I have read all of Sophie Kinsella’s books and am a huge fan! I was excited about this one, but it wasn’t her best work, in my opinion. the characters felt a little one-dimensional to me, and the story a little far-fetched. I usually crack up at Kinsella’s books, but this one wasn’t as witty and sharp as some of her others.

I love a good book by Sophie Kinsella, which both, keep you laughing and thinking as she sets up a scenario which is both comical, and thought provoking at the same time.
Her story lines, always make me feel the inner struggles of the characters and how they go about wading through the differences.
The two main characters, Ava and Matt are as polar opposite as you can get, which presents us with a wonderful adventure as they get to know each other.
If you like to laugh at or with the characters as their deeply flawed personalities are exposed, this is the book for you.
Wonderful read. Great characters and story.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of this book.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase your copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088QLHYX5/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Everyone loves a Sophie Kinsella book. There are so many of them, we love them all. This one did not disappoint. This one addresses dating in the current time period, sans Pandemic. I cannot even imagine having to figure out this whole dating thing during a pandemic. If they aren’t safe during a pandemic, do you want to date them outside of it? Wash your HANDS!! This again brings me to the question- How do you really know someone? When you meet in a bubble, can you stay in the bubble? Can you find love when someone doesn’t check all the checkboxes that you thought you wanted?
This book has so many funny quotes and situations…” I… cannot date anyone who thinks butternut squash soup has a soul”. Are you kidding me? I cannot believe you do not think that the soup has a soul, LMAO. I literally was DYING with that line. There are so many dog situations that too had me in stitches! Good thing this book is about vegetarians! Would you be able to date someone who ate meat if you were a vegetarian? Interesting question. The main character sets out to find someone to date and ends up meeting someone in an unexpected way. There are so many mishaps along the way. You will definitely be amused with this book!

Love your life by Sophie Kinsella made me absolutely hate my life every time I had to pick this book up. This was my first novel of hers and quite possibly my last. Ava goes to Italy for a writing retreat to help inspire finishing her novel. She meets a man on this retreat and they instantly fall in love and she basically blows off her expensive writing course. The love was so cheesy, unrealistic, and my eyes rolled so hard that my eyes almost got stuck that way. The pacing was extremely fast in the beginning, not just with Ava and Matt but also with events occurring - it was ridiculous.

Ava herself is so immature, overly hyper, and desperate to be “in love”. I thought I was reading about a high school student rather than a grown woman. Her only redeeming quality is her love for dogs. Actually, not one of the characters were likable except Harold the dog and maybe a few of Ava’s friends.

Anyway, after this retreat Ava and Matt return to London only to discover they have nothing In common. Oh no. Who would have thought such a thing could happen? Once they enter back into the real world, they discover they have nothing in common and struggle through a crappy relationship. Matt was a dry desert with no personality. I found myself cringing through the whole book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced readers copy of this book.

I have been a fan of Sophia Kinsella’s since reading Can You Keep a Secret, so I was exciting to hear about her new release. And once I read the book synopsis of Love Your Life, I knew that I was in for this one.

A girl travels to Italy and falls for a man while on a writers’ retreat? I love it!

Unfortunately, everything good about this novel ended with the book synopsis and this book turned into a big disappointment.

I will say that the writing itself is good, however everything about the story and the characters is just one big train wreck.

It’s one of those books that you hope just starts off a bit odd but will gain traction after the first chapter or two but this one just kept going downhill for me.

This book is based on a case of instalove that is not only unbelievable but just plain overkill. I can definitely get behind a love story where two characters have this instant attraction and fall hard for one another but there was no chemistry between Ava and Matt and nothing to convince me that they suddenly were madly in love with one another after seeing each other and one afternoon of cliff diving.

The amount of time that Ava went on an on about how she couldn’t stop thinking about him and how much she was so in love was nauseating.

I couldn’t even buy why Matt was in the retreat and what he saw in Ava either.

But even though things were completely ridiculous at the retreat, they didn’t get better once they returned to “real life.”

I appreciate the advanced reader copy from NetGalley, but unfortunately I don’t recommend this read.

Love Your Life was super entertaining, typical Sophie Kinsella - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. it was cute, fun characters, light romance, plenty of laughs. absolutely perfect for 2020.

Kinsella has done it again! Hilarious, thought provoking, and sweet with a twist. LOVE YOUR LIFE is just what we all need to ensure we love our lives a little bit more this pandemic.

3.5 Accept The Real Stars
* * * 1/2 Spoiler Free- A Quick Review
Sophie Kinsella's Love Your Life takes the idea of being on vacation from who you are...to another level. We have Ava who is tired of the push to meet people online and how frustrating it can be. It is all apps, algorithms, statistics of body types and age...and no humanity.

She has had enough. The last breakup was the thing to push her to do what she has always wanted. With a wish to be a romance novelist, she decides to go to Italy for a writer's retreat to finally finish it. She is so determined, she will leave her beloved dog, Harold, and supportive friends.

The Rules of this retreat is that you are not allowed to use your real name or any personal real information. In other words, you can become someone else...Any One You Wish To Be...And Ava decides to become Aria.

Others from a canceled martial art retreat program come to her location and they also take on the "rules" while they are there.

Our new Aria meets this new "Dutch" and things start to take a very interesting turn...a freedom, a willingness to do things that are not the usual for our gal, and before you know it, Romance with a Capital R is happening along with a captial S for Sexy times.

Now the story would be fine with all of this, but the real story is when these pretend Aria and Dutch return back to who they really are, Ava and Matt. It is back in their usual environments, obligations, likes/dislikes, and habits that take this tale to the happily ever after in the end.

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

I was intrigued enough by the premise to give this a go, but then was quickly reminded it was a Sophie Kinsella book, which means her quirky, "relatable" characters can go sideways pretty fast. Such is Ava. She's flaky with poor intuition and a nightmare dog. The insta-love between her and "Dutch" (Matt Warwick, heir of a dollhouse empire) only 25% of the way in had me cringing. When they get back to London, they realize how truly incompatible they are. You and I have had that happen, and we reasonably throw in the towel. Not these two--and either you think it's adorable to watch this mess play out, or you don't. I was in the latter category. So, I hate to say it, DNF'd at 30%, then skimmed the last 25%--where my opinion of the story didn't improve.

It took me a little bit to get into this one. I’m a longtime fan of Kinsella, and the formula was there. The characters were just a little hard to connect with.
Overall, I enjoyed, but I was more fascinated with the friends, rather than the main characters.

I don't know where to begin, this book was not for me. Ava was a difficult character to like and I felt bad for Matt most of the time. She is all over the place. I wonder if it would have been better to have perspectives from more of the characters. It was to Ava focused for me. I liked the premise of the book, but details and dialogue were so frustrating, I found myself constantly irritated. Thank you, NetGalley for the early copy.

I enjoyed Love Your Life. Although the main characters fall in love quickly after meeting in Italy at a writer’s retreat, they are in for some rough patches. I liked the concept of Matt-Land and Ava-Land and their willingness to navigate new territory to learn about each other. I laughed out loud several times. And Harold, the dog, provides great comic relief throughout the story. The characters are well-developed, even their friends have very distinct personalities. The flawed characters showed tremendous growth and the book ended on a high note.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book will be released on October 27.

Love Your Life is exactly what you'd expect from a Sophie Kinsella novel – zany heroine finds dream guy in a meet cute, shenanigans ensue.

To be honest, the formula feels a little stale at this point. I was more invested in the storylines of Ava and Matt's friends than I was with them.

The beginning especially caught me off guard – two strangers lock eyes across the room at a retreat, have instant chemistry, run off to spend one afternoon together, and are inseparable ever after? But by the time they returned to London I realized that was the whole point of the book.

I began to enjoy the story a little more around the halfway point and the final 25% really redeemed the book for me. It began to feel much more realistic, and I really liked the ending in particular, although the side plot of the two friends starting their own political party was really out of left field for me and took away from things a little bit.

This book is still worth a read for diehard Sophie Kinsella fans but it's not one that I'll be shouting from the rooftops about and it's not one of my favorites of her books.

This was a decent effort by Sophie Kinsella. The story was pretty good and the characters are likable. But it's definitely not the best effort by this author. I've read several of her books that I've liked a lot more.

Cool plot line where the characters are able to present themselves in any light they choose - because they’re all strangers at a retreat. And while alter egos Aria and Dutch seems to be meant for each other, it really got me thinking about how people in real life present different personas for different purposes. Like I’m patient and professional at work, but I tend to fly off the handle at home. Lol. So does anyone ever know anyone for real? Do we even totally know our own selves, if we are only presenting parts of ourselves to different people in different situations? I mean, I’m a mom of three now, but is the girl who used to be fearless on the dance floor still somewhere inside me? Or have I evolved into a different person? The book isn’t so heavy — it’s more playful and light - but it really got me thinking!

I enjoyed many of Sophie Kinsella's previous book and was excited to read this one. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. Ava goes on a writers retreat in Italy, a vacation from her busy life in London of her dog, friends, dating, work, and too many interests. At the retreat she meets "Dutch" and they strike up a whirlwind relationship, based on mutual attraction and them both being relaxed in the vacation bubble. The retreat has a rule that attendees use a fake name and don't divulge personal info so they can better focus on their writing, so Ava and Dutch don't really know anything about each other.
When they leave Italy and go back to real life, the majority of the middle of the book is finding out how little they have in common and how many of their interests and traits annoy or upset the other. The book spends a ton of time on Ava's obsession with her dog, and his family business. Book is told in her first person narrative, and it's a bunch of her thoughts about things that upset her but then she doesn't say anything. Very annoying.
After a big time skip, the ending is sweet, but for me it didn't make up for trudging through the middle of the book.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Kinsella is one of my top authors I love and this book didn’t disappoint I loved it from the first chapter on it was a great read I recommend to anyone who loves Sophie’s books or anyone that wants to read her work!

Sophie Kinsella does it again! I loved this book and cannot wait to purchase my own copy! It was entertaining and hilarious all while being thought provoking about your true self. The characters were so well written that I loved and was rooting for Ava, and at points I hated Matt! This was an adorable story about staying true to yourself and opposites attracting. I found myself laughing out loud!

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5/5
I enjoyed this book- it had a lot of funny rom-com moments, and we've all seen this scenario play out with one friend or another. But for much of the book, it seemed like Ava and Matt were so horribly matched that it felt awkward for much of the book. The ending pulled it together nicely, but it did give some secondhand embarrassment throughout the book. I do love Sophie's books, so I will still be waiting for the next!

Sophie Kinsella has a knack for writing characters that make me positively murderous with annoyed fury over their ridiculous attitudes and decision making (I’m looking at you, Becky/Shopaholic), and this book was no exception. I wanted to grab both Ava and Matt and shake sense into them. Why is nobody capable of seeing nuance? Why do they have such silly black and white attitude? How did they possibly fall in love without so much as sharing anecdotes from their pasts? Why do they not TALK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT REAL THINGS? Just SAY THE THING, you’re supposedly in love, that’s what your partner is THERE FOR, JUST TELL THEM WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD FTLOG.

Ahem. Sorry. Anyway, one doesn’t always have to love a character in order to love a book, and as always Kinsella managed to make me root for these characters despite also occasionally wanting to bang their heads together, but this wasn’t my favorite of hers by far (You Owe Me One still holds that crown for me). As always, I appreciated that the characters grew and developed over the course of the story, but this one felt a bit too heavy-handed for my taste. The characters’ issues were almost caricature-like and hard to relate to, and their growth arcs felt rushed. I did love the friendships in the story, and as always it was compellingly readable, but not a standout for me among Kinsella’s works.