A light-hearted and genuinely funny read. The phrase 'laugh out loud' has become regularly used in today's speech, often not meaning what it actually says, but I DID LOL several times while reading Finding Felix.

The characters are likeable and they draw you in, so you find yourself wondering, throughout the day, what is going to happen next in their lives. The least likeable (at the start) is Felix but then we find out more of his backstory and things start to make sense. I especially loved Dot's relationship with her grandmother.

All in all, a great book to sink into, without having to invest too much energy into following an intricate plot. A book you can pick up and immerse yourself in straight away!

I found that that this was the type of book I could not put down and re-read the ending, which is always a sign that I have really enjoyed the story. I thought that the range of characters all added something to the story, especially Nanny Flo. This is such a likeable story with a warm and feel-good air about it. I also enjoyed the fact that you kind of knew what the back-story was going to be, but that it was still a surprise when it was unveiled in the prologue.
Felix himself is a bit of a riddle and it is only as the story progresses that you come to realise what his feelings are. My most favourite character of course is Dot, who seems to let her sub-conscious self take charge at all the key moments. She is funny and yet wears her heart on her sleeve for all those who care to notice it. For a light hearted and yet enjoyable read, this cannot be beaten. I will definitely search out some more by Jo Platt.

In short: A romcom with heart.
Thanks to the author for a copy of the book.

It took me a while to start reading this book but once I did, I couldn’t put it down.

Nanny Flo is dying and one of her greatest disappointments is that her granddaughter, Dot, is single at 36. To enable Nanny Flo to die happily, Dot tells her family that she has been seeing a boy who was her best friend throughout childhood, Felix Davis, who Dot has unfortunately not seen for about 15 years.
But when Nanny Flo doesn’t die, things get out of hand when Dot’s family start asking questions about Felix and wanting him to be invited to a family wedding.

Dot is a fantastic character and could have easily become annoying but the author has done a cracking job in making her into someone that you’d actually love to be friends with – maybe not someone that you would seek advice from – but a lovely woman.
At first it is hard to imagine how Felix and Dot had been such good friends in the past as he seems really uptight and unlikeable but as his character develops and Felix relaxes, it becomes more understandable.

This is of course, a predictable book but the journey is so fun and enjoyable with plenty of funny moments and not just from the two main characters. Dot’s mother is exactly how I imagine I’m going to be in a few more years and of course, Nanny Flo is a dream.

Many thanks to Jo Platt, Netgalley and Canelo for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Finding Felix is a romantic comedy. It opens with two best friends meeting up before they leave home for university. Dot and Felix have been friends since they were seven.

Roll forward eighteen years. Dot’s Grandmother is seriously ill; hoping to make Nanny Flo happy, Dot says that Felix is her current boyfriend. Thankfully Nanny Flo recovers, but Dot is stuck in an awkward lie which escalates when she’s expected to bring Felix to her sister’s wedding.

Rather than tell the truth, Dot vows to find Felix and persuade him to be an accomplice to her lie until the wedding is over. But Felix has dramatically changed in the last eighteen years, and after she’s found him, Dot finds that Felix is distant and cold. What happened to her childhood friend, and can she ever get the lovable Felix back?

This is a fun book, and I found Dot and Felix easy to like. Even Dot’s over-bearing mother was a delight. Of course I was rooting for them to work out their friendship issues. This book is ideal for a feel-good read if you’re in the mood for a bit of light romance.

I just loved this book. The characters are wonderful and the story is captivating.

I was afraid that Dot would turn out to be a bit ditzy and silly, as she seemed to be great at getting into awkward situations, but she wasn’t. She is sweet and charming, and I warmed to her straight away.

I didn’t like Felix too much at the start, but grew to love him too, as his true character emerged.

The supporting characters were wonderful too. Dot’s mum is a particularly funny character, and I also loved her friend, Kate’s story.

The writing style flows so perfectly and the dialogue is so real. I loved discovering more about Dot and Felix’s past friendship and seeing how they would get on now.

There’s so much humour in this book, it’s genuinely funny and heart-warming.

Such real characters, an original and enchanting plot, with humour throughout, I really recommend this book.

Really great read. It takes you on a really great journey of different emotions. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

A sweet book which although predictable was an absorbing and amusing read. A wide range of characters with a huge amount of dialogue between Dot and her overbearing mum.

Good interactions between Dot and Felix make this story rattle along and the mix ups and non verbal clues will have you feeling frustrated that the messages just aren’t getting across to the star struck pair!

A fun read 3.75*

Nanny Flo on her deathbed is distraught that her granddaughter Dot is still single at 36 years of age. On a whim Dot lies and tells her family that she is seeing Felix Davis, a boy she hasn’t seen or heard from for 15 years but who was a great childhood friend and loved by her family. But things go astray when Nanny Flo rallies back to life, instead of admitting to her family that she has ‘broken up with Felix’, Dot says things are going great and suddenly things are getting out of hand. Now she must find Felix to invite him to her sister’s wedding.

If I had to describe one word this book made me feel..... it would be HAPPY! I loved all the characters, they seemed grounded but quirky all at the same time and many times I laughed (snorted) out loud. Having recently spent a holiday with friends from high school (many, many years ago), it just confirms that deep down we don’t change as we get older. The story line rolled on seamlessly and if you’re looking for a laugh out loud, feel good book I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend ‘Finding Felix’.

This is my first novel by Jo Platt and I have since found another on my Kindle, so I’ve bumped this up my reading list.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC to read

Dot Riley is only thinking of her beloved Nanny Flo when she reassures her dying grandmother that no, she isn't single - she's actually in a happy relationship. Desperate to soothe Nanny Flo's fears that she'll be forever alone, she invents a fictitious boyfriend - her childhood friend Felix, who she actually hasn't set eyes on in 15 years. When Nanny Flo makes an expected recovery and is able to attend a family wedding, Dot has to choose between 'fessing up or finding Felix. But once she tracks him down, will he be everything she remembers?

Stories about fake relationships are nothing new, and from reading the title alone I thought I knew the plotline before I'd begun. But I was wrong - and I loved the twist on the story of Felix not being hard to physically track down at all, but about the reconnection of two old friends being more troublesome.

Have you ever had a friend who somehow always manages to get themselves - and you - into some of the most ridiculous and hilariously awkward situations? That's Dot, our main character. She always manages to somehow screw things up without meaning to. I think Dot is written absolutely perfectly - in another person's hands, she could have been ditzy, self-centred and irritating, whereas Jo Platt manages to make her self-aware, extremely likeable and someone you can't help but fondly chuckle at. In fact, for the first time ever, I actually highlighted a line from a book on my Kindle to come back to, because I laughed out loud at it and thought it was genius:

"I always favour empathy over pity because it lets me focus at least fifty per cent on me too."

I loved the other characters in the book too. Felix's personality develops slowly across the story and I loved the exploration of what drew Dot to him as a teenager. If I was being picky, I could probably have done with a stronger confrontation between the two about his frostiness with her in the present day, but overall I enjoyed his character a lot. Other honourable mentions are Kate, Dot's business partner, who is involved in a cute, heartwarming secondary plotline, and of course, Dot's overbearing mother who had me chuckling to myself with her lack of tact and inability to stop meddling. For me, Kevin and Linda were the hidden gems! I loved their inclusion in the book.

That's the thing - this book is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. A lot of 'romantic comedies' are heavy on the romance but lacking in the laughter, but I really enjoyed the writing style for this. It wasn't ever cheesy or schmaltzy (is that a word?), it was humorous, witty and engaging. I found this so easy to read but never over-simplified or predictable. It's just an uncomplicated, light-hearted, but very enjoyable story that I really loved reading. I'm not going to say that this is relateable because honestly, some of the scrapes Dot gets herself into are hilarious in their ridiculousness, but it is sweet and warm, and pretty much impossible to dislike. If you love your romance with a dash of laughter, this is the perfect book for you.

I have been a fan of Jo Platt for some time now and was so excited to read this when I heard it was being released. Let me tell you, Jo did not disappoint (as if she could!?). A mesmerising bunch of characters and a little (okay, big!) white lie lead to a hilarious and laugh out loud adventure. A really fun read that is lighthearted and honest and completely delightful! Jo Platt is fast becoming a key player in my favourite authors list!

When Dot's grandmother is on her death bed and her wish of Dot finding happiness with a man is still yet to be granted, Dot does the only thing she can think of - she fakes a boyfriend. Usually when you fake a boyfriend, it would be easy to just make up someone who genuinely doesn't exist, right? Apparently Dot thinks otherwise, as she reveals her 'boyfriend' is an old childhood friend, Felix. A friend her family happened to be rather fond of in previous years and whom she has not seen in fifteen years.

The family are not about to forget about Dot and Felix' budding romance anytime soon with her Grandmother making a speedy recovery, meaning the only choice Dot has is to track the now stranger down and hope that he will attend a family event to convince them that the pair are legit.

The whole book was light-hearted and entertaining with some scenes that loved to tug at my heart strings - especially when their feelings blossomed and things/people kept getting in the way. Felix wasn't the most likeable character in the beginning and kept himself reserved, however he started to progress when he began to open up to Dot about his life. Every character was such a joy to read and I find myself relating to Dot in many ways, especially having a mother who likes to get a little too invested in to your love life!

This is the second book of Jo's that I've read and I will continue to read her work in the future.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This book had me in stitches and I absolutely loved all the characters. This is the first book I have read by this author and won't be the last. A well deserved 4 stars

Really enjoyable light hearted read. I liked the character of Dot and the plot of her trying to reconnect with Felix and pass him off as her boyfriend. It was an easy read and moved along at a nice pace.

Like all the best romantic comedy, this story starts with a dilemma that forces the well-meaning heroine to do anything to achieve the desired end, regardless of the consequences for herself. Finding Felix. follows Dorothy (Dot) whose grandmother Flo is seriously ill with pneumonia as she visits her in hospital. With her grandmother on her deathbed and Dot's single state seemingly over concerning, her granddaughter makes the foolish mistake of inventing a boyfriend to soothe the old lady. Dot wants to make her dying grandmother's wish come true and so plucks a friend out of her past and turns him into her fantasy boyfriend. Faced with the need for a name for this figment of her imagination, in her desperation Dot uses the name of her childhood friend Felix, despite not having seen him for fifteen years. Not unsurprisingly her well-intentioned lie comes back to haunt her when her grandmother rallies and wants to see the mystery boyfriend for herself.


With Nanny Flo making a surprising recovery and with her sister's wedding looming and the family expecting her to turn up with a partner, Dot decides it's time to track down Felix. Full of fantastically funny misunderstanding, which provides the story's humour and an indisputable wake-up call for Dot when she realises that Felix, in reality, is not how she remembered him. Dot and Felix, each experiencing the aftermath of a messy break-up, find themselves not quite honest not only with each other but with others. There's something there though and despite been given the opportunity to extricate herself from the lie Dot doesn’t. There are secrets abound in this novel, creating lots of laughs in the ensuing confusion. This is such a fun read; light-hearted with truthful undertones and sparkling all the way. Finding Felix is a sophisticated romantic comedy that's fun to read and guaranteed to make you laugh. With serious Wedding Date vibes and I may have re-watched it like three times since finishing the book.

Well, this year has given me a series of surprises when it comes to books. A not so appealing cover, a very dull beginning and how can one imagine that I have in my hands a gem of a book! But that was what 'Finding Felix' was. Dorothy (Dot) finds Felix and I have in turn found the perfect romantic comedy to turn my day a happy one.
I never had the pleasure of reading Jo Platt before and her quirky, humorous language captivated me the moment the story shifted its perspective to Dot's. I am not against stories told through both the protagonists, but the highlight of having a single point of view is that it gives us a lot to imagine. I very much doubt 'Pride and Prejudice' will be this famous if it was using a double narrative including Darcy's take on things. 'Finding Felix' pursues a similar vein where it is Felix's actions and not his thoughts that reveals his character. It was fun imagining what could have been going through that charming, intelligent brain of his.
The author introduces a plethora of characters including Dot's meddling but loving mother, caring grandmother, protective father, intuitive younger sister and a stern but supportive best friend and business partner. I loved reading about them all which added a certain depth to the novel apart from the romance.
That being said, we can't ignore some of the loose ends in the plot, particularly the one concerning the missing letters. Even at the end, the readers are not enlightened as to what was there in the letters and how it got misdirected. And I can't help but wish to have more of Felix and Dot.
Thank you, NetGalley and Ellie Pilcher of Canelo for giving me a copy to review and for inviting me to this blog tour. I completely adored this book and it took a while to settle on the next one to read as I was not able to come out of the world of Dot and Felix.

I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately but this has been the perfect book to bring me back out of it. From the start I could just tell that I was going to love Finding Felix, it’s the kind of situation that I could totally see myself in, letting a situation run away from me and getting myself in a bit of a pickle over it.

It was such an entertaining book, there were a few moments that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud to and lots of moments that I could relate to. It is a light-hearted book and there is, of course, some romance but actually the bits that stood out the most for me were the interactions between Dot and her friends and family.

The relationship between Dot, her sister Becca, and her mother was great, even though her mother was overbearing at times and drove Dot up the wall a little bit it was lovely to read about a solid family unit that knew and accepted each other's flaws. The friendship between Dot and Kate was also wonderful, they are such contrasting personalities but they work so well together. I also admired the fact that there were no fighting women in this, I’ve noticed that some romances tend to play women off against each other but this book has none of that.

Dot was such a fun character, if she were real we would be fast friends, a bit ditzy but also the kind of character that brings a lot of life to the book. Towards the end there were a few points that I felt like she maybe should have learned a little bit from her actions, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment in any way.

I liked Felix best when he started to open up a little, I can totally see why he was more reserved at the beginning but I felt like I couldn’t really warm up to him and Dot maybe becoming something when he was so uptight. Nanny Flo was also a gem, she always made me smile with her amusing and cheeky lines.

Finding Felix is a delightful book that I was engrossed in whilst reading and one that I was looking forward to getting stuck back into any time I put it down. This is one that I would definitely recommend and I’m looking forward to checking out some more of Jo Platt’s work.

Yes, another great book from Jo Platt. This is the second one I have read, reviewed and taken part in the blog tour for after her 2017 release You Are Loved. Click for my review.

Her latest title, Finding Felix. follows Dorothy (Dot) whose grandmother Flo is seriously ill with pneumonia as she visits her in hospital. All Flo wants is Dot’s happiness in life and love. She invents a boyfriend who is really Felix, a friend she hasn’t seen for 15 years. What Dot and her family don’t expect is for Flo to recover.

Can she keep her lie going or should she come clean about Felix? She decides to track him down but the guy from the past is all different now.

Will things work for them? What will happen when they see each other again?

Jo Platt writes a brilliant witty true-to-life page turner with realistic characters and I really liked Dot.

Thanks to Jo Platt and Canelo for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review and an opportunity to take part in the blog tour.

This is the second book I've read by Jo Platt (You Are Loved was the first - which I loved!), and it didn't disappoint. Like others have said, I didn't take to Felix at first, and I do wish he'd opened up a bit more than he did, but he opened up enough for me to like him, and his behaviour is explained. I loved Dot - what a great character. And her mother was entertaining, if somewhat annoying. Perhaps she could have been toned down a bit. I don't think we ever met Lynda from the office, but she had a role to play too. Unless I missed it the Gwyneth/Beattie mix-up wasn't explained, and also, not much was said about the letters / postcards going astray. I did find it a bit odd that considering Felix and Dot were so close when they were young, that they lost touch for over 15 years. If they cared that much surely they'd have followed up, even if letters / postcards weren't replied to. Well-written, great characters, funny, romantic, nostalgic - I'm sorry to have finished this book.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book right after I’ve watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix. And surprisingly, this book was somehow similar to that movie in terms of the “fake boyfriend” thing.

The story started with some family drama. Dot’s grandmother, Nanny Flo, was on her deathbed and only wishes one thing; and that was for her to find the person who she will be spending with for the rest of her life. Nanny Flo and her parents were worried that she will be alone after the terrible breakup she had with her ex, Alistair.

So, to assure her grandmother, Dot told a lie that became an eventful search for her childhood best friend, Felix, to ask him to be her fake boyfriend because it turned out, Nanny Flo is not going anywhere anytime soon.

After fifteen years of having no contact at all, it seems that the reunion between Dot and Felix didn’t quite went well as expected. I understand why Felix distanced himself and at first, gave Dot the cold shoulder. Putting myself on his own shoes, I would surely felt terrible too because Dot was only able to remember Felix when she needs something and on a rush to solve her supposedly small lie.

Having said that, Dot, obviously desperate to convince Felix in their little charade, truly cares for Nanny Flo's well-being. She knew that there's nothing good that comes out from lying and yet, she did exactly what she knew would make her grandmother better.

With the situation they're being in, Felix and Dot was able to rekindle the friendship they once had while Dot was able to discover old feelings she never knew she had for Felix. After all, there's still some good that happen to her little lie, right?

I like how breezy, light and funny the story was. Since I read Jo Platt’s You Are Loved the first time, I instantly fell in love with her writing and mash up details of humorous scenes she has incorporated especially with her main characters.

Though Dot was a delightful heroin, she truly didn’t stand out for me nor Felix. I wish there were more dialogue between them than Dot and her mother’s incessant phone calls who check on her and Felix all the time, or the fun-filled drama she had with her best friend, Kate. And since the story was obviously not focused on romance alone, I genuinely love how the author put a spotlight on friendship and self-acceptance which was the best takeaway I have in this story.

Still, I enjoyed this book and would still recommend it to everyone who would like to have an escape from reading heavy thriller or mind-boggling fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Canelo and Jo Platt for providing me an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Like all the best romantic comedy, this story starts with a dilemma that forces the well-meaning heroine to do anything to achieve the desired end, regardless of the consequences for herself. Dot wants to make her dying grandmother's wish come true and so plucks a friend out of her past and turns him into her fantasy boyfriend. Not unsurprisingly her well-intentioned lie comes back to haunt her when her grandmother rallies and wants to see the mystery boyfriend for herself.

Full of misunderstanding, which provides the story's humour and an undeniable wake-up call for Dot that Felix, in reality, is not how she remembered him. There's something there though, and despite the opportunity to extricate herself from the lie, she doesn't. An excellent supporting cast of believable characters adds depth to the story, which like all good romcoms ends happily.

Sophisticated romantic comedy that's fun to read and guaranteed to make you laugh.

I received a copy of this book from Canelo via NetGalley in return for an honest review.