Sophie Kinsella always delivers fun, interesting characters infused with her British humor. This one was a bit on the long side and dragged a little in the middle. Between the insta-love and the lack of comb However, the ending was THE CUTEST!

I have a complicated relationship with Sophie Kinsella. I have never disliked one of her novels, but there are only a few that I have LOVED. This reminds me more of some of the ones I have loved in the past.

I love the type of storyline where two characters meet and hit it off in an environment outside of their typical one, and have to see if they have the same chemistry when they return to real life. When done right, I find these characters hard working and dedicated to their potential partners. If you, like me, are attracted to that kind of plot- this book might be for you!

Try as I might, I could just not get into Sophie Kensella's Love Your Life.  I have read and like other books by her, but this one fell a wee bit flat for me.  I would also say to try reading it on your own, we all have different tastes!!

I loved the Shopaholic series as a teenager and now, over a decade later, I was really looking forward to reading more from this author. This book definitely delivered on Kinsella's classics: cute storyline, fun characters, romance, and silliness. It took me a minute to warm up to this book, as I thought it was an instant love story (not my favorite trope, personally), but it ended up taking the right amount of twists and turns to keep my interest. I found this book to be a great, heartwarming escape when I was unable to *actually* take a getaway to a faraway place.

3 1/3 stars

Love Your Life is pretty standard Sophie Kinsella, so if you're generally a fan of her books, you'll probably enjoy this one. Sometimes I need a bit of a lighter read in my life, but I think Kinsella is just a little too light for me. As usual, the main character in her newest is a bit too extreme and overly quirky (think Becky in Shopaholic, but not as ditzy) and the storyline is a bit predictable. But it's also entertaining and kinda fun.

I guess I should mention that there are many aspects of the book that aren't super realistic, which tends to drive me a bit nuts. Ava travels to Italy to take a creative writing course and ends up meeting a very attractive man. He was actually there to take a martial arts class, but when it gets canceled he opts to take the writing class instead (really?!). Ava ends up basically ditching much of the class to spend time with him (it's an $$ class). The kicker? They aren't allowed to share personal info in the class; not even their names, and Eva and "Dutch" decide to just build their relationship off their attraction to each other and not talk about their past or even their "real lives" until they leave Italy.

When they return home, Ava and her man discover they actually don't have a whole lot in common. Cue many cringe-worthy moments, but also some funny and endearing moments, too. The book actually reminded me a bit of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days a bit. But with a really great dog. I think Eva's relationship with Harold was my favorite part of the book... I could relate to her so much on this! But it drove me crazy that they let him he a raw steak that he steals off a plate at one point in the book.

I think my main issue is that so many of Kinsella's main characters are so, so similar. My other problem is that I REALLY enjoyed My Not So Perfect Life from a few years back and I just keep waiting for her to come out with another book that lives up to that for me.  

Looking back, I see that I give most of Kinsella's books 3 stars (I did like this one better than I Owe You One and Surprise Me) and yet I will continue reading them forever and ever I'm sure. If you generally like Kinsella's books, you will likely enjoy this one, too!

Let me preface this with how much I LOVE Sophie Kinsella. I love her style and humor. I love the way she tells a story. 
Unfortunately, this one just didn’t do it for me UNTIL it did. I never really gained interest in any characters, it seemed like she spent time in irrelevant details and storylines, and it honestly didn’t seem like HER kind of story...AT FIRST. 

It definitely got better as it went on, but to be honest, I struggled getting through the first half—especially the retreat parts. 

Once they returned after the retreat, I did start to buy in and ended up liking the book! Parts made me laugh and cringe and all this author’s typical comedic moments were included, and I especially love Harold the dog! 

Overall the ending was what I enjoyed most...and I ended up giving it a 🌟🌟🌟

Sophie Kinsella has done it again. Her books are consistently so fun and truly always have me grinning from ear to ear. As a write myself, falling in love on a writers' retreat? Such a dream! I loved watching their relationship bloom on their vacation and then have to face the trials and tribulations of "real life." It has some laugh out loud moments that had me chuckling with tears strolling down my face, and some moments that had me cringe, and even more moments that had me swooning. This was the PERFECT rom com and I really loved it.

Sophie Kinsella writes some of my favorite rom-coms, so I was excited to read Love Your Life. This one is interesting. It grapples with concepts of identity and what happens after the "happily ever after." There were some times when this one felt like it was dragging a bit for me, but I ultimately logged seeing a couple working through problems and figuring out if they could work.

Many thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Sophie Kinsella is always a go-to author for me. Her books are light-hearted, funny (especially awkward funny), and gripping. Love Your Life was no exception; although I did not feel as connected with these characters as I usually do when I read one of Sophie Kinsella’s books. The romance was not as believable as I would have liked, but there are two great friends groups that made up for it.

This one wasn't for me. I was hoping for a fun, light read to help me out of a reading slump. What I got instead was a cheesy, unrealistic mush of a book that felt forced. There were a few parts that I liked, but not many. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love Sophie Kinsella, but this was not one of my favourites. I had a terrible time connecting to Ava. She was actually annoying to me. And I was absolutely sure Matt didn’t really want to be with her. The last few chapters were classic Kinsella and made the reading worth it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced reading copy.

I just could not fully connect with this book. Kinsella's writing has no spark as in her other earlier works that were funnier and much more vibrant. Not bad but it's not great.

I just couldn’t get on board with this book. I loved 'Finding Audrey' - it was one of the most important books to me as a teenager, but this story felt like it was written by an entirely different author. The protagonist was so overly optimistic to the point that I didn’t understand her and couldn't empathize with her therefore couldn’t root for her, the love interest had nothing interesting about him, and it felt like none of the scenes were developed well enough before the author moved on to the next thing. 

maybe this would be the perfect lighthearted read for some, but it just didn’t do it for me.

A fun, rompy, laugh out loud rom-com! I loved the snark and the witty writing. It was light and refreshing, which is just what I was looking for. I’ve always found the author to be hit-or-miss and while i didn’t love this one, I did enjoy it. The characters are adorable and the shenanigans that ensue hilarious. It got a bit too over the top and campy for my tastes and that’s where it lost me. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella is a contemporary romance with a unique setting. There are lots of interesting and well-developed characters that are classic to Kinsella’s novels. This one is lots of fun to read and has a wonderful theme.

As with any novel by Sophie Kinsella, the main character is interesting and quirky. Ava is a free spirit who is always excited to tackle new things. She also has a rescue dog who has some behaviour issues that provide lots of laugh-out-loud moments to the story. Additionally, Ava has some interesting friends that add a fantastic flavour to the novel.

❀ ROMANTIC AND UNIQUE SETTING

One thing that makes the story unique is the monastery setting, as it is a great romantic backdrop for the romance that brews between Ava and Matt. The workshop has a rule that personal backgrounds are left behind, so when sparks fly, they attempt to leave the baggage from their pasts out of the equation. It works well while they are at the monastery, but once they are back to their real lives, they have to learn about one another all over again.

❀ STRONG FRIENDSHIP THEME

The friendship theme is really strong in this novel and it is really enjoyable reading about the close connection that Ava has with her friends. Also, the underlying theme of finding the perfect match makes you think about how far one should go to find the right person. There are many differing viewpoints in the book and I loved seeing how Ava and her friends were able to navigate their love lives.

❀ A ROMANTIC ESCAPE READ

Although Love Your Life is not my favourite Sophie Kinsella novel,  it is lots of fun to read and definitely warms your heart. The characters are signature Kinsella and the concept is unique. It is a story that I recommend to anyone looking for a romantic escape read.

This was a pleasurable escape of a novel.  It was nice to read a book where, like real life, everyones life is a total mess.  While I found Ava to be a little grinding at times, I really enjoyed her relationship with Matt and Matt's family.  This is a fun weekend or beach read.

Oh man, this was exactly what I needed right now.  The main character is a little insane, but in the way of any good Kinsella heroine, she's extremely likable and quite funny.   If you, like me, can basically only stomach light, heart-warming stories, this is just the perfect thing to combat pandemic brain.  I'd broadly recommend to readers of light-hearted romantic comedies or anyone who likes Kinsella's other offerings.

If you like Sophie Kinsella / and or Romantic Comedies you will like this book!   Also read if you need a smile!

The latest love story from the mind behind the popular “Confessions of a Shopaholic” book series takes readers on a whirlwind vacation romance that finds itself landing with a great thud against the restrictions of the real world.

“Love Your Life” by Sophie Kinsella opens up as a fluffy and almost too sweet romance between two strangers on a retreat in Italy. They don’t know anything about each other as the retreat doesn’t allow attendees to share personal information, but Aria and Dutch find that they don’t need to know the other’s real name for sparks to fly. By the end of the retreat the couple are deeply in love even though they know very little about each other. After the retreat the couple is determined to make it work in their real lives, but want to maintain the champagne glow of their vacation bubble ... which of course leads to some hiccups. Now that they know each other as Ava and Matt they discover that they lead VERY different lives and have vastly different personal tastes. The only things they do seem to agree on is their mutual love of ice cream and dogs.

As reality sets in the two try to cling to the easy and light days of their relationship only to find that their lives are determined to pop their happy bubble. Kinsella’s latest protagonist, Ava, is an eccentric and at times overly kooky woman whose optimistic outlook on life is so sunshiney some readers might feel compelled to pull out a pair of sunglasses. Despite Ava’s many eccentricities and bubblegum sweetness, she is a very kind and loyal character that will endear herself to the most cynical of readers. Matt is revealed to be far more tightly wound than his vacation persona would have suggested as he shoulders family burdens and relentless work hours.

When the harsh realities inevitably do pop their bubble, Kinsella shows readers just how far these two characters will go for love and crafts a story that suggests people can find love but might need to put themselves in order to keep it.

I picked up Sophie Kinsella's Love Your Life because I am taking part in PopSugar's 2020 Reading Challenge, and one of the prompts requires you to read a novel by an author who has published more than 20 books.  I had no idea that Kinsella had such an extensive backlist, having never read her novels aside from a few from the Shopaholic series in the early 2000s.  I must say that I am pleased with my pick and found Love Your Life to be just the light-hearted and funny read that I needed at the end of this tumultuous year.

Ava's friends may be just fine with finding love on dating apps, but Ava prefers to make a connection the old-fashioned way - in person.  So it is no surprise that she falls for a guy insta-love style at a writer's retreat that she attends in beautiful and romantic coastal Italy.  To make her whirlwind love affair even more heady and mysterious, none of the retreat participants are allowed to use their real names or share any personal information with each other, so Ava and her new love interest only know each other by "Aria" and "Dutch."

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and Ava is sad to eventually see the retreat (and her newfound romance) come to a close - can she and Dutch keep the spark alight long distance?  So imagine her surprise when she learns that Dutch actually lives in London too ... and his real name is Matt!  But love in the real world comes with its own entanglements.  It turns out Ava and Matt are complete opposites and keep bumping heads over a myriad of issues, including flats, friends and family, pets, art, and hobbies.  Should they try to make their new relationship work or is their love affair bound to be over as quickly as it started?  

Love Your Life is a refreshing entry in the chick lit/romance genres.  It was nice to read a story where the main character and love interest don't exactly click and have to realistically work through relationship problems that most of us face in the real world.  I found Love Your Life to be a convincing portrayal of the complications that arise in new relationships between people "with baggage," and shows both the pros and cons of working through your differences vs. abandoning the relationship altogether.  This book is entertaining and humorous, and will appeal to readers in their late 20s and 30s, as well as those who are on the dating scene.