Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Another Sophie Ranald book that kept me laughing! The main character Charlotte is stuck in a rut, time is consumed with her job working crazy hours, her best friends moved out of her home to start their own family and getting married. Charlotte is then faced with new roommates, each coming with their own baggage as she later learns, work becomes crazy busy with security breaches, all while being demoted as maid of honor in her best friends wedding. Charlotte is left to re-analyze her life and uses a podcast to help her take those steps to branch out in the dating world.

After reading the last few pages...I want to go back and re-read to tie everything together again ;)

A fun, easy read that left me smiling! This was Bridget Jones-esque in that a likable woman kept finding herself in uncomfortable positions. This was wildly entertaining and a pleasure to read! It got a bit long winded in some areas but overall, I enjoyed this book and the witty writing had me laughing out loud. I enjoyed the ending tremendously and was rooting for the character throughout. A delightful summer read! My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

HJ Recommended Read!

In Sorry Not Sorry by Sophie Ranald, After helping her now former flatmates, engaged couple Maddy and Henry, move into their new home, Charlotte is beginning to realize that her life is rather dull. Not having her childhood best friend Maddy around to have a drink or talk out their problems is part of it. But the fact that Charlotte's life consists of working and sleeping, with little to no social life in between? That's just sad. With two new roommates moving in shortly, she can only hope that they will be like-minded and looking to have a bit of fun, perhaps to go traipsing out on the weekends to have some laughs.
Charlotte's time-consuming and stressful job as an admin at a hedge fund company in Mayfair begins to get more interesting with the addition of a handsome man. Well, two handsome men, to be honest. One is a client, the other is a new hire. Not that Charlotte would ever think of asking one of them out. Or maybe she could… With the help of a new podcast she's found–Sorry Not Sorry–that follows an American woman on a quest to break out of the rut her dating life has become, Charlotte takes her advice to heart. But will it ultimately lead to heartbreak when things prove complicated? Or will she end up exactly where she was supposed to be all along?

Sorry Not Sorry was a rollicking good time with a quirky cast I fell helplessly in love with in no time flat. With its fun rom-com-meets-chick-lit vibe, what a lovely way this was to be introduced to Sophie Ranald's work!

There was a whole lot to enjoy about Sorry Not Sorry. Being set in and around London was the first big selling point for me as I love stories from across the pond. And Charlotte–as well as her friends–embodied that London lifestyle with their dry, witty sense of humor, the frenetic pace they seemed to live with day after day, and the social scene they flirted with. I was also pretty wowed by our main character herself. Charlotte was a take charge, empowered kind of woman who used her keen mind in all aspects of her life. Well, except maybe her love life. In that area she had fallen into a major rut. It was the Sorry Not Sorry podcasts that helped bring her around to push her limits personally for a change–with, ahem, varying results.

Aside from Charlotte's loyalty to her (sometimes undeserving) friends, the thing I liked most about her was that she didn't make excuses for herself. If she made a mistake, she owned up to it and tried to use it as a lesson of what not to do in the future. And Charlotte did make some blunders. Some funny ones, actually, as you might expect. One such mistake might end up in a grey area for some readers, or it might be off-putting for some, but I think Charlotte did the best with what information she was given–in pretty much every situation, actually–and did things with the best of intentions. I have to give her kudos for that.

What I wasn't really expecting was how much I would like her new roommate Tansy and kind of cheer her on to sort out her life at the same time as rooting for Charlotte. And I haven't read it yet, but Tansy did get her own story in It's Not You It's Him–it sounds fabulous! There are a whole host of other secondary characters in Sorry Not Sorry who have their own books from what I've seen of Ranald's backlog of work, but it appears each story can be read as a standalone.

It never gets old reading a new-to-me author, and I must say that Sophie Ranald's writing voice and storytelling charmed me off my feet. Sorry Not Sorry will surely resonate with any woman who has found herself lost after life's plot twists knock her sideways. At least with Charlotte's story, there's a guaranteed HEA to make you smile.

A fun entertaining story that will make you giggle!

This was a playful story with an unique angle. As a podcast listener(although most of my podcasts are about serial killers) I really enjoyed how this media was used in the story. A quirky story about taking yourself out of your comfort zone and finding your inner bad girl.

Charlotte is a workaholic about to lose her flatmate and friend to marriage... when she realizes she doesn’t do much more than work day in and day out. She starts listening to the popular “Sorry Not Sorry” podcast, this podcast assigns you tasks that will help you find your inner bad girl. Got to be honest some of these things I don’t believe would make you a “bad girl,” but they might take you out of your comfort zone. Bad girl or not I think it made for a wonderful story and helped Charlotte. There is quite a bit more to the story and some characters actions I didn’t necessarily agree with, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Charlotte was a pretty sympathetic character, I really felt for her, she really had a lot on her plate. A super demanding job, planning a wedding for her BFF, and looking for the elusive perfect man. I have to admit though I did not always find Charlotte terribly relatable. The secondary characters were wonderful I would love to read a book about Tanzie *update there is a book about Tanzie and it is wonderful!* she is a girl I can get behind! I also loved Bianka, got to love a character it is fun to hate! And boy was it fun to hate her! It is so true that as our friends begin to get married and have children we tend to lose touch or become closer to those that are at the same stage in life as we are. I was the second in my friend group to have kids so I guess I was the one to lose touch, but believe me there was many a Friday night I wish I was out with the girls rather than changing diapers. The grass certainly is always greener on the other side of that marriage fence....

An engaging story that will make you want to find your inner bad girl and start listening to podcasts!

*** Big thank you to Forever for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Good girl Charlotte finds herself stuck in a rut - very single, overly demanding job, best friend getting married - when she stumbles upon the podcast, Sorry Not Sorry which encourages her to embrace her inner bad girl through a step by step process.... ⁣
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So, sometimes a cover just screams “pick me up” and that’s exactly what happened here. Anyway, I basically love British chick lit ... bollocks and rubbish are part of my vocab after reading 5! books set in London this month. This book is funny, entertaining and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed seeing Charlotte work through friend, man and career drama. I think I saw a bit of me in her as she expanded her comfort zone to being more assertive.... I need a podcast like this in my life!! ⁣
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Thank you @readforeverpub for gifting me this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was a fun read from Netgalley. It wasn’t romance, but it also wasn’t not a romance. It’s classified as women’s fiction, which I am discovering means it’s way more about the female main character than anything else. It was not laugh out loud funny, more of a disaster after disaster but it had a happy ending and I really liked Charlotte. It would be a good beach/vacation read as it’s not too deep and not too angsty.

This was a fun and entertaining contemporary romance read. I really loved Charlotte's story and I think most of us have been in her shoes at some point. This book had some really sweet, endearing moments and some funny ones as well. Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the ARC.

tw: cheating, stalking

Sorry Not Sorry is a type of prequel story to No, We Can't Be Friends. It kind of takes place during the same timeline, from different points of view. They really can be read in any order, but I read NWCBF first and then Sorry Not Sorry. Charlotte's flatmates, Maddy and Henry, are moving out and getting married, so she's left finding new flatmates. Two new strangers move in, while Charlotte is trying to balance a demanding job and helping to plan Maddy's wedding. Suddenly, Maddy is mad at her, Charlotte is dating a married man (but Myles says they are separated and sleeping apart), and she's made friends with her new flatmate Tansy. Charlotte seems to have life figured out, but when her work, personal, and romantic life implode basically at the same time - Charlotte needs to figure out what is most important.

I found this book to be very similar to Sophie's other books, cute & easy to read. It was nice to get this side of the story from NWCBF, and see what was happening in the background that story. Charlotte as a character was good, she was interesting and well developed. I liked reading about her forays in dating and trying to be a "Bad Girl" as the podcast she listened to was teaching her to be. I got frustrated with her relationship with Maddy, because it seemed like she just *let* Maddy be mad at her without really trying to get to the bottom of the issues. I feel like that could've been resolved quicker if she had.

I would have loved to read more about the penultimate love story, and had more interaction with the guy before the last 10% of the book. Normally you can tell who the main love story will be about, but I had no idea who the guy would be until the end. I just prefer when you get to experience more of the romance and relationship in romance books.

Overall, the plot was good - even if the end climax was a smidge unbelievable. I read this book all in one go, as I usually do with Sophie's books, which is always a good sign for me. Even better sign, I stayed up until 2am to finish it, because I just needed to know where Charlotte's story would go.

**Thank you to Forever Publishing and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

This just wasn't my speed. I appreciated the story and loved the integration of a podcast but it felt a little too all over the place.

Inspired by the podcast “Sorry Not Sorry” that challenges women to step out of their relationship comfort zones, Charlotte decides to pull herself out of a rut. Most of her friends are in serious relationships, her best friend just moved out of their flat to move to the suburbs with her fiancé before the wedding, and Charlotte feels stuck and lonely in London.

Soon she is purchasing new lingerie and making the first move with a man on the advice of this new podcast and Charlotte’s life as a newly christened “bad girl,” who goes after exactly what she wants in life, gets much more complicated. She’s forced to deal with difficult bridesmaids, explore new relationships and the messes that come with them, and is suddenly having career troubles at her dream job. Struggling to maintain equilibrium in this new world, Charlotte finds out who she can count on to love and support both the old and new things she wants in life.

VERDICT: A complicated, complex, and not always likeable cast of characters stars in Ranald’s take on a modern Bridget Jones, making the story both entertaining and real. The perfect book for lovers of British romantic drama-comedies.