business. With her marketing talent, it's a huge success....and then her old boss and then a love interest come to stay. The story gets really interesting and funny here, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Read this book!

I found this a well written story--it was enjoyable. It is the story of a young woman who is navigating her first job and the dichotomy of her expectations vs. the imperfect truth. She creates a polished version of her life on instagram. The characters rang true and ultimately I found it a well crafted romance and coming of age story.

This book is CLASSIC Sophie Kinsella and I loved every minute of it! Not since she released the Shopaholic series have I gotten so excited about one of her novels (although frankly, they are all great in their own way), but after reading this one, I know why I am so in love with her books. Sophie has weaved a story that will make readers appreciate the lives they live. A story that makes us believe in fate, even if it takes a bit to get to where we are meant to be. And, she has brought to life a group of characters that could easily become our best friends. This story is engaging, sweet, heartwarming, and down to earth. It is everything I wanted (and needed) in a novel, and I am so thankful that I could read an early a copy of it. All you readers out there, this is a fantastic book and I highly recommend reading it. So far, this is my favorite chick lit read of the year, and I am not sure how other novels are going to top it.

So, this story is about Katie (Cath, Cat?.) and her rise and fall in the branding world. You see, Katie has a job that she loves but it seems like none of her ideas are ever taken seriously. She would be fabulous at helping to rebrand items that need a makeover but her ideas are always looked over. And the topping on the cake? She loses her job (even though her boss forgot to tell her) for reasons that are sort of unknown. This forces her back to the country life with her father even if it’s the last place this up and coming Londoner wants to be. I suppose it’s not all that bad though because she has an opportunity of a lifetime when her father and Biddy set out to make their land into a glamping site (which is all the rave btw) and gets to use her skills. But when the very boss that let her go comes to this new venue, things get a little muddy (literally)…

Full of fun antics, laugh out loud moments, and characters that will absolutely touch your heart, My Not So Perfect Life is bound to please all types of readers. This is definitely one of those books to read this year, and I cannot recommend it enough to fellow readers! What a lovely and brilliant story filled with heart!

I've read a few Sophie Kinsella novels a few years ago and loved them but for whatever reason, I haven't read a novel of hers since. Thanks to Hannah, I requested My Not So Perfect Life and SO glad I did! I loved reading this book. The setting, the characters, the story arc, the theme of perspective, it all combined to create a fantastic book.

Let's start with the setting. Cat, formerly and sometimes Katie, is a junior research assistant at a branding firm in London. She grew up in the country and is trying hard to become a full-fledged Londoner. I can relate to her desire because she talks about loving the energy of the city, that certain something that gives her a spring in her step when she walks down the street, I understand all of this. Symptoms of a soulmate city, if you ask me but I digress. So Katie is working extremely hard trying to find her niche in this job. She's smart, creative, driven, and really wants to learn from her boss, Demeter, who is a known creative genius in the industry.

The problem? Demeter is awful. Scatter-brained, forgetful, can't remember people's names, the worst. The whole office hates her and after some financial strain she loses her job and finds herself back home in the country helping out her dad and stepmom start a glamping business on their farm. Katie, formerly Cat, fights tooth and nail against moving back home but circumstances and fate intervene. I really enjoyed her internal dialogue about her definition of failure and feeling like she's settling by moving home for awhile. Even though, as the reader, I didn't think she was failing at all, it was easy to understand her rationale.

The great thing? She's amazing at running the glamping business. She works amazing with her dad Mick and stepmom Biddy. She designs all the advertisements and they're a smashing success. I couldn't get enough of her creative energy and desire to succeed at anything she was doing. The twist starts when Demeter arrives with her family at Katie's glamping business and she takes matters into her own hands. From there we have a couple of hilarious unfortunate (sometimes fortunate) events and they're hysterical.

This is also where the tide starts to turn in a different way. Why? Because Katie starts to see not only Demeter, but herself, in a different way. The second part of the books is an eye-opening experience and I loved how everything played out. Katie's ability to see beneath the exterior and understand somebody else's point of view was beautiful. I love books like this. When we think adamantly one way about someone and perspective gives us a whole new view of them. The saying you never really know a person until you walk in their shoes rings so true with this story. And when Katie embraces who Demeter really is and what happens from there was my favorite part. I loved seeing a camaraderie among these characters, it was so fun and endearing, I couldn't get enough and I definitely couldn't put the book down!

There are is a romance in this story but it's not at the forefront and I also really enjoyed that! The romance was fun and sparky but it didn't overshadow the story as a whole. I loved that this was more about Katie, discovering her true self, and seeing the good in other people. Of course, the topic of social media and a filtered life is also a large theme in the book and I think Kinsella handled it perfectly. In a world of social media, Instagram filters, and highlight reels known as timelines, it's hard to see beneath the cut away 2x2 snapchat of somebody's life and remember nobody's life is perfect, we all have our struggles, and our not so perfect moments. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any and all readers and think everyone who reads can get something out of this!

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella is a standalone novel. Katie Brenner, our heroine, has just started a new dream job in London. Katie grew up in a small town, where her father has a farm. She is determined to make a successful life in London, which she has always dreamed would be her perfect life; which at this point is not so perfect. Katie, who uses the name Cat, hates her daily train commute to work, since she can’t afford the rent in London.

She is the new girl on the job at a marketing firm, where she finds herself totally in awe of her boss, and naïve as to the politics of the workers and management. Her co-workers befriend Cat, and constantly complain about the boss, Demeter, who is somewhat of a bitch. However, Cat sees in Demeter everything she wants for her future; successful high paying job, designer clothes, celebrity acquaintances, lives in a mansion, and has a happy family life. Cat feels if she works hard, she can attain the same life. But nothing is always as it seems.
Just when she gets to impress Demeter with some of her ideas, and meets hot Alex, one of the owners of the firm, Cat is shocked when she is fired. When she is unsuccessful in finding another job, Katie (back to her real name) is forced to go home; secretly telling her father that she is on sabbatical in order to help him with starting his new Glamping business on the farm. Katie uses her wonderful marketing savvy to do a great job in setting up a website to promote the new business, utilizing an Instagram site for pictures, and other unique ideas. After a short time, Katie is shocked to see Demeter arrive on their farm for a family vacation. Katie is still angry at Demeter, and goes out of her way to disguise herself somewhat and make life a little crazy for her ex-boss. In a short period, Katie will see Demeter in another light, which turns out to be a not so perfect life. Once Katie learns more about Demeter, the book does take a turn, which for me I enjoyed much more. I found the first half of the book a bit slow, and especially a little ditzy when she was doing those crazy antics to Demeter. I really loved the last third of the book.

What follows is a nice story about learning that what you see in front of you is not always reality. Katie begins to see how Demeter, living the perfect life, has many of her own problems; her marriage is suffering; she works long hours in a demanding and competitive job; she doesn’t spend much time with her children, who are somewhat distant with her. Slowly, when Demeter finally recognizes and remembers Katie, things change with their relationship. Katie privately gets Demeter’s kids to understand their mom better, and to be nicer. Demeter learns more from Katie about how the office staff hates her, and wants to make amends. However, soon Alex arrives on the farm and Demeter knows he is here to fire her, since everything on the job was crumbling around her. It will take Demeter and Katie to join hands to discover the truth about what was happening behind the scenes.

I really liked Alex, who was considered a womanizer, and whom Katie finds herself falling for, but she thought that he was having an affair with Demeter, which turned out to be another untrue fact. When Alex shows up at the farm, their relationship begins to turn into a very nice romance. There were some very good characters that Kinsella has created besides Katie, Demeter, & Alex. Especially, Katie’ s Dad and Stepmom, Biddy were a lot of fun, and Demeter’s two kids.

As I have noted before, the last third of the book was great, with Katie rising up to help save Demeter, and her nice romance with Alex. Katie herself used the time on the farm to prove that she was very talented in marketing and working with customers. Her not so perfect life was a fun motto on her Instagram page, which added to the fun at the end. This was a good and at times humorous story that I feel you would enjoy.