Many romance novels follow the same path and are as predictable as you can imagine. The summary for "The Setup" had me wondering if this could follow the same, lovable fate. The plot seemed so different. As someone who enjoys vacationing solo, I was interested from the first chapter. I loved the premise and the set up (no pun intended). I loved the cast of characters - they made me laugh hysterically. In fact, Lizzy Dent did a fabulous job on this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5/5

Have you ever let your horoscope dictate your life and every choice you make? Yes? Well, you’d have a friend in Mara, our MC. Her story begins in a fortune teller’s shop in Hungary, where Mara is eager to hear her fate from a true clairvoyant. As Mara tries to dig for more details, the fortune teller goes into labor and leaves Mara alone in the shop. Being told that she would meet “the one” IMMINENTLY, Mara ponders this thought while wandering the room and trying on the woman’s veil. While admiring herself in the mirror, in walks Josef, who mistakes her for the fortune teller. Struck with the gut feeling that this man is “the one”, Mara tells him that his destiny will be waiting for him in a pub in Broadgate on the last Friday of August. Oh, Mara, Mara, Mara… Don’t you know not to mess with fate?

After returning from her trip, Mara sets on a quest dubbed Project Mara, aiming to fix her life before Josef arrives in Broadgate, which WILL happen! A new haircut, wardrobe, and changes in her career are just the start. But when Mara and her co-workers hear whispers of the demolition of their local beachside pool club, they band together to try and save their community staple.

Distracted by the rejuvenation of the Lido, and her new flatmate who is just too sweet for words, Mara feels herself drifting away from what she thought was meant to be. Mara questions if she could have misunderstood, and I spent a good half of the book screaming at Mara to open her eyes!

I found Mara quite infuriating and unrelatable at times, which made it hard to connect with her. I’m also not one who knows about astrology or what star signs say about a person. Besides Mara, I really loved the cast of supporting characters and how each one was brought to life beautifully. Overall, I enjoyed this book and the immense character growth of Mara from start to finish.

This book will be released on June 7, 2022.

Thank you to Penguin Group - Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars
Mara goes abroad on a weekend trip that was supposed to be with her best friend. With little notice, her friend cancels and Mara reluctantly goes alone. After a severe lack of adventure, Mara has her palm read and her romantic destiny is on the immediate horizon if she fixes... something.
Call me crazy, I don't care. This book is a different reading experience I wasn't initially on board with. Mara comes off as a little weird, a little stalkery, and a lot lonely. I'm not huge into astrology while Mara lives and breathes it, so relating to her kind of quirky wasn't something I could imagine. However, Mara hits this point in her life shake-up that put a smile on my face that didn't want to let go. Her character growth is one of my new favorites. Add to that one of the sweetest cinnamon roll love interests ever, and I was a goner.
After The Summer Job and now The Setup, Lizzy Dent will hold a place on by auto-read author shelf. I really enjoy the niche she has carved out with these two publications.
Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

The Setup

by Lizzy Dent

Pub Date: 07 Jun 2022

This book sounded like the perfect setup for an adorable romance...and while the book had its sweet, cute moments, too much of it just felt off to me. I think my main issue was the female lead, Mara. This woman is supposed to be 31 years old, but her whole demeanor was that of a young, selfish, negative girl who lets her horoscope lead her life. Everything with her was so dramatic! Honestly, I just could not feel sorry for her or even invested in the outcome of her life. I did like the character Ash (he was actually good book boyfriend material!) but I thought he deserved someone much better than Mara!
2.5 stars

Mara is a single thirty something obsessed with astrology. She doesn't make any decisions without consulting her chart. On a trip abroad, Mara decides to visit a fortune teller who tells her she will meet her true love imminently,  bit she needs to fix a few things before it will work. Then Mara meets Joe and assumes he is the one, so she nudges fate along a bit.
When Mara returns home from her trip, she meets her new flatmate Ash. They become close, and despite her attraction to Ash. Mara is still waiting on Joe.
On a journey of self discovery and self improvement, Mara expands her inner circle, begins to heal from her past trauma, and finds her purpose. And in the end, she makes her own decision about who her true love is.

This book had me in so many emotional states! Angry, excited, annoyed, happy, and in the end, relieved. For most of the book, I wanted to shake Mara and tell her that while we all love astrology, you can't base your entire life and every decision on it. I was rooting for her and Ash the entire time and wanted to yell at her to stop living in the oast and look at what is right in front of her.  I literally cheered when she chose him.

I give this book 3.5 stars

I enjoyed The Summer Job but really couldn't get into The Setup. It's a cute premise but the story itself just fell flat for me. I didn't like the MC and it's hard for me to get past that.

2/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mara's life hasn't turned out the way she planned- not film school, not her move from London to Broadgate to be with her BFF Charlie, not her job at the lido and not her trip to Budapest with Charlie. A visit to a psychic ends with the psychic setting off to the hospital in labor and Mara taking her place when an unsuspecting and very handsome cellist turns up for a reading. In the most unlikely part of this otherwise charming novel, she tells him he will meet his true love at a specific time and date in, wait for it, Broadgate, and she grabs onto this as her fate as well. Her return to work sees a major problem - the Lido is about to be sold to developers unless it can make money. AND even worse, her new room mate is Ash- a MAN. Ash turns out to be more than he seems (and you sorta know what's going to happen, don't you?). Mara finds herself opening up to others, notably Samira, who helps her change her style and then she starts a campaign of her own. It's a big turnaround. But what about Charlie, who has been more or less ghosting her? Will she meet her cellist again? This is both a rom com and a novel about a woman finally growing up. The storytelling is good and the characters will make you both laugh and shake your head. Thanks to the Publisher for the ARC. A light fun read.

Mara finds herself impersonating a fortune teller while on vacation. While doing that, she thinks she meets the one she’s meant to be with and convinces him that the one he is meant to be with is in England and that he should meet her in a pub in August. Mara, being that one of course. In the meantime, Mara sets herself on a path of improvement. Not only is she set to work on herself, she also begins a project of saving the local pool where she works. She also becomes close with her new roommate, Ash, who may turn out to be the one.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Mara relies a lot on astrology. While I am not against that, there was just way too much of that in here for me. I did appreciate the growth she made from the beginning to the end of the book. She expanded her friendships and her role at work. I also feel that she grew in the way that she viewed herself. I’m not sure if there was a lot of selfishness on her part early on with family and friends or if a lot of that was tied in to low self-esteem.

I absolutely adored Ash. He was good for her from the start and between her astrology and need to reject all that is good for her, she completely made a mess.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! All opinions in this review are my own.

If you're looking for a heartwarming read, check out The Setup. The story follows Mara Williams who religiously reads her horoscope and uses it for guidance daily. While traveling in Budapest, she visits a fortune teller who tells her she is going to meet her soulmate imminiately. The fortune teller ends up going into labor, leaves and tell Mara to close the shop up. Instead, she pretends she is the fortune teller and when Josef walks in, she tells him he is going to meet his soulmate named Mara in London on a specific date.

When she returns, she starts Project Mara, working to become a new and improved version of herself, while also getting to know her new roommate Ash.

I found the story engaging and easy to read. It was a sweet story. I liked Mara's character and watching her evolve. It's a good book to read on the beach this summer.

3.5/5 stars
Thank you Putnam Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mara Williams is 31 and single. She seems to randomly decide to impersonate her fortune teller because she meets "the one". Josef is a gorgeous Austrian cellist who sits down for a reading. Before she knows it, she's telling him his destiny will be sitting in a pub in the English seaside town of Broadgate on the last Friday of August, and her name is Mara.

Enter Project Mara: three months to turn herself into the stylish, confident woman she's always hoped to be. Meanwhile, the crumbling, formerly glamorous beachside pool club where she works is under threat and her eccentric colleagues enlist her help to save it, just as a handsome new housemate casts doubts on her ideas about "the one."

I liked it but I have some issues. I didn't love the main character. Right off the bad she annoyed me. That makes it very hard for me to get into a book. The plot sounded a bit far fetched but the way everything played out was even more so. The romance wasn't bad. There were several funny parts. I liked that the MC was into astrology. I do recommend this book. Maybe you will love it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lizzy Dent, and Penguin Group Putnam for the gifted copy. ❤️

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me an advance copy of Lizzy Dent’s sophomore romance novel, The Setup, in exchange for an honest review.

I first learned of the author after being assigned to read and review her debut novel, #TheSummerJob, which I adored. Eager to learn how she spun her second novel, I jumped at the chance to review #TheSetup. Unfortunately, the author has encountered the curse of the sophomore slump. Nothing about the novel sparkles like her debut.

The biggest issue I had with #TheSetup is that I absolutely loathed the main character, Mara Williams. Mara’s personality irked me to no end. I literally fell asleep attempting to slog through chapter two due to having to read Mara’s inane thoughts and quirks. The entire novel is cringe-inducing to me. This read more like a YA novel, then a book for someone in their 30s (assuming it is since Mara is 31 years old).

On the plus side, there are some descriptive passages that were enjoyable and the story concept could be good if properly executed, or at least written in a more exciting manner and tone.

I adored this book! It’s funny and sweet and heartwarming and entertaining. I fell in love with all the characters and would love to have any as real life buds - what an endearing group of people. We’ll, maybe not Gerry, haha. The romance between Ash and Mara had just the right amount of chemistry and pacing. The only thing I would say is that at 380 pages it’s a bit long for my personal taste, but I really didn’t mind. This one’s a gem that’s a perfect pic for Summer! I’ve found a new favorite author, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced preview of this book! The set up is a cute and quirky coming of age story. We follow Mara, who is self described as unremarkable, looking for signs on how her life should radically change. After a chance encounter at a psychics shop, Mara is set off to take her destiny in her own hands. This story is fun and multidimensional, while also still having the undercurrent of a traditional romcom novel.

The Setup is the first novel that I have read by Lizzy Dent, and let me tell you I am now a fan!

In The Setup, we meet Mara, a 31-year-old woman who has spent the majority of her life doing everything she can to remain invisible. Mara tries to shield herself and maintain that invisibility by limiting her circle and not allowing people to get close to or know her, At the heart of Mara, she doesn't trust herself, and that prevents her from trusting others. Unable to trust in her ability to make decisions, Mara relies on the stars and uses astrology and horoscopes to make both large and small decisions in her life. What follows are laugh-out-loud moments of awkwardness that kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime!

Overall, The Setup is a story about a flawed yet lovable MC that learns to value herself and her ability to make, and trust in, her decisions. Her circle grows to include an ensemble of perfectly flawed and lovable characters that unite for a common cause and just fit together perfectly.

I was first drawn to The Setup because of the cover and then the synopsis and thought why not. There’s a lot going on but it’s mainly about Mara and her journey of self improvement speared on by this plan is set into place while pretending to be a fortune teller.

What I liked about this book is the secondary characters at the lido and their individual personalities. Each of them is quirky in their own way and so friendly even when Mara tries to create distance. Ash is a very patient man and unselfish in countless ways. The strain on Charlie and Mara’s relationship is one I can relate to as friendships change when they reach different stages in life. It took them both time to accept the change and let go of the resentment they felt towards the other.

Mara is big into astrology and let’s it dictate a lot of her life. It’s not something I’m super familiar with so I was very meh to all the talk about it. Mara does have a lot of self doubt and it took a lot of changes to occur before she realizes what the issue was and how voices it out loud to others can help her move forward. So many people were already in Mara’s corner, she just didn’t truly think they really were.


Thank you @putnambooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

First, in fairness, I knew the plot was a bit far-fetched going in. BUT sometimes those far-fetched plots are the best escapism in the hands of the right author. This wasn’t one of those times. So full transparency here - I thought about DNFing…A LOT. I hate to DNF arcs because I do appreciate the opportunity. I tried sticking with it, I really did. So instead of DNF, I settled on skimming & in the end, I did often. Probably a high % tbh.

The Setup & I just were not a match. Tbh, I knew it early as soon as I read the heroine’s impromptu foray pretending to be a medium. It wasn’t the pretending that bothered me. It was how on the nose her “fortune telling” was. My reaction was basically ‘really?…ok, we’re going for that obvious’. As much as I tried, I never found a connection to the heroine, so being her single POV, I couldn’t find one with much else either. Things like descriptions of what was around her would linger a bit long(sometimes A LOT). Whereas characters were a little too vague or wishy-washy. The lido thing leaned a little hallmarky sometimes for me.

I wish there was a more positive spin I could put on this, but frankly, The Setup just was not a me book.

*This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review *

Mara’s story is really relatable. I mean, who hasn’t been on a solo vacation in Budapest where we’ve impulsively given a hot guy a palm reading that implies we’re the soulmate he’ll meet at the end of the summer? And then, in true early 2000s rom-com fashion, we accidentally get an attractive male roommate whose very presence starts messing with the idea of the aforementioned soulmate? All while we’re trying to make personal changes and start living the life we really want?

Okay, maybe not relatable. But it does make for an entertaining book premise, and I love Lizzy Dent’s mind for thinking of it. I love Mara’s commitment to saving the historic lido (pool club, for the non-Brits) where she finds herself working as the bookkeeper. I love her journey from new girl in town to true member of the community. And I really love the little moments when she and Ash, her kind, dreamy roommate, are simply sitting on the couch, watching the movies she’s obsessed with, and having great conversations.

But where it veers a little too into that early 2000s rom-com territory for me is the way other characters react to Mara. She’s both flighty and stuck in her ways, practical but believes in astrology and fate and magic. She is exactly the quirky heroine of all the movies she loves and that I grew up on, and often in those films, the other characters know that the MC is a little weird. In a movie, it works.

But in this book, it was hard for me to continually see people reject Mara’s ideas or even some of the things she’s trying to fix about herself. Every time, she deflated a little more. We’re completely in her head, and it was painful for me to see her internalize every snarky or offhand comment. Obviously, there’s a happy ending on the horizon, but some of the moments on the way there were just difficult for me. Mara is not without fault, but I hated seeing how she reacted to what the people who loved her said about her.

Still a fun summer read, though, for any fan who misses the heyday of rom-coms.

This was a nice light summer read. Our protagonist Mara finds herself on a solo trip to Budapest after her friend who recently had a baby has to back out. Mara is very into astrology and winds up visiting a fortune teller who discloses that she will meet her love imminently. The fortune teller soon goes into labor leaving Mara in the shop alone. She is trying on the fortune teller's veil when a man walks in. Mara realizes this must be her soul mate and decides to pretend to tell his fortune and steer him towards meeting up with her in her hometown at the end of the summer. Mara is determined to make herself over to be ready for this encounter, but fate has other plans in the form of a very attractive new flat mate. Both men fit the description given to Mara by the fortune teller, but which one is her true destiny? I enjoyed watching this very flawed character make improvements in her life, especially, since, along the way she starts making those improvements for herself and not her imminent soulmate. I enjoy Lizzy Dent's writing style and can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

This was a miss for me. I was struggling with how much Mara obsessed about her horoscope and made her decisions based on what her horoscope said that day. It was a bit too extreme and got tiresome after awhile. The positive was her flat mate Ash. He was so great to Mara but she was so blinded by her horoscope she almost missed it. If you can get beyond her terrible decision making there are some really great parts to the book

In The Setup, 31-year-old Mara finds herself on a solo vacation in Budapest she was supposed to take with her best friend, Charlie. But unfortunately, Charlie is a new mom and had to back out at the last moment. Mara is a big believer in astrology, consults her horoscope daily, and wants to find her soul mate. While on the trip, Mara decides to consult a fortune-teller, one who suddenly goes into labor during the reading, but not before telling Mara she will meet "the one" imminently. As Mara closes up the woman's shop for her, she encounters her dream man and impersonates the fortune-teller to arrange a future meeting. Mara feels she must return home and makeover every area of her life, to be ready for their rendezvous. Fate has a surprise for Mara, though, a handsome new flatmate. Which of these men is her destiny? Will Mara trust herself to make that decision?
I really enjoyed Lizzy Dent's previous book, The Summer Job, and her writing draws me in. Dent convincingly creates flawed, complicated, and somewhat offbeat characters. Mara grapples with self-doubt, immaturity, and even self-sabotage. Her character arc and growth are about self-love and learning to trust herself, and the book is as much about that as it is about romantic love. The secondary characters make this story. Mara's work friends were delightful and funny! Some genuine laugh-out-loud moments throughout the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to review this ARC.