Unfortunately, this book is soooo slow.

I miss Kinsella's trademark nicely paced stories and this one is just bogged in helplessly.

Another lighthearted humorous novel by Sophie Kinsella. However, i think I'm aging out of her books. Despite the laughs, I'm a bit past finding a date. The characters meet at an over the top writing retreat in Italy.

Disclaimer: I have been a huge Kinsella fan for like 20 years. If you've loved all of her work, you'll probably enjoy this.

But oh, man, Ava is the most annoying main character I've encountered in a long time. The book has no conflict because she's so busy pretending everything is fine that nothing happens. The entire book revolves around pretending her relationship with Matt is fab - but at the same time, I couldn't even understand why they were together. He didn't seem to like Ava at all (and considering that she just wanted to change everything about him, it was easy to understand). Ava never really does any self reflection until 85% of the way through the book - and a lot of people aren't going to make it that far.

I did like the ending. Mostly. I was going to bump up to 4 stars based on the end.BUT THEN <spoiler redacted> And all that crap about a huge advance on an unedited first draft and a two book deal? Made me want to scream and throw things. If you want to write a real book about a writer, have them spend two years querying and another on submission only to wind up self-publishing because they can't get anyone to buy their books and their publisher won't promote them. *deep breath* I'm OK.

Anyway, I spent most of the book rooting for them to break up and Matt find someone less obnoxious.

**Review based on ARC***

Pretty typical romance. It was a nice quick read. Nothing super special or memorable, but enjoyable. I found Ava immature and more in an annoying than an endearing way.

3.5 Stars. I have loved all of the Sophie Kinsella books that I have read in the past, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, my hopes were not quite met with this one. I really enjoyed the initial scenes in Italy and the ending as well, but found myself irritated quite a bit throughout the middle. I just had a really hard time relating to Ava and her whimsy almost felt a little too forced during several moments in the story. Thank you to Netgalley and Dial Press for the ARC.

I liked the idea of this book. It took some of the romance tropes and did them backwards. Instead of enemies to lovers is was a bit more of lovers to enemies. It is an HEA, but my problem was by the middle of the book I just wasn't actually rooting for them anymore. There might have been a little too much emphasis on all the things that were not working in the relationship so it was hard to see what good they were still getting out of it.

Ava goes to a writing retreat to work on the book that she has been trying to write. When a martial arts retreat is cancelled, the participants are offered the chance to either join the writing retreat or get a refund. One of the guys that decides to join their group, called "Dutch" since they were not allowed to give their true names or exchange any real information about each other, is instantly drawn to Ava who is now going by the name "Aria". They have a magical few days together, and then when the retreat ends, they discover they both live in London and they want to give their relationship a go. The only problem : he lives in an immaculate apartment and with lots of "unusual" art and she lives in a messy flat with all refurbished furniture and rescued books and plants, his family has dogs who are well-trained and her dog is, well, not, and he loves to eat meat and she is a vegetarian. Just to name a few things. But those are easy to overlook, right?
This was the usual fun rom-con that everyone loves by this author. Ava was quirky and a little ditzy but a lot of fun and so were all of her friends. The situations she found herself in were laugh-out-loud funny. This is the perfect book to read when you need a good laugh or are just in the mood for a fun read.

Sophie Kinsella has always been a favorite author of mine so I was super excited to get an advanced copy of this book. I immediately fell in love with Ava for heading off to a writing retreat all alone to follow her dream of writing her first novel. In walks the gorgeous Matt and all thoughts of the novel drift away as she gets more and more involved with him. Their pact to live in the moment and not get bogged down with the details of their real lives works out great while they are at the retreat but once they head back to the real work it's not so picture perfect. I loved getting to know Ava's group of friends and her quirky life and especially loved the not so perfect ending!

Love Your Life, by Sophie Kinsella, is an utterly delightful novel about a couple who meets at a writer’s retreat in Italy. At the retreat, they aren’t allowed to reveal their real name or any personal information. The two embark on a baggage-free, whirlwind love affair, where everything is perfect. But then they must return to London and their very different lives… Are these two comparable at all?

Things I enjoyed about this novel:
- It included fun, quirky characters. Both Ava and Matt, plus all their friends, were a total riot.
- Harold, Ava’s devilish Beagle, really stole the show. He added a lot of humor to this book.
- Ava kept finding herself in hilarious inappropriate situations like naked sauna adventures that allowed me to truly escape.

What I didn’t love:
- Matt’s mood swings and personality changes annoyed me at times.
- Their “insta love” was a little too unrealistic.

Four stars! I highly recommend this book to anyone look for a fun romantic escape and lovers of Sophie Kinsella!

Thank you NetGalley and Random Press Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Love Your Life publishes on October 27, 2020. #NetGalley #LoveYourLife #SophieKinsella

This book is simply delightful, and deeper than most romantic comedies. Sophie Kinsella has a great touch. She's hilarious even when she's describing tough situations and genuine people with real problems. I love the way that in this book she contrasts the fun of vacation with the somewhat disappointing reality of day to day life. She also has a gift for side characters who are more than a throwaway line. I liked how some of the protagonist's friends were almost caricatures, but how they had a bit more depth as the story went on, and the protagonist herself grew; in self-knowledge and in compromise. Of course it has a happy ending. Of course it is the sort of book which makes you feel good, but it's also the sort of book that made me think, and that's more than is common for this genre. I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly!

I have read everything by this author and typically find her work entertaining but I did not like this book at all. The story was flat and the characters were one dimensional. Give it a hard pass.

3.5 stars!

I’ll start off by saying this book was a tad bit exhausting.

Ava and Matt meet at a retreat in Italy, they don’t know each others real identities, but they seem to hit off, and things seem to be perfect until reality sets in and they have to go home to London. They begin a relationship but start to clash and have challenges. Can they love each other but not love each other’s lives?

Ava and Matt should have been two mature adults, but for most of the book they were just going back and forth with immature conversations and complaints about each other. I found the premise of the book to be very interesting and some parts of it were, but Ava was just so focused on Matt’s previous relationships, her dog not getting along with Matt, and how he would never be vegetarian like her! - It was just a hot mess.

It had a great start and some funny moments, but it fizzled out halfway through for me. Maybe you’ll have better luck with this one? I do love Sophie Kinsella’s books, even though this one didn’t quite do it for me... so I gave it an extra .5 of a star.

I always love Sophie Kinsella books, and in that sense this was no different. But, the book itself was very different from her other books. In many ways this book was an examination of the various relationships in life. It was refreshing to see a myriad of flawed characters figuring out all types of relationships. While reading this book, I laughed; I cried; I covered my face and cringed. I really enjoyed it!

You can count on Sophie Kinsella for a light rom-com and Love Your Life is just that. The quirky characters are loveable, the rapid plot made the day spent reading pass quickly..

Can over-optimistic Ava be the perfect match for over-obligated Matt? Can they change themselves for their own sakes? Falling in love when you're anonymous at a writers' retreat In Italy is easy in this exotic setting . Can it withstand reality?

I volunteered to read an ARC from Dial Press through Net Galley and am glad I did.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was the biggest Sophie Kinsella fan when I was in my twenties, read all her books, owned the Shopaholic series, even read her "Fairy mom and me" book to my daughter. I don't read read Chick lit anymore, but couldn't pass up on her latest work.

Ava shares a lot of similarities with Becky Bloomwood- quirky, opinionated, clumsy but also loyal and kind. Matt is also similar to Luke in his no- nonsense, career- drive, can't say no to parents. This book further emphasis and exaggerate their differences and the big question is: "does opposite truly attract?" and "does love conquer all"?

Ava's friends were a bit insufferable, nowhere as lovable a Suzie from Shopaholic- each one is a prototype, written to serve a purpose and doesn't seem like real people at all.

I probably rated this book a star too high for nostalgic.

I've always been a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella and will read what she writes, no matter what. Thankfully, all of her novels are fun and humorous, so that makes my job easy when it comes to both reading and reviewing them!

Love Your Life was a cute story overall. It made me think of 90 Day Fiance in how couples seem to be in love when they don't know much about each other, and then the rose-colored glasses come off when they are thrust into each other's worlds. That seemed to be the case for both Ava and Matt, when they realized they didn't like much about the way the other lived. I could relate to Ava in a variety of ways. I liked both her and Matt's friends and how they were also factors in the relationship. Harold stole the show and made me miss the beagle I grew up with. He had lots of shenanigans throughout the story and was so cute and funny.

There were a lot of interesting pieces to this novel, especially surrounding Matt's job. I won't say anymore as to not spoil that aspect. It was easy to visualize people, places, and challenging artwork.

If you're looking for some entertainment this fall, pick this one up when it hits the shelves.

Movie casting suggestions:
Ava: Emilia Clarke
Matt: Bob Morley
Nell: Faye Marsay
Sarika: Teresa Palmer
Maud: Ophelia Lovibond
Topher: Julian Morris
Nihil: Marwan Kenzari
Genevieve: Georgia Tennant

After having a holiday romance where identities are not important Aria and Dutch (aka Ava and Matt) are back in London learning their real identities may be not as compatible as they first thought.

I love Sophie Kinsella! Her characters are also so quirky and relatable and i love it!! 4 stars from me

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book. I have loved the humour in her previous books and while this book has humour it just wasn’t the same laugh out loud story. I was put off instantly with the first chapters as the main characters were suddenly madly in love. There was none of the awkward getting to know each other. This did happen later in the book but I would have like there to have been some type of challenge with their relationship from the beginning. That helps us learn about the characters and to like them. The friends of the two main characters were absolutely amazing. They were as quirky and off beat as you could get and I loved them instantly. They brought the fun and humour to a somewhat bland story. The ending was wonderful but it felt like I missed a while important part of the book. I would have like to see the friends become friends more so than Ava sitting and writing her book. It felt thrown together instead of the normal smooth flow of her previous books. Maybe it is just me but this did not live up to the amazing books I have previously read by the author.

Much like Becky Bloomwood in Shopaholic, Ava in @Sophie Kinsella’s latest novel, Love Your Life gets into ridiculous situations but you can’t help but love her. She meets the love of her life at a writers retreat where they aren’t allowed to share any details about their life. They fall madly in love and return to London to find out they have nothing in common. The book is laugh out loud funny, as well as cringeworthy embarrassing in some parts.

I love Sophie Kinsella's books but struggled with this one. With a cute premise of a girl meets a boy at a weekly long retreat, they fall in love and then try to make it work upon return sounds cute in theory I struggled to get invested in any of the characters. Kinsella diehards will not want to miss this but it was a very slow start.