This book was a slog and highly predictable in places. I could hardly wait for the overly ditzy protagonist's comeuppance. Honestly, I skipped to the end.

I'm always up for a Sophie Kinsella book. This one did not disappoint. I love her flighty female leads and how they deal with what life throws them. Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know if the feeling "unsatisfying" truly encompasses what I felt while reading, but I don't know if I would read something that was like this "lovers-to-enemies" again. Having that wonderful feeling of compatibility RIPPED away from you as you go along the lovers' journey is too heartbreaking. Frustration is another emotion truly felt. If you are ok with that, then this book is definitely for you!

I really wanted to like this one, guys. But as I read along it started to feel like a reverse trope - instead of enemies to lovers we were getting lovers to enemies, if the enemies were hellbent it pursuing a doomed relationship.

This is a chick lit book from one of the best in this genre. I will admit I have not read many of her books after the shopaholic series. This books reminds me why I like her as an author. Ava (aka Aria) and Matt (aka Dutch) are Londoners who are both in a writers retreat and begin a romance. At the retreat you are not to use your real name and keep everything a little superficial but they both fall for each other and all is wonderful in Italy but the time comes when they must return to reality. They find that they are not so in sync as they were in Italy. They each have friends and different lifestyles. Harold the dog causes conflict as do family members. You are definitely are rooting for Matt and Ava and their romance, however, at times it is really frustrating at some of the things they do. This was an enjoyable read and reminds me why I liked chick lit before. You will be shaking your head and rooting for these two as well.

Love Your Life is a rom com story about a quirky girl named Ava how she tries to navigate a relationship with Matt while knowing nothing about each other’s past only to find out they are complete opposites of each other. I couldn’t love this story enough because the characters reminded me so much of me and my hubby personality wise, and yes like Ava I can be very annoying at times. 😂 We even have our very own Harold, although her name is Nessa and she truly can be a bastard dog, but we love her. 😂 I kind of wish we could read Harold’s story or even have a sequel to read more about the friends, I really love all the friends. This is the perfect light hearted story to read in 2020, when we all know we can use one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella!

This book follows two strangers who meet on an anonymous writers retreat. While away in Italy, the two fall for one another and enter a romantic whirlwind relationship. As the retreat comes to an end, Ava and Matt (known as Aria and Dutch at the writers retreat) decide to pursue their love-connection in the real world. Ava thinks Dutch is her perfect man. But when they go back to London, she realizes that Dutch isn’t quite as perfect as his real life persona, Matt. And Matt starts to think the same about Ava. The two end up giving their relationship a chance, but their differences prove to make things difficult.

This book was easy to read, and definitely enjoyable, although not my favourite. I loved the friend dynamics in this story, especially when Matt & Ava’s worlds collided. They way both groups interacted was great, and I only wish we could have seen more of them together than the little bit at the end. I wasn’t a big fan of the insta-love aspect, and I never felt fully invested in Ava & Matt’s relationship. At some points Ava felt a bit insufferable, which I think had an effect on how much I cared for and enjoyed her character. With that being said, the last few chapters really pulled the whole book together for me, and seeing how Ava evolved as a character really ended up working for me.

TW: accident involving a pet (non-fatal)

I am always extremely excited to see a new book from Sophie Kinsella. I have always loved her writing style, and this book is no different. In Love Your Life we once again find a frustrating yet endearing heroine and a gang of quirky supportive characters (including an adorable precocious dog). The plot was easy to follow and the story made for a fun read. I think she did a great job writing the characters so you felt you knew them, and for myself, you liked them. The reason I just couldn’t give that fifth star is because it seemed the central relationship of the story was based solely on lust. Ava and Matt fight so hard to make their relationship work, but I could never understand why. It seemed like it was almost out of desperation for Ava, but I still don’t know why Matt held on. As always, the author did tie it all together in the end and brought everything full circle which made for a satisfying conclusion. I definitely recommend this to all Sophie Kinsella fans and those who just like fun, enjoyable reads.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House for my advanced ebook copy!

I love all of Sophie Kinsellas books but this one was not great. The story fell flat. Couldn’t care about the characters at all. Just couldn’t get into this at all.

The main couple was just painful to read for 85% of the book. Their relationship had me cringing and wanting to shake them both. With that being said, by the end, there was definitely some great character growth. I just wish it wouldn't have all been saved for the last 15% of the book. It made for a very abrupt ending. The friend group and dynamic at the end is a story I would have much preferred to spend time reading about.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this title.

I think I've read everything by Sophie Kinsella, so this was an easy pick for me. While it was charming and fun (because come on all of her books are), this wasn't my favorite one. I had trouble connecting with Ava, but her dog stole the story!

Ava is a free spirited, joyful woman who wants to be a writer - so she goes on a writing retreat in Italy! There she meets Matt and they fall madly in love, but they can’t talk about any personal details or baggage.... At the outset I wasn’t grabbed by the book. The holiday romance seemed much too good to be true, and I could not see how the differences in the couple could be overcome in a realistic way. But as the story progressed it was truly a joy to see Matt and Ava become a real couple and how they made each other better. Ava’s sunny demeanour made me want to be more optimistic myself. Enjoyed it!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Ava is a free spirited young woman, obsessed with her rescue pup and her close group of girlfriends. Ava decides to take some time for her self to work on a novel. She travels to a monestary in Italy for a writing retreat. While there she meets a man named "Dutch" where they embark in a whirlwind romance. Eventually learning that they live in the same city they decide to carry the vacation romance into their real life once they get back.

However, once they are back in their normal life routines, they end up learning more things about each other that are not "perfect". A fun read following Ava and Dutch navigate each other's "lands" while accomplishing their professional dreams.

This was a fun, cute read that doesn't try to be anything deeper. Kinsella does a good job of finding new ways to showcase love stories. I enjoyed the humour and relationship struggles that felt real, and more importantly, reasonable. Ava and Matt have the usual struggles two people starting a relationship would have without any wild tangents that some books have. The addition of a pet, the mixing of friends, the challenges of meeting the parents all added humour. The parallel struggles of using dating apps and the public online past lives of new partners also felt realistic.

I felt the story could have ended sweetly at an earlier point and struggle with authors using 'X months later' to open a chapter.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella, I have read every single book she has written and I have to say I was bummed about this one. I love how it started with Ava going on a writer's retreat in Italy and meeting "Dutch." As soon as she got back to London, I felt like everything went downhill and honestly I did not like them together and at times wanted to yell through the book for her to leave! It just felt like it Sophie was pushing the relationship too hard and I feel like it could have went in a different direction. I did love Ava's friendships and how they were like her family. I will keep reading all your books Sophie, but please change it up next time!

I've been so grumpy with most of the books I've been reading lately, that I jumped at the chance to get a digital ARC of a Sophie Kinsella book (on my new Netgalley app no less!). I thought a breezy Kinsella romance would lift my spirits.

My spirits must be very low indeed because this book was fine, but it wasn't great. Ava goes on a writer's retreat where she falls in love (or in lust anyway) with a handsome stranger. They have a blissful vacation romance, and vow to continue their starry-eyed idealism when they return to their lives in London. And of course, hijinks ensue. The rest of the book is pretty predictable, as most of Kinsella's books usually are, but there wasn't much of her characteristic humor, at least to my dampened soul. I found Ava to be infuriating -- screechy, stupid, and exactly the kind of annoying brat who would ruin my day by insisting her aggressive, angry dog was a service animal, and snapping indignant obscenities at me when I insist she leave the building. I wasn't interested in her romance with Matt (who is so forgettable I can't remember if he actually did anything of note in the book). I liked her friends, and Matt's roommates, and I wish the story had focused more on them, since they seemed to be better, more interesting people than either Matt or Ava.

It is a quick read, and one that might be soothing reading to other people in this hard year. I've been extremely negative about almost any book I've read over the past six months, so definitely take my review with a grain of salt.

UGH this book. This book had so much promise. When we first meet Ava, she's preparing to go on a week long writing retreat in Italy. Is there any place better than this to fall in love? When she first meets Matt (Dutch), it's instant chemistry. They seem to fit so perfectly, so I was really curious to see where the book would go from there.

Of course, as soon as they get back to London, everything goes south. It seemed like Kinsella was trying to go for an "against all odds" sort of vibe, but I just really don't agree that these characters should have ended up together. The odds against them were too great. In my opinion, this wasn't a healthy relationship and in order for them to work as a couple, they both had to make major changes in their life.

Additionally, I really didn't like either of the main characters. Ava was very needy, which is okay to an extent. But her maturity was definitely lacking—she had no sense of socially acceptable timing for conversations. It's not cool to start a big fight right before your partner's big speech at a conference, even if you are shocked by something he said. And Matt was not a good partner. He was very hot and cold. It was really hard for me to root for them at the end.

The redeeming factor of this book: The secondary characters were lovely. I liked the dynamic of their friend groups and it was fun to watch how their groups melded together. I would have rather heard Nell's story instead of Ava's, though! She seemed to have a lot more depth to her, and I haven't read a romance before where the main character struggles with an autoimmune like lupus.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I adore Sophie's work and even though this book was enjoyable, I felt like it was rushed at times. I really liked Matt but Ava just wasn't likeable IMO. The story itself was cute but I got bored pretty quickly in the middle.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meh...DNF. Sophie Kinsella is usually pretty reliable but this release felt like she was trying to cram every modern trope into this book. Online dating wackiness, check. Friend with disability, check. Not sure where the bizarre writers retreat fit in but couldn't bear to read anymore to find out.

One of my common complaints with romances and women’s fiction with romantic elements (this novel is the latter), is that I don’t fall in love with the hero. In this book, I liked the hero just fine, but found the heroine insufferable. She’s relentlessly upbeat, and it got exhausting. She keeps trying to ignore all the ways she and Matt aren’t actually compatible, and her mantra is essentially, “Stay positive! Look at it this way and not the way it actually is!”

Ava and Matt meet at a writing retreat in Italy where they’re not supposed to tell each other any personal details about themselves, including their real names. So while they are falling in love with the people they are away from their jobs, family, and friends, everything is magical. When they return to their real lives, many things about the other person’s life drives them batty.

The ending is good.

This is a fun novel, but not my favorite book of Kinsella’s.