Ava has been unlucky in love, so she decides put her romantic life on hold and leave London to attend a writing retreat in Italy. At the retreat, the attendees are asked to withhold personal information, including their names, and Ava is quickly attracted to one of the other attendees. The pair meets under their aliases of “Aria” and “Dutch”, and a whirlwind romance strikes up between the two. However, when the retreat comes to an end, they return to their regular lives as Ava and Matt. The two struggle to adapt to one another’s very different lifestyles, and begin to question if their fantasy romance will last.

Overall, I just found the story to be a bit too far-fetched for my liking. I understand the author was trying to make the characters very different so they would clash, but I found both lead characters to be too extreme and unrealistic. I struggled to connect to Ava, but she did grow on me throughout the novel. I use to frequently read and love Sophie Kinsella’s books, but this particular one did not resonate with me personally. Overall, it is still a decent light read, and okay for a low stress read in these stressful times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I adore Sophie’s work and this story is no different. She creates such charming characters and makes them relatable for people like me.

This story was a unique approach to how the characters meet. Our main heroine is trying to finish her novel when an opposing martial art retreat gets cancelled, volunteering our main man to join the group of writers. Rules are though: you can’t use your real first names.

This obviously causes a lot of mystery between the two main characters. But can they make it last once they get home and start realizing maybe they don’t have as much in common as they thought?

I’m giving this book 4 stars. I highly recommended this for those romantics that love a good romcom. Fans of Sophie will love another home run of a novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Random Press Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I typically love Sophie Kinsella, and I think I've read everything she's written. I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Love Your Life. While overall I enjoyed this book, I did find myself trudging through the first half of the book. The real magic is in the second half where the stories begin to come together. To be honest, I didn't believe in Ava and Matt as a couple as they left the retreat. It wasn't until things started to fall apart that I started to root for them. Ultimately I loved the friendships in this story, I love the multiple storylines, I loved how the theme of loving your life weaves its way through so many of the characters. I only wish the first half of the book were as strong as the second half.

NetGalley ARC | Send me to a monastery with wine and a beach nearby any day. I don't always read Kinsella, but I enjoyed the themes of fantasy vs reality, compatibility, and true love. I cracked up at the huge differences in Ava and Matt's life, and I love the dollhouse business drama. Their eccentric friends are so lovable.

I will also say that I never read books with animals...and why, Kinsella, why?! Not really a spoiler, but Harold *does* survive. I could really do without that scene, though. Why do authors always feel the need to hurt or kill animals in every story? It added nothing except upset me, quite frankly.

See the full review here: https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/october-2020-book-releases/

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really couldn't get into this book and for me it dragged. It is cute and kind of funny, but really wasn't for me.

I have been a fan of Sophie Kinsella for years, so I was excited to read "Love Your Life".

Ava and Matt are both compelling leads in their own rights, one being eccentric while the other is uptight. They meet on a holiday where the participants weren't allowed to give anything substantial away about themselves. While there is definitely lust and interest there, it makes for a strained relationship when they find they live near enough to each other to carry on the relationship.

Perhaps it's because when I was younger I rushed into a relationship without knowing the person well enough that it made this book a bit of a hard pill to swallow. There are a lot of disagreements and clashing of personalities that make it hard to support them being together.

However, the sweet moments between the leads, and their friends great personalities do make up for a lot of the shortcomings. Overall, while not my favorite book from Sophie, it is still an enjoyable addition.

3.5 stars out of five

**Received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity

Very cute, funny, easy read. As close to perfect as chick lit can get! This rom-com is indicative of the kind of we need more of in the world: those that feature people like you, like your mom, like your best friend, flawed heroines who make the best out of the wild and wacky journeys we all go through—at work, with our families, in love and in life

I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan, but this book missed the mark for me. I was so disappointed, especially because it started off strong! There wasn't enough of an initial connection between Ava and Matt to justify their pursuit of a relationship, though, and I found many of the jokes/humorous situations to be cringey instead of funny (especially those with Harold, the dog). I was happy with the ending but almost gave up several times.

I am a big fan of the author and I have read all of her previous novels. Kinsella’s characters always seem like old friends. The main character is Ava, a pharmaceutical writer and aspiring writer of a romance novel. She meets a man at a writers’ retreat in Italy - and the ride begins. The book is witty, light, and fun.

Ava decides to put love on hold after a breakup and go to a writer's retreat. She moves from project to project without ever really completing anything and hopes that this retreat will help her to finish the novel she started. The attendees at the retreat are not allowed to use their real names or reveal personal details about themselves. Soon after the retreat starts, Ava meets "Dutch" who she quickly falls in love with. Things between Ava and Dutch seem perfect until they go back to the real world. Dutch, whose real name is Matt, and Ava realize that their lives and personalities are very different. They struggle to keep that connection they felt so strongly on the retreat work in real life.

I have loved Sophie Kinsella's book since I found them. This one had a slow start for me, which prompted me to put it down a few times. Once the plot took off it was an enjoyable read.

*I received a free ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

Sophie Kinsella's books have been hit or miss for me (with more hits than misses) with Love Your Life unfortunately falling in the miss column. The premise is interesting, but I found the characters to be lacking. Much of Ava's insistence on continuing her relationship with Matt after leaving the retreat came across as her just wanting to prove to people that it wasn't just a fling. I could not figure out why or how they fell in love with one another - their entire relationship was so superficial and they both refused to put in any effort to really getting to know one another. Ava is extremely judgmental and selfish so I never understood what Matt liked about her. Furthermore, her inability to understand why someone may not love a dog that chews up all of their things just reinforced her selfishness. She wants Matt to fit her idea of the perfect boyfriend and doesn't seem to really care about him at all. As for Matt, he is kind of a jerk once they're back in London - he never once stands up to his family or ex to defend Ava (and they are all horrible to her on multiple occasions) - so I never really understood what Ava liked about him. Having the story told entirely from Ava's point of view also prevents us from ever getting to know Matt as a person so it's very difficult to care about him. I was not rooting for Ava and Matt as a couple and since both of their transformations into better people were done mostly off the page I didn't care when they reunited at the end. The supporting characters were far more interesting and I found myself wishing I could have read about Nell and Topher rather than Ava and Matt. I'd give this 2.5 stars.

I received an advanced copy of, Love Your Life, by Sophie KInsella. I loved the Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella, and I loved this book too. Ava goes on a retreat, a writers retreat, in Italy. Ava has bad luck with love, will she meet the love of her life in Italy? Or will it just be a holiday romance?

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella

Ava goes away on a writing retreat where she meets the handsome Matt. They are instantly infatuated with one another and enjoy their time in Italy knowing nothing about each other.
Once the retreat is over they need to discover what life is like for each of them. It’s a very humorous realization that they are incredibly different but are committed to making it work.

The beginning of this book was fantastic! I was excited for the potential love these two found with each other. As it got to the middle and there lives intertwined, I was less interested in it. I couldn’t stand the catty ,immature behavior of Matt’s parents and ex girlfriend to the point I could have not finished . It did pick up though . I laughed so many times. The story became one of love, friendship, devotion. Ava grew in such a beautiful way and Matt too. I ended up really loving the way it ended.

Love your life will be out on October 26th. Don’t forget to go out and get your copy. Thank you #randomhouse and #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

at first this was a slow read for me but got better in the middle and at the end, love Sophie's books!

Sophie Kinsella is one of my go-to authors, I’ll read anything she writes, but I was not the biggest fan of Love Your Life. I really enjoyed the beginning when Ava/Aria and Matt/Dutch met at the retreat, I thought those chapters were some of the best in the book. When they returned to their regular lives, that is when the book slowed down for me a lot. Matt a character I originally liked became unlikeable to me. Ava reminded me a bit of one of my favorite Kinsella characters, Becky Brandon née Bloomwood. The end chapters did redeem the story for me a little bit, I wish we would have gotten to those sooner.

I'm a big Sophie Kinsella fan and read most of her books. I enjoyed this one but didn't love it, the main character Ava, was a little annoying but the ending was satisfying. I enjoyed the quirky cast of friends, they were fun without being irritating. I thought parts of the plot dragged but they all came together eventually. I recommend this book, 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the ARC of this book, the review is unsolicited and opinions are my own.

This is my fourth novel by this author as I’ve read her last three non-Shopaholic novels. This book was very clever and well-written. I liked her last one “I Owe You One,” and this one was even better.

We start with Ava (she is like Polly from Along Came Polly to the max) as she starts and stops new hobbies on a whim. She gets excited to do an aromatherapy course, but doesn’t finish, she wants to make products to sell on Etsy, but doesn’t follow through, she wants to do underwater basket-weaving and doesn’t learn how to weave (ok that last one isn’t part of the novel, but you get the picture of her as a character), etc. Her apartment is eclectic and cozy as it’s filled with all of her rescues – books, furniture, dog named Harold – and she is also a vegetarian. Her close-knit group of friends and her and in constant contact and will type messages every second of every day on WhatsApp if they’re apart (it’s very co-dependent, but it works in this story). She goes to a week-long writing retreat at a monastery on the Italian Coast (this place sounds amazing and I want to go there ASAP) to work more on her novel and this is where our story begins.

At the retreat, we meet “Dutch” (who later goes by his real name Matt) where our two lovebirds fall in love. They have a whirlwind romance during the retreat and it’s when they return to the UK that our characters now have to come back to reality and find a way to make the relationship work long-term in the real-world away from the seclusion of the retreat. Our two now have to find a way to be expats in their respective foreign countries – Ava-Land and Matt-Land. The both claim to not have deal-breakers, but they start to question themselves if they might have some afterall.. Is love enough to keep a relationship going or are our polar opposites (Ava and Matt) not meant to be?

I have a love-hate relationship with Ava’s hypocrisy depending on the context. During the retreat, she has a “rival” and it was funny how Ava “judged” the other woman for staring at Dutch/Matt instead of paying attention at the instructor one minute yet she was guilty of the next. However, she was very judgmental when her friend filtered out vegetarians on her dating profile, yet she couldn’t deal with Matt not being one at first and she got offended when he ate meat. I know it was supposed to make conflict, but it seemed too much for Ava, a vegetarian, to claim to have no “filters” for dating, but dislikes Matt not being one and asks like this could be her first omnivore boyfriend when statistically (unless she did filter them out on her profiles which she claims she didn’t) she would’ve been with almost entirely omnivores/carnivores of some degree throughout her dating life.

My other issue is that through the majority of the novel Matt makes tons and tons of allowances for Ava, but she rarely is open-minded to consider Matt’s side of things. In fact, I highly disagree with the description that she’s open-minded (just because she tries out different possible career ventures does not mean she’s this way). I found her very close-minded where she constantly believed that her way was the best and only way. If you take her thinking Matt’s room is freezing, she wants the temperature raised to accommodate her needs whereas she doesn’t think of the possibility that Matt might be boiling in her warmer room – it doesn’t cross her mind. This might be something small, but, to me, it showed a lot about Ava’s character and as a person who likes a colder room and my partner likes it warmer – he can put on layers to make himself warmer, but there is only so much I can take off to make myself colder to make us both more comfortable. There are parts of this novel that try to make it seem as if Ava is growing, but aside from a few things, she stays relatively the same.

There are two things that I wish never made it into the novel. The first is an incident involving Harold (when you get to it, then you’ll know). It was completely unnecessary to drive the events to make x,y, z occur as the events would’ve played out the same without the incident occurring (think Raiders of the Lost Ark – the events would’ve had the same conclusion whether or not Indiana was there or not). The other involved Genevieve as one thing happens to her that doesn’t match the rest of the story at all and just seemed like a throw-away line to add to her part of the story. There were so many other directions the author could have gone that would’ve matched the rest of the novel.

Although those were all negatives to the story, I still loved this book and would happily re-read it as it is well-written and enjoyable. The novel is very believable and I found the couple having to truly work on their relationship very relatable. The friends are where this novel truly shines as they are very diverse in their personalities and you can see how each of them fit in to the story and each other’s lives. Our main two get pushed to the back-burner in some scenes as the friends take over in the reader’s mind because they are so interesting to read about. Overall, I loved reading this book and I found it very heart-warming and a good lesson that love is not always enough as you have to still work at any relationship to make it last.

**Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Love Your Life is a typical Sophie Kinsella book.This contemporary romance has a cute storyline,romance,humor and entertaining characters. Ava is finsished with online dating and goes to a writer's retreat in Italy.There she meets and falls in love with Matt. A fun,quick and enjoyable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors. I was excited and looking forward to reading this book, and it did not disappoint. This book takes us through Ava and Matt’s relationship. Or shall I say Aria and Dutch, respectively. Aria and Dutch meet at a writing retreat, and their romance begins. Although at this time it is fun, baggage-free, and really just perfect. But of course it was time to get back to reality and their everyday lives. Ava and Matt begin to get reacquainted in their real lives this time, with friends and Harold in tow. Throughout their relationship they find that it wasn’t as fun and baggage-free as their time at the retreat. However, like all relationships worth fighting for, these two learn to live with their obstacles. And let me tell you there’s quite a few of them. This book takes us through their lives, and how different they can be. They work through those differences, because isn’t that what love and life are all about? These two wonderful characters are so different from each other, and that’s part of the charm of this book. Sophie Kinsella has a way of portraying her characters to really make us feel as we know them. We relate to them. We can even at times anticipate their thoughts and actions. Bravo to Sophie Kinsella for another wonderful novel.