Cover Image: The Setup

The Setup

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

A great romance book, I really enjoyed the tropes and found myself rooting for the couple! Thank you net galley for the review copy!

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed The Set Up by Lizzy Dent, I loved the characters and the story itself was great. I can't wait to read more from the author in the future

Was this review helpful?

Mara's past makes her so distrustful of her own instincts that she relies on astrology, movies, and other people's opinions to shape her life. While on an unexpectedly solo trip to Budapest, a visit to a fortune teller takes a surprising turn and leads to her meeting the man of her dreams. Maybe. If she can just set everything up perfectly..

Was this review helpful?

Mara literally lives her life according to her daily horoscope so she believes fate has stepped in when she ends up on holiday on her own. After seeing a palm reader and then the tall dark stranger shortly after, she gives fate a helping hand to make sure that she meets "the one" properly.
Returning home, she makes changes to her life and image to be perfect for the first meeting but could she be losing out on her true soulmate who is much closer to home.

The character is quite flaky which is irritating and the story line is the typical journey to finding true love but an okay read

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed this book but I just found it to be a bit slow at points. I didn’t mind the author’s writing style but I just didn’t really connect with the main character and wasn’t really sure how I felt about the love interest, as sweet as he seemed.

Was this review helpful?

Unfortunately I will be unable to give feedback on this book. I requested this book and had intentions of reading it. However my taste in books has changed and I do not feel that a review from me would do the book justice

Was this review helpful?

Mara has always followed her horoscope carefully, and when she meets a tall, dark, handsome stranger in Budapest, it seems fate is helping her at last. Through a misunderstanding, she reads his palm and contrives to get him to visit her home town, when she is sure romance will happen. But life doesn’t always follow a pattern, and a new flat mate may change Mara’s mind.

I think The Setup shows the highlights and pitfalls of believing in your horoscope. Mara is obsessed with them and so misses the general clues that life throws at her. I’m not sure how many grown women would really be that involved, but it certainly made for an entertaining story.

Was this review helpful?

Aw, what an easy to follow romance. I feel really inspired to trust my horoscopes more. Mara reads them every day and then one day she finds herself meeting a stranger who happens to be a flat mate. With fortune tellers, adventures, mishaps and other fun things, this is the perfect light hearted escape.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely adore Lizzy Dent as a person and as a writer. She is so brilliantly funny and that really comes through in her writing. The plot and characters are always so easy to sink into.

Was this review helpful?

Sweet but a bit wishy washy for me. Romantic but I'm not into the stars so not my cup of tea. Sweet and non taking if you like a romance novel

Was this review helpful?

My review:⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Setup is a romance comedy, set in a seaside town, with a protagonist who adores astrology.

It's a fun story, with a fun set of colleagues at the Lido, a room mate who turns out to be male, and lots of character development!

I really enjoyed the book, even if I did cringe at the start of it!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin.

Was this review helpful?

I was such a fan of The Summer Job, so I couldn’t wait to read this one.

Sadly it just missed the mark totally and wasn’t for me. I’m not a big horoscope or Astrology fan anyway, so this was probably why I didn’t enjoy it! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Will still happily try more of Lizzy’s work in future though.

Was this review helpful?

Unfortunately I didn’t love this book. It seemed a bit far fetched, slow and the main character Mara just made me cross. The most selfish character in a book in a long time. I rooted for Ash massively in this book despite not knowing what he saw in her. My second book by this author and not my favourite sadly.

Was this review helpful?

Absolutely loved this book!

Lizzy Dent you are amazing!

I was hooked throughout and couldn't put this book down.

Thank you for accepting my ARC request.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely loved this book! The premise immediately hooked my interest and it was filled with twisty characters and such intense plot!

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed this book greatly. It was all about love and finding who you are. This is a definite beach read for sure.

Was this review helpful?

Quirky, enjoyable and light, it was a story about a girl who falls in love with her dream guy, although they haven't rreally ever interacted. She finds her fortune and decides to place her heart in the hands of fate, and a small chance that her dream man will fly to the UK to be with her. She returns home and slowly, begins to make changes in her life, positive and through this learns that sometimes, home is where the heart is.

Lovely wee summer read.

Was this review helpful?

The Setup by Lizzy Dent, a NetGalley Read. Mara Williams normally lets the horoscopes control her life and it’s bigs decisions. After seeing a fortune teller and then promptly thinking she’s met Mr Right Mara gives fate a nudge but she doesn’t realise what fate has in store for her. This was an ok read, very predictable from the outset. I’ve not read anything by this author before and I wouldn’t go out of my way to read something by her again. Nothing from this book sadly stands out, there’s no plot twists or unexpected storylines. At times I found Mara quite annoying, she uses the horoscopes and the belief in fate as a kind of getting out card of making big decisions, scared of getting hurt again by making her own choices. I will say that Mara is stronger than she believe and at the beginning is a bit lost as to where she is in life and I can sympathise with that to a certain extent. I got really frustrated with her towards the end, without giving anything away, when she questioned the decision she had made and nearly ruin everything! The ending for me was incredibly weak and seemed to end to quickly, in that she had made all these improvements but failed to really make with her parents, apart from inviting them to her house warming party, which seemed a weak resolution to the problems they had been having. Over all this is sadly at best a very average book, one I probably won’t remember and certainly one I won’t be recommending. ⭐️⭐️

Was this review helpful?

A fun book to read by the side of the pool on summer holiday. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review

Was this review helpful?

This book was a bit boring for me. It didn't hold my interest to finish, and as it's a DNF, I won't be reviewing on our blog.

Was this review helpful?