This is a heartfelt and touching novella. It's the story of Eve, a character based on the author, who is grappling with the terrifying diagnosis of terminal cancer. The story unfolds in vignettes, and even though it is a short novella, it gives a deeply emotional view into Eve's life both before and after her diagnosis. Kinsella has long been one of my favorite rom-com authors. Her humor and hopefulness shine through in this work, even with this terribly sad and personal subject matter. I hope Kinsella can continue defying the odds for a long time to come.

A brilliant job by this amazing author of optimistic women’s fiction. Kinsella has entertained her readers for years, but in this book, she tells the real story of her cancer, glioblastoma. A life filled with five children, a husband and her writing, Eve begins to stagger and fall, resulting in brain surgery for a tumor. The story recounts how she had to relearn basic everyday life, and approach it with determination. The author is providing a service for many experiencing this heartbreak, and does so with her usual humor and humanity. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was such a great story! It was sad, heartbreaking and brought tears to my eyes at time but also deeply touched on many emotions of love and family. I loved it!

What Does It Feel Like is a novel, but also a very close parallel to Sophie Kinsella's lived experience. Eve Monroe, best-selling author, wife and mother to 5 children, wakes one day in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. Her devoted, loving husband, explains to her that she has had surgery to remove a tumor from her brain. Eve has no recollection of anything that occurred to bring her to this point, and it is a lot to swallow. While Eve learns to walk again, talk again, write again and while she goes through therapy and chemo, she also re-learns what is important to her. With a positive outlook despite the challenging medical picture, Eve shows us how it is done...how to keep living even if life might be short.

This novel is heart-wrenching and amazing. It is only 144 pages, but each page packs a punch. This is nothing like Kinsella's previous books, although her humor does come through, despite the difficult, raw and personal book she has written to help people understand this illness. She even throws in a tip or two on how to survive the challenges it brings into a person's life. Through short vignettes, we watch as she discovers and re-discovers what has happened in her life, and watch as she puts one foot in front of the next throughout her recovery.

I highly recommend this short but powerful read.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Dial Press for the opportunity to read this e-galley.

Wow! An amazing testament. If you’ve read any of her books read this! I can’t even imagine what strength it took to put this out in the world.

How do you possibly rate a book that is written about someone’s real life experience?! Five stars, obviously!!! But, seriously— What Does It Feel Like? by THE @sophiekinsellawriter is so impactful. She has taken her real life experience and made it into a novel. At the end, there’s an author note from Sophie and she shares what she changed or didn’t. This read with give your perspective AND make you cry. I am so glad I took the time to read this having read all of her other books. It really warmed my heart and made me so happy she is here!

Beautiful and difficult read that mirrors the authors real life struggles. This was really well written was usual but definitely need a box of tissues next to you while you read this!

Title: What Does It Feel Like?
By: Sophie Kinsella
Pub. Date: October 8, 2024

Genre:
Women’s Fiction

Trigger Warnings:
Grief, Cancer, Anxiety, Memory loss

Summary:
Eve Monroe is a novelist, living her best life, when she suddenly awakens in the hospital. With no recollection of why she’s there, Eve begins the long journey through her diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor.

Review:
This is by far the tougher book I have ever reviewed. As a long time reader of Sophie Kinsella's, this autobiography is achingly beautiful! I love her writing, and her story pulled on my heart strings. Her talented narration is felt, every emotion rendered, as she tackles the news of her future. The reader personally feels the hope of her husband, and the love of her children through her own words. This book is exquisitely agonizing!

Be ready for themes of hope, honesty, happiness, and immense love of family!

Authors writing similar to:
Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

Thank you Sophie Kinsella, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#SophieKinsella
#Whatdoesitfeellike
#RandomHousePublishingGroup
#reluctantreaderreads
#advancedreadercopies
#NetGalley

Thanks to Random House | The Dial Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is really distinct from the other Sophie Kinsella novels I've read. She transforms her own experience with cancer into a fictional story, which allows her to share a deep connection with the main character. The dialogue feels very authentic and relatable.

I would recommend this book to anyone facing a difficult diagnosis, as it offers a hopeful message. Sophie Kinsella is known for her happy endings. Although it's a novella and lacks extensive exploration of the treatment process, readers can still connect with the character's challenges and reflect on her family's viewpoint.

. I would highly recommend this book. A very intense, moving and personal story that touches your heart and grabs at your emotions. The author explores the cancer journey through the eyes of a cancer patient with a view to the impacts on family and friends. .

I did not read anything about this book before starting and was surprised by the subject, which was very different from Kinsella's usual. I did not know she was sick, but it was so raw and heart rending, I knew before the author's note it had to be true.

I wasn't sure what to make of the synopsis and the fact it was a novella but dang... This was some serious writing and pack one heck of a punch.

Eve is a wife, mother and best selling author when the unthinkable happens.. She has a brain tumor and after treatment, her memory isn't working so well at all.

Trying to navigate her life with her family and christmas while relearning things she had previously known... MY HEART ACHED and Eve kept her sense of humor and it just made me tear up.

This isn't a complete work of fiction. Eve is loosely based on Sophie Kinsella and what happened to her. I had no idea but as someone who has read evry books shes ever written, you can tell this book had more depth because its so relatable to herself.

I devoured it in one sitting.

I am glad i got the chance to read it.

4.5 stars

Eve has made a career out of writing and is at the top of her game when suddenly she wakes up in a hospital bed unsure of how she got there. Eve has terminal brain cancer and while the operation was successful to remove the tumor, the chances of recurrence are very high. She is learning how to put her life back together after being entirely derailed by cancer.

This book showcases the raw and real emotions that come from a diagnosis like Eve's. I am saddened that this book is very autobiographical in nature as Sophie Kinsella's own story. Her writing has always been some of my favorite and I am hopeful that there are many more beautiful books to come in a long happy life for her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my arc. This was a fictional short story of Sophie's own life since a life-chnaging event.
I could feel it was extremely vulnerable and personal and she did an amazing job of telling her story!

As I've said before, I'll read even a grocery list by Sophie Kinsella and now the bar is even higher. I hope she never stops writing.

Thanks to The Dial Press for an advanced copy of What Does It Feel LIke by Sophie Kinsella.

I've been a huge Sophie Kinsella fan since high school (and read all of Madeline Wickham books too) so when I saw she had brain cancer and then was writing this novella about it. I knew this book was going to be beautiful.

It was. This was beautiful, raw, heartwarming and hopeful.

And I'm so glad she is sharing this story with the world.

144 pages. That’s how many pages What Does It Feel Like? is and how many pages ripped me apart and then put me back together again.

This book is practically an autobiography and I applaud Sophie for bringing not only hope but light to such a hard and dark topic. With how raw, real and personal this story is I can’t help but be in awe of Sophie’s bravery for putting her own story into words. And my goodness what a heartbreakingly hard yet beautiful story it is.

These 144 pages are not easy to read, there will most definitely be tears but they are important and needed pages and I urge you to read them for yourself.

Sending you a big hug Sophie. Thank you for telling your story.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/The Dial Press for an arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

Brave and honest. This auto-fiction inside look at living with Glioblastoma by a beloved author is so important in the world to help all of us understand the GBM experience. Grateful to Sophie for writing and to The Dial Press for putting this into the world.

Heartrending and vulnerable. Short but powerful. Thanks to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

What an incredible story.

This was a short autobiographical fiction book. It was so very relatable, and beautiful in the ordinary nature of the story. Throughout the whole story, we get to know the story of Eve's life post-diagnosis/surgery. Her family, her lapses in memory and her positive outlook feel like this story could have been happening to anyone, including myself.

Advance reader copy provided by Dial Press and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced reader copy of What Does It Feel Like? in exchange for my honest review.

My heart goes out to Sophie Kinsella on her brain cancer diagnosis.

Cheers to this woman for her brave story.