Title: Love Your Life
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Series: n/a
Kinda fun to read but not memorable
I would like to thank Sophie Kinsella, Random House/The Dial Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Premise: A woman, Ava, goes on a writers’ retreat in an effort to focus on the book she’s trying to write. However, she gets distracted by a handsome man with whom she has major chemistry. By the end of the retreat—I think it was only a week—they’re in love and committed. And they mean it! They honestly do. But while on the retreat, their instructor had decreed a no-small-talk rule so the participants would actually spend their time writing rather than just hanging out and chatting; they didn’t even use their real names. So it wasn’t until Ava and “Dutch” were back on English soil that they really began to learn who one another was. The reader then watches them discover each other’s hobbies, quirks, and personalities, as well as their family and friends, and struggle to accept traits that would likely have been “deal breakers” if they hadn’t fallen in love before learning them.
This book was okay. Kinda fun to read but not all that memorable. It’s certainly an interesting concept—can you love someone despite fundamental differences? Or is it best to go through a vetting process to make sure you find someone with whom you’re guaranteed to be compatible? The story explores both avenues but ultimately makes the point that no couple is going to be perfectly compatible and you have to be prepared to compromise to make a relationship work.
The characters were sympathetic and endearing but still a bit problematic. Matt was rather cliche on several levels but still managed to worm his way into my heart; I was so happy to read about the pictures at the end. Ava was relatable with her habit of making goals and taking on projects but rarely meeting or finishing them because she’s easily distracted—and perhaps on a subconscious level she liked the idea of them more than she was willing to put in the work to achieve any of them. I’ve definitely done that a time or two. I did lose some patience with her overly compassionate nature—that bit about the unsecured back door was TSTL (too stupid to live) crap, and while I wouldn’t be as strict with my pet dog as the Warricks were, I wouldn’t have tolerated some of Harold’s behaviors the way Ava did.
Both Ava and Matt had great pals. I loved his more than hers; to be honest, I found her friends to be annoying at times, but his were just sweeties from start to finish. The OCD part of me loves that they all paired off, though I imagine that’ll have some readers rolling their eyes. My absolutely favorite character in the book was Topher, one of Matt’s friends who was super antisocial and not ashamed of it. He and I are kindred spirits.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a Kinsella fan, though it’s not my favorite. In my estimation, there were three fatal flaws to this novel: the cliche aspects of Matt’s character, the TSTL aspects of Ava’s, and their insta-love (fewer and fewer readers tolerate that). A signature part of Kinsella’s writing has always been outrageousness—characters pulling ridiculous stunts like one would only see in rom-com movie—and I wonder if that’s part of why her books are relatively poorly rated. I know that’s my least favorite aspect of her writing. Regardless, I was just super happy that this was a new standalone and had nothing to do with her stupid Shopaholic series.
Afterthought—That’s an awful book cover. Maybe I missed something, but as far as I can tell, very few things in the picture are relative to the story.
