I loved Lizzy Dent's previous book, The Summer Job. This book wasn't as good as this but it was a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The Set Up is an engaging and humorous romance novel which I devoured in a few days. The main character, Mara, is a complex character with some issues the author conveyed well. She’s a dreamer, indecisive and not trusting her own intuition she consults her horoscope constantly for guidance to help her make important decisions. Although slightly bizarre the whole orchestration of events leading up to Mara turning her life around was compelling and I kept turning the pages impatient for the outcome. The other characters are wholesome and likeable, the team at the lido are lovely. The author pays attention to the smallest of details, particularly in a character’s mannerisms and dress sense which really gives them personality.

I especially liked the humorous elements in the book and there were one or two scenes (namely the seagull scene!) that had me giggling uncontrollably. The settings are wonderful, the author took us to some lovely places. Mainly set in Broadgate by the sea and the lido, we are also treated to visits to Corbridge in Northumberland near Hadrian’s Wall, as well as Budapest and Vienna.

This novel is a lovely quick and fun read. I really like this author’s style of writing, which became apparent when I read The Summer Job and I can’t wait to read more.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me this eARC to review.

A really lovely book. I was engaged with this attitude right away and couldn’t put it down.
I found the main character Mara, extremely relatable, her insecurities and self-doubt felt extremely real.
I liked the fact that she relies on her horoscope to guide her and give her her answers, were a main component in her every day life.
From the get go when she gets her fortune told while on holiday alone, telling her she will meet someone very soon.
The combination of her recent love prediction and Mara’s personal transformation, I like how the book goes from Mara relying on astrology to give her the answers to slowly believing in herself when she opens herself up to those around her.
A lovely read that will lift the spirits.

Loved this book!
Mara loves to read her horoscope every day, so when a fortune teller tells her she is going to meet someone, and she bumps into a handsome man whilst in another country, she decides to give fate a little hand, sure that he is the one.
She is positive that this person is ‘the one’ and that he will come to meet her on a prearranged date, so includes her new flat mate when discussing all her plans, oblivious to what every reader can see - that her sights are set on the wrong person..
An entertaining read, with the expected happy ending.

This book took a bit of getting into buy once I did it was so addictive. I could not put it down. I would definitely recommend. It is very well written and the story behind the main characters is brilliant.

I enjoyed this one. It was very predictable, but I think that's what we expect from romance books, and it's very comforting.

I liked the storyline, I thought the characters were well developed and relatable, so yes. Definitely enjoyed this.

When you don’t know how to control your life, the only way to control it is using fate as guidance. So, this is how our main character Mara Williams, thinks she can control her love life in the hands of the horoscope; reading it every day and looking for clues to find her “perfect” match. So, when a fortune teller tells her that her love is around the corner, she decides to take all the possible steps to find it. But, is what the fortune teller told her or her wishes so strong that make her believe things that aren’t real?
Even if I’ve never been a fate or horoscope believer, but I could understand how Mara feels that all her world is out of her reach and the only way she can feel in control is “controlling” fate. But, as you are well aware, fate is something totally impossible to control, and Mara will have to learn by herself that love is not something that you can plan but something that happens in the moment you least expect it.
I always love how the author, Lizzy Dent, always creates stories with characters that are lost and show the reader how healing is not always something that you can do alone but with the help from the people that surround us. Of course, if we leave them!
This is a story to make you believe in yourself and remember that love is always there if you are really looking.
Ready for “The Setup”?

This story sounded like it could have been really fun. The blurb drew me in but unfortunately the book didn't work for me. I don't mind a far fetched story but this was just a bit too far fetched for my liking.

A gorgeous book about star-sign mad Mara and her inability to do anything without first checking what her horoscopes say.

Her friend Charlie cancels on her last minute so she finds herself alone in Hungary, then she stumbles on a psychic and is unable to resist finding out her fate.

I loved experiencing Mara's growth, I think we can all relate to her in someway. I have definitely put a little too much faith in Mystic Meg in my time.

A great read with a fabulous cast of colourful characters. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Mara puts a lot of belief in horoscopes, and after a reading from a fortune teller she tries to manipulate her future. Will new friendships change her?
A fun read

Many Thanks to the author and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book before being published in exchange for an honest review.
Mara Williams consults her horoscope for all important decisions. And, unimportant ones, too. She simply doesn’t trust her own intuition. So, when a very pregnant clairvoyant in Buda tells her she needs a change, there are some home truths and a man on the horizon she believes all and starts searching for that man.
There are nice locations, Broadgate, the sea, the Lido where Mara works. The descriptions are really good and many film references.
It is a good book overall. I didn´t connect a lot to the main character but I did like the rest of the characters in the book.
I would recommend the book to everybody who likes romance, family and friendships issues.

I love love love Lizzy, her books are sparkly- full of sunshine and ‘real’ characters - she is a hidden gem of an author who needs to be seen more!

This was such a sweet book, I liked the plot and the characters were funny. The astrology plot line was interesting, I am someone who it intrigued by it but I don’t tend to read my horoscope often. I enjoyed Reading about Mara’s love for her star sign, also her comment at the end was so funny.

I thought Mara was a good main character, I did find her to be naïve in some situations. I think this was due to her strong believe in reading her daily horoscope and expecting it to happen exactly as it was written. I did however see good character development happen with her as we got towards the end. I could tell she became more confident and seemed to be a lot more social towards the end. I loved Ash, he was such a good character and I felt he has such a good connection with Mara as a flatmate. He understood her and was always there to help her.

The plot was going at a slow pace at the beginning, I was excited to see how this book was going to end. I didn’t end how I expected it to end and I did like how the ending of a certain situation was left up to the reader to think about. I found the ending was rushed and the events that happened towards the end all happened at the same time. I would had preferred things to be more spread out throughout the book.

I did like reading this book, I was eager to find out more about the plot and the characters. It was a sweet, fluffy romance with a flatmate/friends to lovers plot line.

This was my first Lizzy Dent book and I found it was an enjoyable easy read and just what i needed. I really loved Mara, in the beginning i wasnt too sure as she came across as quite weak but as the book progressed you got to see her blossom and her confidence grow which i thoroughly enjoyed! Overall I enjoyed this book and will certainly look out for more books my this author

This was a really fun summer read, perfect for romantic comedy fans. There were things I enjoyed and things that frustrated me about the book.

I enjoyed:
- the whimsical plot about clairvoyance, fate, destiny and the stars, etc. because that’s not normally what I’m into and I’ve never actually read a book where a psychic is kind of taken seriously!

- the love story at the centre of the book was nice & the love interest himself very appealing!

- the low key vibe of the book. It wasn’t a challenge to read at all. I wouldn’t say it was a page turner but it had a nice, easy flow which shows it was well written. This book could easily become someone’s comfort read.

What I wasn’t keen on:

- the main character, Mara is the sort of person I’d find quite irritating if she were real. Without giving spoilers, she kept making odd choices and occasionally her dialogue made her a bit cringe.

Generally though, I enjoyed the book. It was funny in places and it was a nice book to read on holiday (I started it on the plane and found it quite relaxing!)

Not the book for me unfortunately. I'm not a huge believer in fate and the stars so couldn't fully connect with this book

Mara is a dissatisfied 30 something, who has an unhealthy obsession with horoscopes etc. this is based on a basic distrust of her own decisions and general unhappiness in her life. A chance meeting with a clairvoyant and mistaken identity sets up the book for Mara to make changes in her life as she strives for her happy ever after.

I had a mixed relationship with this book, at first I found the central character very frustrating and couldn’t get on with her at all, and while she grew on me as the book progressed there were times when I wanted to shake her!

All in all, a fun summer read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I adored Lizzy Dent’s The Summer Job, which I laughed my way through last summer and I was very excited to dive into her latest release. I didn’t need to read a synopsis before picking it up. I just knew I’d be in for a good time!

When an eventful encounter with a fortune-teller brings Mara a handsome Austrian cellist, she becomes convinced that this man is her destiny. So she tells him that his destiny awaits in a pub in a small English seaside town on the last weekend of August. Thus a three month project is launched to turn Mara into the woman she has always wanted to be in preparation for the cellist’s arrival. Meanwhile, her workplace, a delapidated lido, is crying out to be rescued. Can Mara and her colleagues save it?

Mara’s workplace is a place that has had the soul sucked out of it but her colleagues are great fun to be around. A lot of readers will be able to relate to Mara’s despair at not being listened to while having plenty of ideas on how to improve things. She has been beaten down by capitalism and disappointment, which, let’s face it, who hasn’t?

Mara has a rather lovely flatmate called Ash, who I fell in love with at first sight. He is the epitome of cinnamon roll and it was clear that he would become a love interest. Mara is her true self around him and only him, so the romance element of the book was very predictable as soon as Ash turned up. However, I still loved watching their will-they-won’t-they play out, which continued until the very last page.

My main gripe with the book was Mara’s unwavering trust in astrology and fate. While it was quite a comic aspect of her character, I did wonder whether it was believable of a woman in her early thirties. It made her read quite a bit younger than she was and gave her a lot of naivety. She does learn from it by the end of the novel but I wasn’t sure it was particularly authentic for a adult woman to have so much confidence in the validity of what her horoscope said.

The Setup is a fun, light-hearted novel, featuring a heroine that has so much to learn and a very loveable cast of characters. I really wanted Mara to find happiness and I also wanted the lido to succeed, so these two things kept me reading. I don’t think it was as funny as The Summer Job but it certainly was an enjoyable, easy beach read about community and acceptance.

I enjoyed this book. I loved the fact that Mara made some great friendships and got so involved in the community. I myself would not be interested in reading the stars but you can see how Mara is drawn to this because she cannot trust her own decisions. It was great to see she was able to at the end.

A wonderfully poignant portrait of love, friendship and a loving, close-knit community. The chemistry between Mara and Ash is off the charts and it was fun watching them try to deny it to each other. This was a delightful read where the secondary characters made the story.