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Droping by to start with the stars.
Full review coming soon, detailed and all.
I need time to write everything down

The Karma Club consists of Paige, Bella, Astrid and Sienna, who meet at the airport when flights are grounded. After too much cake and cocktails the four get talking and discover they all have ex's who screwed them over one way or another and then decide to take another's ex to seek some revenge on. I absolutely loved this premise and can't wait to see how all four stories pan out.

The Payback Plan focuses on Paige, who is in England to seek some revenge on Bella's ex Oliver. Some of the things she came up with to drive Olly mad had me laughing out loud (sign me up to Hamster Facts asap! 😂) But of course the path to revenge is never smooth when you realise that someone isn't all that bad after all and feelings get thrown into the mix!

Amy Andrews is a new author for me. I was attracted to this book by the plot, I liked the basic premise of this book, the first in the Karma Club series - it sounded like fun & the sort of book I enjoy reading. The opening chapter “In the Beginning” sets the scene for the series: 4 single women in their twenties, Paige, Sienna, Astrid & Bella, meet at snowbound O’Hare Airport in Chicago on their way home for Christmas & quickly bond over Prosecco as they share their bad experiences at the hands of their former partners. They resolve to exact revenge on their exes, forming the Just Desserts WhatsApp group (named for the airport cafe where they’d met) to share their experiences & progress. Paige (FMC) is to plague Oliver, who is Bella’s ex; his crime was to dump her by text on the morning of their wedding. Bella arranges for her new best friend to stay with Oliver at his home in Cornwall, which is handy as Paige is on her way home to England to see her family for Christmas.

The story proper begins with Paige arriving at Oliver’s Cornish home, complete with a cage containing her nephew’s pet hamster & various items of mismatched luggage which contain the tools of her trade: for her day job as a virtual assistant & for her new pastime - to plague Oliver & make his life miserable! She’s clearly put a lot of thought & planning into her campaign with Oliver, & there are a lot of lol moments as the story unfolds. I loved that Paige actually manages to create some edible food amidst all the chaos she creates in Oliver’s pristine kitchen! Paige finds herself settling into the village & making friends with locals, including the local Women’s Institute who are regulars at her favourite cafe in the village & a stray dog - which follows her home from the beach & unleashes all sorts of mayhem. However, it wasn’t in the plan that Paige & Oliver might actually enjoy each other’s company.

I found the characters to be believable & well rounded, I liked Paige & Oliver & enjoyed getting to know them & their story as it developed with all the twists & turns. It lived up to my expectations, & more. It was very funny, but also sensitive in its handling of issues around the failed relationships of the characters;, which led each of them to build walls to protect their heart. However I should just mention that if you are someone who is easily embarrassed I wouldn’t recommend reading this book in a public place as you may find you embarrass yourself by laughing too much!!!

It’s a great story & I’d recommend this book as a holiday read & to anyone in need of some light reading. I will now read more of Amy Andrews’ books, & I am also looking forward to the next instalment of The Karma Club - although that is by a different author.

Review posted on Amazon 28/04/25, link below

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R6ID8VKTUUMRL/ref=pe_111708471_1111884441_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

‘What if we… took it upon ourselves to exact some… revenge?’

The Payback Plan starts off the Karma Club series, a group of books written by different authors but set in the same world and with the same characters. The books star one of four heroines, Paige, Bella, Sienna, and Astrid, four women who met at a desserts shop in the airport O'Hare and realized they all had horrible exes. Drunk off sugar and alcohol they come up with the plan for each one to take the other's ex and exact a revenge plan, nothing too serious, just enough to severely aggravate the ex. Paige picks Bella's ex Oliver, he texted her the day of their wedding and called it off. Paige's plan is to stay with Oliver for two months in Cornwall and be a deranged Mary Poppins like character to drive him nuts. However, as she gets to know the slightly uptight, and walled up emotionally guarded son of a famous actor, she finally starts to feel like herself again, after her own emotionally fraught four years of trying to heal after her ex posted revenge porn photos and videos of her.

She was going to Cornwall to live in the house of a famous dead British actor to mess up his son’s charmed life. She certainly hadn’t had that on her bingo card for next year.

This was along the lines of a quick beach read, there's some emotional base to the characters, Paige withdrawing into herself after her ex exposed her so horribly and finally coming out of her shell and Oliver letting go of the expectations, pressure, and pain of growing up in the public eye and with a narcissist father. Your mileage will vary with the humor of Paige's antics, making a mess of Oliver's neat as a pin kitchen, bringing a hamster and stray dog into his living space, and generally creating goofy havoc. It wasn't really my sense of humor but some of it lead to cute byplay between the two. These antics were mostly their relationship development, there wasn't much depth to hang your reading expectations on but if you're looking for something quick and cutesy, this would do.

And the last couple of months, she’d allowed herself to be that woman again. To be herself again.

The latter second half has them kissing and then the guilt of betraying Bella, you'll still get an opendoor scene as they can't fully fight their feelings. There's a third act breakup where Paige flies off the handle a bit about how Oliver's public profile affects her for some dramatics and Oliver has to simmer down after learning the real reason Paige was staying with him before you get the eventual HEA. There wasn't much depth but there was some cute, drama, and a set-up that leads you to wonder how the other members of the Karma Club are faring.

A fun read, the story of Paige and Olly. She is only statistic him to get revenge, but as they start to get to know each other it gets complicated.
I liked the setting in Cornwall and look forward to the next books in this series.

Confession time: Been a fan of this author since 2019. Still, it was her Sydney Smoke Rugby series that clenched the deal as an "ATF" , author to follow.

This, unfortunately, despite the sweetness of Ollie's interaction with "Casper" and "Pavarotti" did not clench the deal. Nor did Paige's colorful punny t-shirts or playful bots. Felt that their romance was surface level as his physical attraction was clearly stated as was hers but not see much more than that.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Boldwood Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#ThePaybackPlan #NetGalley

Get ready for a hilarious and heartwarming story filled with tension and laughter!

If you’ve ever felt the urge to get back at an ex for getting on your bad side… this book is perfect for you. Take lessons people because our fmc, Paige definitely knows how to press some buttons.

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The story starts out with Paige bumping into a few girls while waiting for a delayed flight. Tired and frustrated, she grabs a seat at a table that just so happens to have three other women who have something slightly in common with her— horrible exes who double crossed each of them. After connecting through similar trauma, they each decide their exes need a little bit of their own medicine… enter in “The Payback Plan.”

Each girl is paired with a different ex and Paige gets matched with Oliver, her new friend, Bella’s ex-fiancé. After leaving Bella high and dry at the alter on their wedding day—and OVER TEXT at that—the girls decide Paige will be the one to exact the perfect revenge on Oliver. Making up a ruse that Paige needs a place to stay while in the area, Bella asks Oliver if Paige can stay with him for a few months… and since Oliver still holds guilt over how he left Bella, he feels obligated to say yes.

Knowing that Oliver is a major neat freak, Paige comes crashing into his life leaving behind a trail of bread crumbs and coffee rings on his bars. But as she slowly gets to know Oliver more, she realizes there is always two sides to the story, and he might have deeper reasons for why he acted the way he did.

Follow these two as they learn to navigate their growing feelings for each other and step out of their comfort zones to really LIVE their life. And realize that sometimes what’s initially meant for ill intent, can turn into one of the best things that could ever happen to you.

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“𝘼𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙄’𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.”

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The only reason I didn’t rate this book 5 stars is because I had a hard time connecting with the writing style. The lingo was a little difficult to catch on to, and I wasn’t a fan of the third person POV. Other than that, the book was phenomenal, and I can’t wait to read the next one in the series!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for allowing me to read this arc. These are all my honest opinions in this review.

The Payback Plan by Amy Andrews.
The karma club book 1.
I loved the cover and blurb of this book. This was a fun and lighthearted read. I got into it straight away. I loved Paige. I loved how Paige was messing up Oliver stuff. Hilarious. I loved the chemistry between them. I absolutely loved it. I loved the writing style and the story. I read this book in two sittings. I loved how the plan came together. This is definitely a must read.

This is a first time read for me by this author and is a delightful blend of charm, chemistry, and irresistible tension.
Andrews delivers at creating a balance between humor and heart, making the book a fun and engaging read from start to finish.
The book is full of humor, heart, and just the right amount of steam, all while exploring themes of personal growth, love, and taking risks.

The Karma Club series is about four women who meet by chance and decide to give karma a helping hand for each other, with unexpected results. Paige's target is Olly, the man who jilted Bella. The humour is immediate and keeps giving as Paige engineers her dose of karma, but becomes drawn into Olly's world in an unforeseen way. I like the couple and their complexities, the animal characters and the mix of laughter and spicy romance. It's a great start to the series, but a satisfying standalone read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Book one in a fabulous new series by four talented authors who are some of my favourite authors by the way. This series starts at O’Hare airport when snow has cancelled all flights, is it fate that four young woman find one table left in Just Deserts Café, enjoying red velvet cake and wine these woman open up about their exes and the betrayal and heartbreak they all suffered and a plan is hatched to get revenge, let the fun begin, nothing could go wrong surely.

Paige Parker travels to Cornwall to spend two months with Bella’s ex Oliver Prendergast son of an Oscar winning star who jilted Bella by text on the day of the wedding and she has some plans in place to turn his life upside down, firstly she arrives and takes over his spare room with a hamster named Flower who needs to lose weight, she hides the remote, disturb his DVDs out of their perfect alphabetical order, leaves crumbs everywhere and mess, then brings home a stray dog, she is determined to show Oliver, Mr. Grumpy what life is really like.

It doesn’t take long before Paige is getting to know Oliver and understanding him, but ignoring the chemistry that is building between them is way too hard and soon Paige is feeling very guilty about what is happening, after all she is supposed to be here to seek karma, revenge, how will she tell the Ladies of the Karma club and especially Belle what is happening. Her life too has changed in this short time after four years of keeping low she is finally starting to feel like herself again and that is all because of Ollie.

I loved this one so much, I giggled, I laughed and I cheered them on in this beautiful story, truly if you are looking for a romance that has a bit of everything in it then this is the one to pick up, it is sensual, emotional, fun and moving and a must read in my opinion, Thank you Amy Andrews for a fabulous story, I am really looking forward to book two by Pippa Roscoe. I do highly recommend this one, it brightened my day.

My thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for my digital copy to read and review.
3 likes

so what happens when a chance meeting at the airport brings a group of woman together. oh nothing. just a little shared bone of heartbreak and a plan devised for revenge. the karma club has begun and i cannot wait.
each of the woman will have their own book and in this one we follow Paige. Paige moves in with Oliver the ex-fiance of one of the woman. shes there to cause nothing but infiltrated chaos but things dont go to plan. at all.
this is about to turn into something way bigger. something way cuter. and something way more lovely. what a stunning, fun and gorgeous read.

I give this book 4.5 stars and I rounded up the stars. This is laugh out loud funny. And the sex scenes are hot! Amy Andrews certainly knows how to heat things up.

Paige is a member of a group of 4 friends who have agreed to payback each other's exes for their poor treatment. Paige travels to Cornwall to payback Oliver. He dumped Bella on her wedding day. What kind of guy does that? It turns out that Oliver is still upset about hurting Bella. He just sits, alone in his house, watching movies and becoming more and more entrenched in his misery.

Bella has asked Oliver to allow her friend to stay with him and says he owes her one. So Oliver allows Paige into his closed off world. Paige has taken on a wacky persona and she does things that she knows will drive Oliver nuts. He should hate her, but he allows her to be herself, as her new persona. She brings him out of his self-imposed prison and gets him to start living life again. And maybe even enjoying it.

Paige has a delightful sense of humor. I started laughing almost from the beginning. And I loved the ending.

The Payback Plan was a fun, contemporary rom-com based on a revenge pact made after a chance meeting between four women at the airport. I enjoyed the banter, text messaging and pets. The movie references made me LOL. The ways that Paige attempts to get under Oliver’s skin were funny. I am looking forward to reading the other stories in the Karma Club series to see where the other three women end up.

Thank you Boldwood Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

This. Is. Adorable!

Four women have been wronged…they have a chance encounter and become instant best friends.

They plot and develop a plan to seek revenge for each other by terrorizing the exes!

Paige is up first! She has to get revenge with Bella’s ex that left her at the alter via text! All goes well until revenge turns into love!

Cute as pie! And I can’t wait for the next books in the series.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC!

⭐3.5. This series is a really fun concept. Four women randomly sit at the same table at an airport. A few drinks and a long chat later, they've hatched a plan to get revenge on each of their exes, some who've done some pretty heinous things! They each take another woman's ex, so the payback will be anonymous.

We start with Paige, taking on Bella's ex, Olly, who left her at the alter. Eeek! Paige wants to get him back with millions of little annoying things while she stays with him for a couple months. Some of her little annoyances were pretty entertaining, some backfired a bit and worked in the opposite way!

In this, there is a beautiful beach-side house, a chubby hamster, and a cute, but very smart doggo.

While obviously I knew where this would end up, I still enjoyed the read, seeing how Paige and Oliver get closer throughout the book, and how they each try to fight it. Both of them also go through their own personal hurdles and they actually help each other get through them, and that was nice to see. I liked Oliver's character a bit more than Paige... she seemed slightly annoying to me (and not just because she was intentionally being that way!). He's a nice guy who did a bad thing. I love the small town where Oliver lives, the townspeople sound lovely!

I liked the writing style, it was easy to follow, kept me engaged. There were many references I enjoyed, and there's a whole thing about the feminism of an Outlander episode that I really liked reading!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the book in this Karma Club series, each book is written by a different author, and they are all new-to-me. I can't wait to see what Bella, Astrid, and Sienna get up to! Especially Sienna's book, where she takes on "Harvey the horrible" - Paige's ex.

"A waiter was withdrawing after just having wiped it down and it shone under the bright lights like a Taylor Swift arena, beckoning her inside." I like the references used in this story 😆

"My point being, get the damn Oscar down and spread some of that Hollywood stardust around to some little old ladies"

To just desserts!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books Ltd. for this ARC.

This is a fun, energetic, and comforting read.
The book starts with four female strangers meeting at O'Hare Airport, who end up sharing a table at a restaurant. They start talking and end up sharing their experiences with their exes and how they were betrayed—one was left at the altar, another had her nudes shared publicly, one discovered her partner was married, and another was simply discarded without explanation. As they drink and bond over their stories, they devise a plan to take revenge on the men—by swapping them and getting payback on each other's behalf. And just like that, the stage is set.
This book follows the payback plan for Oliver, who heartlessly jilted Bella at the altar via text. Paige takes on the mission to get revenge by moving into his house.
The story never stops surprising you with Paige's creative ways to annoy Oliver—from bringing along her pet hamster, to adopting a random dog off the street, sending weird hamster-related texts, and wearing the most colorful, quirky clothes. Amid all the chaos, they start getting to know each other. Paige begins to understand Oliver on a deeper level. She feels sympathy for his situation, but she’s also still concerned for Bella.
Overall, this book is a good ride!

This book was a fun read. Oliver and Paige were amazing characters for this book and I enjoyed reading the development of their relationship. The plot was well written and I loved how it was constructed and easy to follow.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of The Backup Plan!

This was a fun, flirty read with a lot of heart — Amy Andrews delivers a classic small-town romance with a second-chance twist. The chemistry between the main characters crackles from the first page, and I loved watching them navigate their shared history, unspoken feelings, and all the awkward/funny/steamy moments in between.

That said, I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I wanted to be. Some of the emotional beats didn’t hit quite as hard, and I found myself wanting a bit more depth in the characters' individual arcs. But the banter? Solid. The tension? Definitely there. And the setting had that warm, cozy vibe I always enjoy in a small-town romance.

If you’re looking for an easy, steamy read with plenty of charm and second-chance sparks, this one’s worth checking out.

What millennial girl can resist a little “John Tucker Must Die” vibe!? Four girls planning payback on their exes? I’m sold.

This was a cute, quirky read painting Paige as a little chaos tornado in Olly’s life. The first half of the book was a little slow and dragged out in my opinion, but the second half had me hooked and dying to finish!

This is obviously the first in a series, but felt like huge chunks were missing with the other girls. Mentioning Bella’s fall out with Chase but no details!? Cruelly making me impatiently wait for their story!

Thanks for the ARC! I’m ready for the remainder of this series!